Charm the Riot’s video for “Out There” is a perfect companion to a hip-hop song that has some old school craft in the beat making but sounding not just modern but like a welcome next step. There are plenty of bad and boring trap beats that lack creativity completely. Charm the Riot takes some of that method in making percussion and injected it with a different palette of sounds so that the texture of the song is immediately noticeable like he’s striking bottles or actual drums and making them hit with an programmed precision. And maybe part of his creation of the song involved that level of detail. The keyboard tones are soft but resonant like a string of lights coming on in a dream as you walk by to mark the paces. The artist raps about learning from his losses, embracing being an outsider, taking chances with his life and his art, staying true to his roots, dodging ignorance and foolishness and making all of it into the kind of music that makes you take notice in spite of having heard a ton of all kinds of hip-hop on the radio, on playlists, on the street in cars driving by, in public spaces, online, everywhere. Watch the video one gets a sense of not so much the bleak and troubled world we live in now but of a world in the aftermath of the current drama and one where building a creative and hopeful future will require not just bold action and imagination but the intelligence and sensitivity Charm the Riot displays all across the track. Watch the video for “Out There” on YouTube and follow Charm the Riot at the links below.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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