I feel kind of embarrassed buuuuuuuuuuut…. Folks, August Alsina has been my go-artist since he dropped in 2014. He is from New Orlean, Louisiana and his first radio hit was that “I love this shit” with Trinidad James. That song was jamming and put him on the map but the first album was RAW. I’m talking pain, authentic, experience all over R & B tracks. It was crazy good and I still jam it. August draws his music and perspective from his childhood.
You might say, “Well, Outlaw. EVERY artist draws from their childhood.”
Yeah, absolute truth. Touche’ to YOU. I bounce back with every artist draws their childhood, agreed. THIS dude draw his childhood TRAUMA damn near exclusively.” Biiiiig yet truly subtle difference. August’s father AND stepfather struggled with crack addiction. After 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, his mother moved he, an older brother and herself to Houston for a fresh start and 5 years, his older brother was lost to gun violence and “thugging”. August dedicated his life and career to music, kicked out of his mom’s house and moved to Atlanta to pursue his singing dreams. (Look dawg. I flat out don’t wanna do too much research because it’s not known and he obviously wanna kept stuff secret sooooooo….)
I SUPER started digging August when he released that he suffered from some wild autoimmune disease that attacks his liver and caused loss of movement, collapses, and other crazy symptoms. *strong emoji* I have the autoimmune disease, Multiple Sclerosis, and other stuff like Ulcerative Colitis, Spondylosis, IBS, etc. I OVERstand about wack ass health issues and I support TF out of anyone and everyone who survives, thrives and even jives their way through it. August is #sickAF, like me, yet chasing his dreams and hunting goals. I respect that so much.
This third album is very similar to August first two. It’s difficult for me to describe in a sentence or something so I’ll roll with this; “The music is akin to gangsta, smooth beats and basslines underlying the croons of a legit gang banger sharing weary tales of thugging and hindsight.”
Did that do it? I hope so because I jammed the album three times over 2 days trying to “verbalize” it. The intro song came on so strong that I stopped playing Madden 20! I couldn’t even focus on my playcalling because I was jamming so hard and bobbing my head. Nothing stopped with songs 2-27 as the cursing, aggressive, storytelling referencing death and EVERYTHING being on YOU changed my entire mood from low key chilling to F whoever and whatever is against ME. (I’m dead serious Sis. I was crunk the whole album.) I needed it myself and had no idea it was coming. I was honestly home alone for the weekend, kinda worried about tremors, falling, etc. The album had me cleaning the kitchen, SANGING loudly that “nobody still don’t know what I go through. Still don’t what I been through. Still can’t walk a mile in MY shoes.”
If there is any negative to The Product III: State of Emergency, (August Alsina, 2020) is that it is NOT for couples looking for love-making and soft tunes. That is NO problem for me, or my wife, because we’re both kinda gangsta. We both LOVE his albums, straight-forward lyrics and street tales. For the couples looking for that loooooooover’s musics, keep going.
