I recently sat down with Big Chris the Evangelist for another installment of my “Independent Artists Spotlight” series. I was happy to sit down with Big Chris for a 1:1 interview after so many years had passed since our last one. In the interview, we discussed what it was like for him to chart on the Billboard Top 25, working with top Atlanta artists on his projects, his take on Christian hip-hop as a culture, where it currently stands, and the beef between Christian artists and how it should play out. Plus we had a chance to discuss the influence of mainstream artists on Christian culture.
I recently reviewed “Take the City”, the remastered version. This was one of Chris the Evangelist’s hit songs when it was first released. To be clear, this wasn’t a remix, just a re-mastered version of the song. The first approach to critique a song is to isolate the track. I listen to it a total of four times and no more. If I listen to it more than four times, I find myself trying to force myself into positive thoughts and that can come off as me being bias of the artists perhaps because I like them or know them well. During the first listen, I listen just for the beat. I close my eyes and let the beat sink in. On the second listen, I close my eyes and listen to the hook to determine how much that plays an influence on the mood it gives off. On the third listen, I take in the story. That’s the lyrics, delivery, flow, and bars. On my final approach, I listen to it as if I was an A&R walking into a record executives office. I want to know if my reflection on the song would be received in the same way.
My critique on “Take the City” is that it’s vibey, but a bit of the lyrics seem forced into the song to me. I get rhyme schemes and patterns, but I think there are times when you have to abandon certain schemes to save the song. In the first and second verse I heard lyrics that appeared to be forced into the song because they rhyme. The hook and verses sort of bled together. I didn’t hear a significant separation in the tone from the hook to the verse. I always like when there is a true separation of hook to verse. All in all, I like the song, always have. However, if there was ever a remix and some of the suggested were added, I’m sure the remix would hit differently for me.
I encourage you to take a listen to the full song and listen and make your own critiques. I’m sure many people would find my critiques to be way off base and you might have one or two additional comments of your own. You can access the song at the Spotify link listed below.
