It’s not very often a track leaves me speechless, but that’s exactly what happened when I saw the music video for “You’re Horrible” by Sir Gregory Von Gotham last year. His voice is singularly raspy yet smooth, he switches flows at the drop of a hat, and his lyrics left me with my jaw agape as often as they had me making that stank face you make when someone spits something really dope. Sir Gregory is just as skilled a producer as he is an MC. His beats are sonically rich, completely unique, and he manages to make diverse records without sacrificing his own singular style.
His latest track, Rock Bottom, is nothing short of extraordinary – something I’ve come to expect from this extremely underrated, underappreciated artist. The beat is just about the hardest instrumental I’ve heard all year, with a sludgy bassline that slithers and grooves between crackling drums that would make a person with a broken neck bob their head.
The track features two female artists: Buddha Beanz and GoodVibes Indii, who is an excellent MC in her own right and has some great tracks on SoundCloud, all engineered by Sir Gregory. Each artist is given a chance to shine as well as trade bars back and forth. Buddha Beanz has this very feminine, almost valley-girl voice which creates an excellent dichotomy with her dark, violent lyrics; she almost sounds like if Vanessa Hudgens’ character in Spring Breakers was a rapper. GoodVibes Indii plays the role of the anchor, spitting the final verse with an infectious energy reminiscent of Lil Kim or Remy Ma in their respective primes. And then there’s Sir Gregory.
Sir Gregory Von Gotham does not quite sound like any rapper I’ve heard before. His dark sense of humor is reminiscent of 1999-2000 Slim Shady. His content is something of a mix between Westside Gunn and Danny Brown, and his flow is extraordinary. There is a quality to his voice and delivery that makes it seem like he’s hardly trying while simultaneously demonstrating some impressive technical skill, but because his lyricism is so strong, you might not realize the verbal acrobatics he’s doing until the second or third listen.
This is a fantastic record with a hard grimy beat, great verses all around, a funny catchy hook and it is worth mentioning the excellent engineering that Sir Gregory does on all of his tracks. It’s hard to believe he records, mixes, masters, and performs at such a high level.
I’m extremely excited to hear what Sir Gregory Von Gotham drops next and until then I’ll keep bumping Rock Bottom and the other tracks he’s already released, which are all excellent in their own different ways.
Listen below.
© 2024, deblazeo. All rights reserved.
