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Review - New Roc Marciano Tune - 'Ruff Town' feat. Cormega
Tuesday 28th May 2013 | Jake
Roc Marciano's been rapping and producing his own beats since his totally self produced 2008 solo debut 'Marcberg' (which is great, by the way) - and the 5 years experience shows on his new track 'Ruff Town' feat. Cormega.
'Ruff Town' is a song of contrasts. The soft beat and Roc's chilled out choice of instrumental samples go against what you'd picture a tune called 'Ruff Town' to have, especially with the lyrics Roc and Cormega drop here. Roc opens with 'sometimes you're up, some down, I grew up in a ruff town', this immediately drops us into Roc's world, an unstable place of juxtaposition and uncertainty. Roc tells us about his shoes 'ain't got a spot bottom or top, fresh out the box', contrasting this with the bars before, rhyming about 'brokers in the alley' offering '10 different kinds of drugs'. It's not just Roc's environment that contrasts his personal wealth as shown by his spotless shoes, it's Roc himself, 'dangerous when at my brokest' - Roc tells us he isn't always well off and that the desperation of his situation can take the better of him at times, echoing the sentiments of the chorus 'sometimes you're up, some down..'. Roc ends his section with 'to cut a long story short, fuck the tough talk', Roc wants us to know he's being real and he's not just here to act tough or put on a front, he wants us to know about his 'Ruff Town'.
Cormega's section opens with 'All this fear and love and war', again reinforcing the ideas of contrast in this town, it may be filled with love, community and respect, but at the same time there is fear and war, something anyone who has lived in a poor town or inner city area can relate to. Carmega calls out other rappers, accusing them of 'Spitting fiction, altering fact, they inconsistent' backing up himself saying 'i represent realness'. It's clear Roc and Carmega want to give us a solid idea of what their life in a 'Ruff Town' is like, a place full of contrast and inconsistency, without altering their stories with 'tough talk' or 'fiction'. Listen to it here:
Jake Pearce @LoopBe1
