“I miss landlines”, raps RYN SCOTT in “Let It Go”, his latest single and video. He’s not the only one. The old household telephone had one distinct advantage over the mobile: it was escapable. Carrying a cellphone means carrying around our responsibilities all day, and that’s become a tough burden to bear. In a year as relentless and confusing as 2019 is sure to be, RYN SCOTT has some good advice for all of us: take a step back from the technological brink, remember to breathe, and concentrate on what’s truly important.
As he always does, SCOTT makes his case with wit, warmth, and wordplay. He draws from personal experience and plain conjecture, and raps and writes with the authority of a man overcome with deep and profound feeling. His candor and skill have made him an artist to watch in one of the deepest and most competitive hip-hop scenes in America: metropolitan Detroit. SCOTT has lived in working-class Michigan all of his life – he grew up in Grand Rapids – and on songs like his regional hit “Blue Collar”, he makes his priorities and his worldview manifest. He’s got dreams as big as all outdoors, but his perspective is refreshingly down-to-earth.
And don’t get him wrong: he hasn’t renounced connectivity, or electricity, altogether. “Let It Go” producer and video director Jake Bass (and head honcho at Bassment Sounds 2.0, SCOTT’s independent label) has decorated the beat with piano, synthesizer, guitar, and tasteful sound effects that reinforce the rapper’s confessional storytelling. We see some of those instruments in the clip for “Let It Go”, but mostly Bass keeps the camera on SCOTT – and the 27-year-old rapper addresses it just like he’s talking to a close friend.
