Every once in a while, we get a reminder that the world of hip-hop is much bigger than Lil Wayne and Jay-Z. It happened again last week when Sam Adams topped the iTunes hip-hop chart with his new EP, Boston's Boy. (It also landed in the top ten of the Billboard Rap Albums chart.) His unlikely feat shocked the music industry, leading to rumors that Adams had somehow "gamed" the system (which Billboard dispelled in a news item last week) and causing numerous record labels to begin wining and dining the newly-minted rap star.
With his cherubic, clean-cut looks, Sam Adams doesn't really look like a rapper. In fact, Rhapsody initially filed Boston's Boy under "Pop." (Don't worry, it's fixed now.) But Adams is far from a teenybopper.
A press release sent last week notes, "Sam Adams is a student and a star on the Trinity College soccer team who performs his music at college parties." It goes on to say, "With successful performances at college parties, clubs and sporting events throughout the Northeast, the word quickly spread throughout the campus circuit and booking offers have consistently come his way ever since. While he's from the East Coast, he has crossed into the West through friends at colleges in Southern California. Two notable performances are a 900 student filled USC frat party in October of 2009 and at the LXM Pro with 3OH!3 in November to another 1000."
That sounds about right. Adams' music appeals to the same frat-rap demographic as Asher Roth and Gym Class Heroes. Boston's Boy doesn't have a memorable hit on the scale of Roth's "I Love College" or the Heroes' "Cupid's Chokehold," but it has plenty of references to drinking and partying. And Adams has passable rhyme skills, which he demonstrates on "Comin' Up": "What up haters/I'm back, so how's my d*ck tastes?/I'm spittin' grimy like months without toothpaste."
Okay, so Adams won't invite any comparisons to Jay Electronica. And despite his larger-than-expected audience, Boston's Boy isn't very good. He flips through rap styles like track suits, from the clubby pop of "Driving Me Crazy," which utilizes the same flat croon as Drake (and Kid Cudi and Kanye, and...), to "Swang Your Drank," which appropriates Southern swag and crunk. And like so much current hip-hop, Adams constantly pleads his case for stardom. "I'm hoping to make a killing," he sings (again, that flat croon) on "Coast To Coast." With luck, Boston's Boy is just a demo tape for better things to come.
That sounds about right. Adams' music appeals to the same frat-rap demographic as Asher Roth and Gym Class Heroes. Boston's Boy doesn't have a memorable hit on the scale of Roth's "I Love College" or the Heroes' "Cupid's Chokehold," but it has plenty of references to drinking and partying. And Adams has passable rhyme skills, which he demonstrates on "Comin' Up": "What up haters/I'm back, so how's my d*ck tastes?/I'm spittin' grimy like months without toothpaste."
Okay, so Adams won't invite any comparisons to Jay Electronica. And despite his larger-than-expected audience, Boston's Boy isn't very good. He flips through rap styles like track suits, from the clubby pop of "Driving Me Crazy," which utilizes the same flat croon as Drake (and Kid Cudi and Kanye, and...), to "Swang Your Drank," which appropriates Southern swag and crunk. And like so much current hip-hop, Adams constantly pleads his case for stardom. "I'm hoping to make a killing," he sings (again, that flat croon) on "Coast To Coast." With luck, Boston's Boy is just a demo tape for better things to come.
- Portions of Album Content Provided by All Music Guide © 2008 All Media Guide, LLC.
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