Controversial Zimbabwean born Journalist Hopewell Chinon’ono will always come to mind when the statement, “focused youth” is thrown around. Comedians in the country have always piggy backed on the usage of the phrase but in recent times, Da Bill Collektah, an emccee you probably knew as Ill Manner back in the day, decided to leverage the title to his new EP titled “Focused Youth”
This is not a promotional article, nor is it a hit piece. It’s the lens by which I truly see and connect to this body of work so it may contain both praises and criticism. – All of which is for the highest good of the artist and listener in my minds eye.
Was the title focused you a good idea?
Yes it was and it still is. I think that was a genius idea to tap into popular culture. I am glad to see that Bill Collekt (I back spaced the name ILL MANNER), is making an effort to catch up with trends so as to tap into the collective popular culture.
This transition has been happening for years, even in the times he called himself Rude Bwoy Bliss and now had tracks in Shona for the first time.
The acceptance that, “If you can’t beat them join them” is a step of maturity on his end.
I am not sure if the timing was right, because the phrase “focused youth” was trending more a few years back than now. However it remains a beacon in popular culture. So for that I give him 9/10.
Title Score : 9/10
Is the Theme Coherent?
Often artists can be smart enough to make thematic titles, yet they may not really live up to them in the songs. This is not a case with Bill Collekt – Focused youth. You can appreciate there is intelligent design as far as coherence and even the chronology of songs is nowhere random.
Focus Reprise introduces us to the world of the emcee, he is a good story teller, telling multiple miniature anecdotes even within a single bar. You can picture it in your minds eye. He opens up about a lot of things in his reality, yet asserting his commitment to being focused to turning them around.
Dreams of Luxury is a melodic journal of his aspirations, ambitions, and tastes. Those are the things that make him a “focused youth”. A popular writer in Zimbabwe by the name of Jonathan Ralph Kadurira recently gave us a book titled , “Unlock Your Why”. This song is about Bill Collekt’s WHY.
That’s why he went from being Ill Mannered to being a bill collector. You can tell that this is manifestation work in progress and I respect that.
In “The Prayer”, the artist re-calibrates our focus and perspective on his why by telling us that he wants both material and spiritual wealth. I mean after listening to the track on dreams and luxury, you would probably see him as just a vain chaser of hedonistic desires. His WHY extends far deeper than that.
He acknowledges the plight of the poor and down trodden. It is a theme of global peace and oneness.
He moves on to Sheesh! this one is a freestyle put there to show us how focused he has been on his craft. As all freestyles it moves in and out of diferent topics, but is always a neccessity when dealing with a seasoned emcee like Da Bill Collektah.
Word To The Wise is a heart to heart with peers about how we can become better. Any real focused youth believes in “each one teach one”. So it’s an important part of the theme.
Theme Coherence: 8/10
Replay Value : Can I put this album on repeat?
The unfortunate answer is , “Probably not”. – Now as mentioned in above anecdotes, there is heavy lyricism, didactic raps and all, but Bill Collekt should probably collaborate more with singers in the next project to make catchier hooks. – There are projects that I go to occasionally for bars and sense and this would be one of them.
The hooks sound like 90’s to early 2000 hooks, which had bars that were fit to be part of the verse. What would make them hooks was merely that that’s the portion that keeps getting repeated.
Another aspect to be worked on is delayed starts into verses. In the era of saturated music, people may play something for 5 seconds and if there is no vocal by then they move on.
So perhaps the producers need to get to the chase and cut off the 4 bar silent intro or at least have something in there. These are just my personal opinions.
The beats have however improved. The old beats he used to use as ILL MANNER were a no for me.
The good thing is he has committed to letting the project out, some people have yet to have one. He is mature enough to absorb suggestions for growth.
The lyrics always superb. With regards to hooks, Jay Z doesn’t usually make his own hooks for a reason. Yes Drake or 50 Cent may usually do so, Mile can get away with it, but a lot of Zim Hip-hop guys that actually do the bars I like (including myself: we simply are bad at replay value), we fail to rise to a certain tier because we don’t network enough to get other singers on the project.
Have your hard bars in verses but have the “HOOKS” from people who even if they are not as deep have the attention grabbers.
People will listen to the bars over time through replays.
JUDGE IT YOURSELF
Anyway maybe I am wrong sample the entire E.P below. (Follow Da Bill Collektah on Facebook)