Mixtape: Well$ – MTSYD: The Revenge of the African Booty Scratcher
The FADER Premieres Mixtape from 19-Year Old Rapper Well$, MTSYD: The Revenge of the African Booty Scratcher, Available for Free Download via Immaculate Taste
05.20.2014
Critical Praise for Well$:
“The album finds the 19-year-old straddling the line between trunk-rattling southern bounce and the witty 16s of any Freshman spitter.” – The FADER
“Well$’s work always hits hard, and is overwhelmingly personal.” – Complex
“When he isn’t engaging in fluid, Golden Age worshipping that belies his self-confessed modern influences, shades of contemporary artists arise: Drake at his most combative; Kendrick in his more relaxed moments.” – Potholes in My Blog
“Charlotte-based rapper Well$ is redefining swag one music video at a time.” – OkayAfrica
“Sludgy riffs, dusty drums… it’s a discernible throwback to that ’90s New York aesthetic.” – MissInfo.tv
“Watching him rhyme while sitting on the couch next to his grandmother is not only a beautiful sight, but also shows how easily he has this rap thing down.” – Noisey/Vice
“Well$ has been making noise since he stepped on the music scene with his unique blend of African & American cultures. Creating his own sound, Well$’ mixtape is really one of a kind.” – You Heard That New
The Mixtape:
The time has come. All those days of being ridiculed for his Congolese roots, all the times other kids made him feel ashamed to be proud of who he is: all of that finally gets addressed and confronted throughout the outright honest lines of MTSYD: The Revenge of the African Booty Scratcher. Charlotte rapper Well$ has meticulously developed his sound and style, bringing it all together for display on this latest release. “The album finds the 19-year-old straddling the line between trunk-rattling southern bounce and the witty 16s of any Freshman spitter,” says The FADER, who premiered the mixtape. Clarifying the project’s title in an interview with HipHopDX, the Immaculate Taste artist explains, “It’s crazy, cause the ‘African booty scratcher’ came about when I was watching Boyz N The Hood. Watching that kid get made fun of made me think of my childhood and how bad I wanna shit on people from back then via my music. I wanted to make MTSYD undeniable.”
In recent months, Well$ has been building the anticipation for MTSYD by releasing a succession of singles and videos. His “Savoir-Faire” music video created quite a stir after appearing on Noisey, with people falling for his Jordan-wearing Grandmother and his inexplicable talent. Not long after, the Huffington Post interviewed the rapper, where they talked about the video and further discussed the rapper’s background and influences, which range from the French rap he grew up listening to, to current American rappers like Pac Div, Wiz Khalifa, and Kid Cudi. His “Dreams Of An Insomniac” single, which debuted on Complex, quickly exceeded 15K listens, as The Fresh Heir called the track “…his best song yet.” Finally, Well$ revealed “Django,” which was filmed in South Africa and The FADER called “a gorgeous, intense video.” Depicting a deal between a government army and rebel militia, the visual shows a fight to the death scene, similar to that featured in the film Django Unchained.
“MTSYD is my baby that I’ve watched grow before my eyes to what it is today,” explains Well$. “All of those sleepless nights we spent tryna make this shit crack will always stay with me. These songs got me through one of the hardest times of my life. They took us to the brink of falling apart and brought us back 10x closer. That’s why this is so much more than music for me. It’s my life, my joy, and my pains. It’s the hard work and sacrifice of my Immaculate Taste team to give me a chance to be heard.” Coming off his last tape, $ay La V, Well$ and his executive producer/cousin/labelmate Alec Lomami took a pre-meditated approach of finding beats and features. Alec pushed him to be aware of his delivery and to focus more on song structure, successfully inciting Well$ to explore his sentiment while rapping.
MTSYD is filled with lyrical gems and spacious, dreamlike instrumentals, helping us peer into the raw emotions and thoughts that Well$ has manifested onto his verses. As a master storyteller, Well$ recites tales of delicate yet familiar situations, specifically in tracks like “Black Swan.” He portrays the somber side of a stripper’s life, a life that some people close to him endure every day. In “Bienaime’s Interlude,” Well$ pays tribute to his supportive older cousin who passed away abruptly in early 2013, while in “Holy $ins” he raps about the repercussions of his decision to pursue his rap career over continuing his education. A sentimental highlight of the mixtape is the title track, where Well$ draws from his childhood embarrassment, calling out others by rapping, “and these African-Americans making fun of their roots, like, where the fuck you think you come from?” Well$ doesn’t expect anything but great things from his hard work on MTSYD. When asked about what he wants from the mixtape, Well$ says, “I want to tour the world, put the squad on the map, and get to the fans to finally make some money off of what we worked so hard for, that way I can show the world I have more to offer than just the music.”
Check out The FADER’s premiere: http://www.thefader.com/2014/05/19/well-seeks-to-build-an-empire-on-mtsyd-revenge-of-the-african-booty-scratcher/
Stream MTSYD: The Revenge of the African Booty Scratcher: https://soundcloud.com/wells-music/sets/mtsyd-the-revenge-of-the
Download MTSYD: The Revenge of the African Booty Scratcher: http://www.audiomack.com/album/well/mtsyd-the-revenge-of-the-african-booty-scratcher
Read the interview with OkayAfrica: http://www.okayafrica.com/2014/05/20/wells-mtsyd-the-revenge-of-the-african-booty-scratcher/
Tracklisting for MTSYD: The Revenge of the African Booty Scratcher:
1. “Temporary Forevers” / “xxMONOLOGUExx” (Prod. Eric G / PGMW & THE BL∆CK HE∆RTS CLUB)
2. “Savoir-Faire” (Prod. THE BL∆CK HE∆RTS CLUB)
3. “Lil’ Tommy” (Prod. Shurik’n & THE BL∆CK HE∆RTS CLUB)
4. “Black Swan” – (Prod. DJ Shlohmo)
5. “Cercle Vicieux (Vicious Circle)” feat. Makeda Iroquois (Prod. Massology)
6. “TNGHT” / “AFTRMDNGHT” (Prod. DJ Dahi)
7. “GastonTwo09ine” feat. Johnny Polygon / “Dreams Of An Insomniac” (Prod. Noah Yisreal, THE BL∆CK HE∆RTS CLUB, & Austin Celaya; Atu)
8. “Major Paine (Daddy’s Little Girl)” (Prod. Austin Celaya & THE BL∆CK HE∆RTS CLUB)
9. “Assiatou’s Interlude” feat. Obi Asiama (Prod. Juke Ellington)
10. “A$$WATER (Circa ’94)” feat. SisterMarie Warner / “Leroy Shingu’s Interlude” (Prod. Ruddy P & PRKR)
11. “Faux Gold” feat. Mibbs (Prod. JKid)
12. “Django” (Prod. Wonya)
13. “Bienaime’s Interlude” (Prod. Ryan Hemingsworth)
14. “Revenge of the African Booty Scratcher” (Prod. Larry Achiampong)
15. “Holy $ins” / “The Inauguration” (Prod. PGMW & John Beats)
The FADER premieres “Django” video: http://www.thefader.com/2014/05/05/conglose-rapper-well-gets-gritty-in-new-video-django/
Complex premieres “Dreams Of An Insomniac”: http://www.complex.com/music/2014/04/wells-dreams-of-an-insomniac-premiere
The Huffington Post premieres “Lil’ Tommy”: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/02/wells-lil-tommy_n_5079338.html
Noisey premieres “Savoir-Faire” video: http://noisey.vice.com/blog/well-savoir-faire-premiere
HipHopDX premieres “Black Swan”: http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/singles/id.26277/title.Well%24-Black+Swan
Well$ Background:
Like most kids in his native town of Charlotte, North Carolina, Leroy Shingu had a head filled with hip-hop dreams growing up, even trying his hand at freestyling when he was all of nine years old. But a trying background starkly different from the blissful suburban reality of his peers would compel the rapper better known as Well$ to turn that childhood fantasy into a promising career as a rapper. Quietly released in 2012, $ay La V, Well$’ debut EP rose steadily on the Bandcamp charts to peak at number 5 and eventually become the most downloaded album in the Charlotte area. This remarkable ascent as well as the video for the song “State of Ecstasy The Interlude Part 1″ hauled Well$ out of virtual anonymity, and shoved him onto high profile stage performances with artists such as G Eazy, Chris Webby, Johnny Polygon, and one of his idols, Pac Div.
Links:
bandcamp | twitter | facebook | youtube | soundcloud
MTSYD: The Revenge of the African Booty Scratcher: http://www.audiomack.com/album/well/mtsyd-the-revenge-of-the-african-booty-scratcher
“Dreams Of An Insomniac”: https://soundcloud.com/wells-music/dreams-of-an-insomniac
“Lil’ Tommy”: https://soundcloud.com/wells-music/lil-tommy/
“Savoir-Faire”: http://youtu.be/bVVggr8eheY
“Black Swan”: https://soundcloud.com/wells-music/black-swan
“State of Ecstasy Pt. 2”: https://soundcloud.com/wells-music/state-of-ecstasy-pt-2
“State of Ecstasy Pt. 1”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smsGIANkDfA
Bio, pics, and more here: http://www.audibletreats.com/wells/