Edúv Syn - Mám červené oči, lebo stále plačem (2021)
By Flork!
The cool thing about rap music is its rapid evolution over the years. I mean, way back when, like let’s say the early 1980’s, I can remember rap as a beat and lyrically-spoken genre of music that had emerged from poor neighbourhoods around America’s larger cities. On a commercial level, it was the accompaniment to break-dancing that had caught-on quickly with teenagers at that time. It was simple and no musical talent was needed to perform it, just a drum machine and a supply of old LP’s that could be used for the sole purpose of “scratching”. In fact, it laid the groundwork for later DJ music in the 2000s. However, in the early days, it was predominantly performed by black artists such as Run DMC, Ice-T, or Salt n Pepa and also had a political and rebellious element to it that quickly became the voice of black America and black issues (Public Enemy and NWA). In a matter of a couple of years, if not months, rap began incorporating real musical instruments into the compositions, including singers and was no longer performed by solely by black artists. It began incorporating other genres like metal, such as Run DMC and Aerosmith (Walk This Way), the Beastie Boys, Rage Against the Machine, even Faith No More (Epic). In fact, Dee Dee Ramone, one of the founders of American punk, embraced it with Funky Man. Nowadays, rap of course has several of its own sub-genres with one of them being hip-hop, as well as a sub genre of that called “trap”, which contains lyrics that often focus on drug use and urban violence. But let’s fast-forward a bit to the year 2022, to a land far away from America. Let’s transport ourselves to Central Europe.
Since the Velvet Revolution, rap has had a lot of false starts In the Slovak Republic. Of course, there were several rap groups around in the 1990s, such as Rap Steady Crew and JSS (Jednotka Slovenskej Starostlivosti), but there was only a small audience in those days as Slovak listeners were more tuned into the commercial pop and rock music coming from the west. It wasn’t until the 2000s, however, that rap and hip-hop caught people’s attention, especially with the success from Kontrafakt and Rytmus. By this time, the Slovak rap scene had begun to explode with the addition of artists like Kali and Majk Spirit, who have both experienced great commercial success.
But not all Slovak rap is above-ground, nor overly-commercial. Edúv Syn is a Slovak hip-hop/trap/punk duo based in Prague, who released their second full-length album Mám červené oči, lebo stále plačem (My eyes are red because I can’t stop crying) at the end of November last year. They too have had their share of false starts, releasing their first album in 2019 Karel Gott je mŕtvy keď hralo rádio only to be stuck at home the following year due to the corona virus pandemic. Yet despite just having moved up to Prague and being isolated in a strange city, Matej Myslovič (aka Edúv Syn) still managed to compose several tracks during lockdown, as well as play a few big shows in Slovakia last summer, namely Pohoda on the Ground and Garáže.
Mám červené oči, lebo stále plačem is the result of this isolation and restarts the initial success of the first album. The 15-track album may seem like a lenghty effort, but in fact, it contains less than forty minutes of recording. This is not a bad thing, in fact it is quite intentional, keeping each track below four minutes, or in many cases less than two. No „filler“ noise or long-winded sequencing.
The intro track Deti Kvetín kicks off with an amazing blend of lowFi rhthym and powerful vocals. The beat of this track is both powerful and peaceful with sounds of something like a sitar added to the atmosphere of mystery. Plakala pt. 2 is more subdued and the vocals provided by Arleta give this track enormous depth and beauty. Darkside and Life is Brutal are perfect examples of trap music, dark and honest with English titles, but lyrics in Slovak.
The whole album is amazing, especially the tracks with featured guests like Dušan Vlk Better ako Kamil Peteraj, Simi Slim and Fuest_user Uvidíme ako toto pôjde d’alej, and Karlo Letím. But Matej Myslovič carries his own weight very well, providing powerful vocals to his lyrics that deal with several issues, such as materialism and sexism.
Edúv Syn is definitely a group to keep an eye on in the coming months as they stand at the forefront of the underground rap scene. Summer is not far away and outdoor summer concerts and festivals will abound. Let’s hope that 2022 continues to be good to them.
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