Photo via Raze
Most rappers never tell their truths on a record. Then again, most rappers don’t have much of a story in comparison to Raze.
Great songwriting is based on a life well lived, and the Milwaukee hip hop veteran has seen some wild days. That bodes well for Norris, his recently released autobiographical album. Where one could assume that a rapper would be quick to create revisionist history when it comes to their story, there’s clearly nothing exaggerated or manufactured when it comes to the staggering 23-track release. In fact, a listen to the opening prologue can tell you exactly where the album is headed in less than three minutes.
The cinematic treatment is certainly in order for an album with this much content to it. From deeply personal tales of growing up in a broken situation on Milwaukee’s North Side to becoming the brash, arrogant emcee on the quest for his next X-rated escapade, no stone is left unturned on the album. It’s the type of soul-bearing material that you would think could make even the toughest of rappers feel a bit of hesitancy putting out into the world. Naturally, there was some apprehension, but ultimately a care-free approach to Raze’s surname-titled tape.
“Of everything I’ve ever put out, this is the most unapologetically Raze thing that is available” he explained. “With that said, is there a bit of nervousness? Yeah. There are a lot of trips down memory lane that it was hard to acknowledge or revisit, especially from my childhood. But there were also a lot of things that in my effort to be truthful, things I wasn’t necessarily proud of, that I had been a part of doing. That was a big part of the reflection process of the album.”
Then again, subtlety has never really been Raze’s thing. From his earliest days of making music with an underground crew called Mayhem Music Entertainment, and later a stint in superhero-themed supergroup House of M, the emcee has been known to wear his heart, and his thoughts, on his sleeve. Solo efforts that followed, along with an outspoken social media presence, have shown that there’s no need to treat the world with kid gloves, especially when the world has not done the same in return to Raze.
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“I can tell these stories, and I can make this big old opus of ‘woe is me,’ but I didn’t want to make myself some kind of fake victim” said Raze. “There’s a lot of fun on the record, but there’s a lot of painful truths as well.”
At its core, the album is about telling a story of growing up and evolving. With the lyrical content aside, Norris still shines, driven on self-production from the rapper incorporating samples of movies and TV. It creates an underlying narrative about the things that subliminally shape an adolescent, whether intentional or not. The album’s production puts you in the shoes of Raze, at the epicenter of a world that can appear grizzled and cold, or vibrant and soulful, depending on one day to the next. One thing is for certain, Norris gives Raze a platform to bare it all.
“I just wanted to do something that I’ve never really explored before, which is a truly biographical album” explained Raze. “There are so many different experiences throughout my life that, while I’ve shared a lot though my music, I’ve never really given a true, intimate, ‘come into my world’ type of view. I didn’t realize it would turn out as special as it did.”
Norris is available on Bandcamp today.
