madtheory's Full Review: Cuts for Luck and Scars for Freedom [PA] by Mystic
Throughout its short history, males pretty have dominated Rap music, much like essentially almost every other music genre. Every once in a while a skilled female rapper would step to the mic and turn some heads, but mostly women were objects to be rapped about like UTFO’s “Roxanne Roxanne”. Fortunately women kept chipping away at this wall of testosterone, shedding light on some gifted female performers such as MC Lyte, Heather B, Queen Latifah, and The Lady of Rage. For a while, women were finally starting to get some real respect in Hip Hop music.
Then some sorry A&R somewhere discovered something: guys tend to listen to women more when they talk about sex. Apparently, it’s some kind of inherent flaw in our gender. After some success with songs using this theme, suddenly Hip Hop was slammed with legions of female rappers spitting rhymes so explicit they could make the average hardcore porn star blush. And most of these girls don’t write their own lyrics either. Essentially they’ve been propelled to fame by rapping the soundtrack to some lonely ghostwriter’s wet dream. When Heather Hunter can embark on a rap career based solely on her porn experience alone, something is horribly horribly wrong.
But lately, it seems like finally some Hip Hop heads are re-realizing that CHICKS ROCK even when they’re not describing graphic sexcapades. Rap fans are discovering the impressive work of female emcees like Rah Digga, Sonja Blade, Jane Doe, and even re-discovering Bahamadia (it’s about time! Don’t sleep…) Now the time is ripe for ladies to really shine in rap, and California rapper Mystic definitely steps up to the mic. The former art teacher has been killing mixtapes and venues for a while now, and with her debut album Cuts for Luck and Scars for Freedom, she makes the most of an opportunity to explore a variety of deeper topics like politics, society, love and life.
Track Listing
1. Intro
2. Ghetto Birds
3. Neptune’s Jewels
4. The Gottas
5. The Life
6. Once a Week
7. Dave Ghetto
8. Forever and a Day
9. D Boy
10. You Say I Say
11. A Dream
12. W feat. Planet Asia
13. Fallen Angels
14. Girlfriend Sistagirl
15. Fatherless Child
16. O.K. Alright
17. Spoken Peace
18. Destiny Complete (bonus track)
The Cuts for Luck and Scars for Freedom album begins with a short intro from Mystic using her sexy “breathy” voice to describe what the album is all about. My man Shock G from Digital Underground put a subtle piano melody in the background for the femcee to speak over. It’s really nothing to get excited about; I’m really just happy to see that Shock is still working. Doowhutchyalike!
The first real song on the album is track 2, the surreal-sounding “Ghetto Birds”. Here, The Angel produces the track using unusual keyboard sounds and melodies to create a bizarre atmosphere. It does work very well with Mystic’s lyrics, though, as she poetically illustrates the artificial nature of life in urban environments. This is a great, high-powered track.
Mystic proclaims her love for some lucky unnamed soul on “Neptune’s Jewels”. It’s a beautiful track highlighting some intricately layered guitar melodies over an accelerated tempo. She gets pretty deep with her declarations of love as well too, describing that “I could lose myself in you”-type of devotion. She even sings on the hook, “for you I’d dive into a treacherous sea / bring you Neptune’s jewels to keep you happy / I’d fly into a merciless sun / steal you the sky, ‘cause you’re the one.” Wow.
“The Gottas” is a great track where producer CD blends together a somber harpsichord melody with an earthy bass and Mystic wailing some background vocals. For the words, Mystic raps about those whose self-destructive lust for material items and superficiality causes them to make money the wrong way for the wrong reasons. She drops these lyrics on the first verse of the track:
“It’s the shoulda coulda wouldas, havetas and gottas /
How many of y’all was the soldier on the block who shot a /
Ni**a for his ring, made his eyes sting /
Made his soul sing knowing that the reaper’s never sleeping /
You keep the motion, forever hustling /
Far removed from the scene for the gloves and dusting /
On the cusp of life and death /
Wild look up in your eyes, teflon upon your chest /
Yes you the hard rock, check how the hons jock /
Sixteen with baby eyes and got the block locked /
Slang only ‘cause you gotta have the finer things /
Fly cars, dope women, hennessy, plus diamond rings /
Forget the chalk line dreams and bloodstreams… / ”
Surprisingly, my favorite track on Cuts for Luck and Scars for Freedom is one of the songs that Mystic doesn’t rap on much at all. On “The Life” Mystic primarily sings her lyrics, which are dedicated to trying to find some small degree of pleasure amidst the day-to-day struggles that people experience. For the beat, A-Plus from the legendary Hieroglyphics camp produces a catchy, uptempo track laced with energetic keyboards and driving percussion. Mystic blesses the album with more of her entrancing singing voice on “Forever and a Day”. This song is thick with Sade’s influence. Mystic turns her voice to vocal satin to melt perfectly with the subtle bass and ethereal keyboards. This song is definitely a perfect track to kick back to.
There’s so much more notable work to speak of on Cuts for Luck and Scars for Freedom. She examines her relationship with her heroin-addicted father on “Fatherless Child,”gives some valuable jewels of wisdom to young women in “Girlfriend Sistagirl" and provides beautifully spoken words on “Spoken Peace”. The CD overflows with inspired music.
It’s strange that I was actually kind of hesitant to pick up this CD. It just seemed like every time I went to the record store there would be stacks and stacks of copies laying around. The last time I saw a female rapper with such a strong presence and marketing campaign leave that many copies unsold was Amil from Jay-Z’s Rocafella family. Remembering what a nightmare that album was, I continually passed Mystic’s by thinking it would be a repeat of that travesty. Luckily, that is not the case with this LP.
In fact, the most likely reason Mystic’s album didn’t sell well is the production. When you slide it into your CD player, you can’t help but notice that most of the tracks sound similar. Though the music and beats professional and very well arranged, they rarely stray from the laid-back R&B/Soul-Hip Hop hybrids. The album contains virtually no hard, gritty, or otherwise archetypal Hip Hop beats. There’s not much variety at all. It’s a shame because her voice is very versatile; she could easily be just as impressive rhyming over edgier beats. In fact, I was hoping to see more of the clever and upbeat lyrics she showed on her collaboration with DJ Revolution on the Underground Airplay compilation.
The other thing that hurts this otherwise impressive debut is the fact that there are almost zero light-hearted tracks. Everything she raps about is heavy, whether it’s love, politics, or life in general. The closest Mystic gets to a “fun” track is “W” where she and Cali Agents member Planet Asia rap about their love for the West Coast. It’s a nice, peaceful song but certainly nothing you’re going to jam when you’re hanging with your friends. At least a few “sucker MC” tracks would have helped balance out the album.
But all in all, this is definitely a strong debut from a skilled and talented artist. Mystic makes sure to bypass the highway of sexually explicit rhymes in lieu of much more multi-dimensional lyrics. Her introspective words combined with nice singing and great production create a stirring and poignant album. If you’re looking for a female emcee who is perfectly capable of torching the mic at will without any unnecessary gimmicks, definitely check out Cuts for Luck and Scars for Freedom by Mystic. To put it simply, this chick rocks.
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This review is part of the Chicks Rock Write Off hosted by kristinafh and dustygold to celebrate their two-year anniversary writing for Epinions. Congratulations, ladies! Be sure to check out the work of these other extremely talented participants:
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