There is something electric about listening to real Bay Area energy popping out of your speakers and Rich Bout-It In Da Air has got the voltage to spare. This is not a typical West Coast song, it is a statement song that spans generations but remains solidly rooted in the streets of San Francisco.
The joint work with Keak Da Sneak seems to be unavoidable and unexpected, as it is possible to observe two geniuses of different epochs who finally reveal the creative harmony. Rich Bout-It delivers that gritty, uncut street attitude that can only be achieved through experience and Keak simply adds a touch of melancholy beneath the surface swagger. The two are a combination that pays tribute to the legacy of the hyphy movement and at the same time takes it into the modern realm.
The first thing that strikes you is the production seismic bass you can feel in your chest, hyphy-ready bouncy that makes you want to move and a clarity that makes you hear every detail of their delivery. It is trunk music, refined engineering, street credibility and radio polish. The music is unstoppable at the first bars, and the energy is like a freight train gaining momentum.
The simple flow of Rich Bout-It is like a scalpel through the mix without the loss of a single syllable. This is as real as it can get, and it is the confidence that you can not deny. In conjunction with the recognizable presence of Keak, the combination comes off as a lesson in the Bay Area rap dynamics.
In Da Air is a song that works on several levels: it is both a celebration of street culture and a generational gesture of solidarity, and an artist manifesto all in one. It is music that needs to be blasted, be it driving around the city or sitting down in the backyard. It is hyphy energy taken to the next level, it is the truth that is real and real knows real in any time in history.