Yo, what’s good, Bird City! Right now, the bird is on fire, so the mission is to provide music to match. This week we’re on the right track with some heat from the Southside of Phoenix. West coast sound and swag lace this week’s joint from the Smeared Lipsticks Crew’s, Monique, on “SouthSide”. From the opening bars, Monique brings an energetic hood vibe reppin’ her side of the city.
Southside, Southside throw it up/If you bitches want the smoke, roll a blunt/ pull the card on a bitch that wanna front/ if you taking that shit, back it up hoe/”
Monique represents the toughest parts of the Southside of Phoenix and sounds confident over the bouncy west coast beat. Her sound comes through just a little behind the beat, and she could’ve given a stronger performance from a vocal standpoint. Her voice is unique, and needs to be doubled or her adlibs should’ve been lowered a bit to allow her delivery to be the focus. Monique’s content and lyrics compliment the “three-wheel motion” sound of the beat.
While a turf repping joint like “SouthSide” has been done before, Monqiue is able to make her joint pop because of the energy and imagery she brings through her lyrics. Monqiue’s delivery is sharp, although she could’ve laid off the adlibs a little bit. She’s on beat and her flow is quick, crispy, and extremely descriptive of life on the Southside of Phoenix. What sets “SouthSide” apart, is the imagery Monique consistently uses over the course of the song. Lines like, “you need a swisha hit the spot-on baseline/keep that hammer handy no construction waistline/” and “take the wrong streets and end up where the fiends is” really paint a vivid picture of her hood and how to navigate it. Monique does a solid job of keeping the listener engaged, despite the song not having any real style or melody changes.
“SouthSide” goes a little longer than it needs to on the run time. The final verse “sing-song” verse on the end wasn’t necessary as the song had already established itself as a banger. Monique easily holds her as a lyricist on “SouthSide” with battle ready bars like, “haters wanna fight me/ they don’t really like me/ charge it to the game now they wanna indict me/” prove that she’s more than capable for handling any emcee male or female on the mic. With “SouthSide” Monique puts on for her state and her side of the city in a major way. With a few minor changes like a louder vocal performance and possibly a shorter run time, this song would be near perfect. For her efforts this week, The Smeared Lipsticks Crew’s, Monique is going to take home a 7.5 out of 10 from the review!
That’s all this week my people! Stay cool as the heat continues to rise in the burning bird! Peace and Love, your boy, Bo!
Follow Bo on IG: @merrillproductions
Smeared Lipstick Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/smearedlipstickmixtape
Watch Smeared Lipstick Crew videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoQ69Yc3V1iiuqODkNOefTA
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