Saffal Tall attends Michigan State University on a scholarship and has been rapping for more than than 10 years. He's opened for Raekwon, Big Sean, Wiz Khalifa, and Chip Tha Ripper, and is known for energetic freestyles. At 19 years old, he has big shoes to fill, not just for artists that may follow him, but for those that were here before him.
FowL (his MC name) was crowned the national Red Bull Emsee Battle champion by Eminem after he delivereddevastating blows to NYC rapper DNA (who was tagged as the hottest MC since Tupac). Personal opinions aside, DNA shot himself in the foot when he shouted, "Everybody from the 313, put your hands in air and follow me." DNA must have thought he was in a sequel to 8 Mile. If anything, this was proof that FowL was the B-Rabbit and DNA was the Poppa Doc.
On track "All Up In My Mix," he raps, "And I ain't had a fear since I was shorter than my momma. I from Detroit where people ain't important as a dollar." The revealing song is laid out over Madlib's production skills. Speaking of great instrumentals, it was no wonder that when first single "The Ambassador Bridge" was released (one month ago) it showcased hometown hero Black Milk handling the beat and had FowL rhyming about his pipe dream with steam: "I want it now, but somehow they keep trying to make me wait, they say I woulda been on, if it was '88. In year twenty ten, tell me what it takes to win?!"
Though FowL has only been on the radar of the eternal progressive music setting for a little over a year, a YouTube search will inform any listener that he has been practicing or preparing for Live For The D since early 2007, when he destroyed Ace in front of Detroit's Martin Luther King High School. With so much variation from the beat-makers on this tape and the versatility that FowL emulates on his own, it is refreshing news that real hip-hop is here to stay.
Bonus: The Ambassador Bridge (Produced by Black Milk)
[audio:https://www.indieshuffle.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/10-The-Ambassador-Bridge-prod.-Black-Milk.mp3|titles=The Ambassador Bridge (Produced by Black Milk)]
By
sweeney kovar
on
Mar 19, 2013
|
Black's back at it! One of the shining gems that emerged in Detroit post-Dilla, Black Milk rose from a roadie for Slum Village to being a powerful force of his own. Armed with a mastery of his city's intrinsic soul and drums that sounds like he has r...
read more →
By
David Peter Simon
on
Nov 15, 2011
|
There are two Drakes. There's the popular Drake, the one that everyone knows and some dislike (like my dear friends Amanda and Anthony), and then there's the one that not many people appreciate -- the underground mixtape king who fought his way throu...
read more →
By
sweeney kovar
on
Mar 11, 2014
|
Black Milk isn't even cooling off from last year's stellar No Poison, No Paradise, and he's already back at it. Glitches In The Break is an EP better groomed than most LPs. The tracks are a balanced selection of instrumental and rap cuts, featuring b...
read more →
By
sweeney kovar
on
Jun 13, 2011
|
Random Axe is the indie rap supergroup made up of Detroit's Guilty Simpson, Black Milk, and Brooklyn's own Sean Price (aka Ruck of Heltah Skeltah). The project has been a long time in the making since the group made its debut on "Run" from Guilty's O...
read more →