Saturday, April 16, 2011

Pace and Constant - Conscious Rap At Its Finest

I'll kick this post off by stating that yeah, I know these kids. Not only that, I manage Pace. I just want to put that out there right now so I'll be the first to say I have a bias on this post. But dang, it's a blog not a Time Magazine article.

So a few months back I'm putting on a Hip-Hop show in Phoenix, AZ. On the bill are local artists like New Breedz, 4XL Ent, Stunna Mike, good ol' bumpin Hip-Hop. As I'm posting on Facebook at LEAST once a day about the show, this kid Constant says "Hey man, you got any open slots on that show?"
Since I've heard his music (also amazing artist btw) I say "Sure, come on down."
Sure enough that night he's there, and he brings a buddy along, Pace. The night is absolutely horrible, there's maybe 15 people in the "crowd", the sound was absolutely bad, and the schedule was being thrown off every five minutes. Every single artist there was just throwing it down and taking advantage of an open stage and a microphone. From a promoter's standpoint the night was a wreck; from an artists standpoint, why not have fun. As each rapper performs the girls are dancing and the guys are giving that repetitive nod like, "Yeah, you're good."
Everyone has done their set, and it's time for Constant and Pace to go on. As soon as they get on stage, they don't look like they belong. One's a white kid you would expect to see shopping for 2XL Hollister tees, the other a slim asian-ish kid that always looks like his brain is going a million miles an hour; definitely stops to smell the roses. Obviously the room is kind of quiet, just wondering what is going to happen. Constant starts. His song "Night" begins, the instrumental playing while he holds the mic in both hands in front of him, his eyes down as if in prayer. As a recorded narrator reads a small excerpt from Elie Wiesel's book Night, written about the Holocaust. He looks up slowly... with the mic snatched up to his lips and a hand thrown out toward the 15 person crowd, he slams into the song.

Here's the song:

Night by Constant by sdec

Here's a video of Constant performing the song Night at his High School talent show.


Wow. The crowd didn't dance. They didn't nod their heads. They just stood completely still. Some stared at him, some stared at the ground. Maybe a wall. Who knows what they were looking at. It's funny to say, but for the first time that night at a concert, people were actually listening.

Next up is Pace. He does his song Forrest, a play off of the movie Forrest Gump.
I'm not going to say much about Pace. I want you to find out yourself. If you live in Phoenix, he has a show May 13, 2011 at Club Red. You can hear his music below, or at www.reverbnation.com/paceaz
Also check out his Facebook at www.facebook.com/paceofficial





If I could manage both artists I would. Constant lives in Flagstaff, AZ right now, attending NAU. He is releasing an album soon, and as soon as I have details on it you will too. The last thing I'm linking into here is one of my favorite songs that was done as a group called 3PM, which consisted of Constant, Vice Versa, and Pace. The song is called "Top Of The World".

Top of the World by 3PM by sdec

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