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Johannesburg - Maggz: Big Time featuring Reason and pH
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The new track Big Time boasts two of our more seasoned local rappers in Maggz and Reason, which means the actual music is slightly above average. The two are accompanied by pH, who rides the hook.
The video shows the trio on a road trip with a couple of women in new and shiny SUVs with no licence plates. I’m not sure what a Haval H2 is, but it must be a big deal as the insignia is shown many times. Two of these cars are filmed by a drone as they pass through some lush scenery and over a bridge.
The destination of this trip would seem to be a motel, and the texture of this imagery reminds me of a video by Travis Scott for the song Mamacita. You know those videos in front of a roadhouse or a flea market with gritty shots and not too much going on but rapping and finessing? That recipe works, strangely enough.
Reason and the boys channel this well, wearing all black with a few goons rocking some Styla Gang merchandise. I’m not sure what Reason is doing with the golf glove, but, okay, cool. I enjoyed the shots of pH chilling on a stoep with a tortoise.
This is not what I would call a lyrically intensive record. Truth be told, I feel like Maggz gives us very little in the way of quotables as his delivery is lost in the autotune. It comes across as if this is Reason’s track featuring Maggz. Reason kicks a scheme about him and his “hitters” chilling at villas … it would’ve been cool if they were standing in front of one those instead of a motel, but that’s just semantics. Reason actually kicks a decent verse and this beat slaps pretty hard.
Love and Glory is Maggz’s sophomore offering, even though the brother is a household name. I gather staying relevant entails wavy beats and distorted lyrics, but it would be nice to hear those old cats really snap on a beat and deliver some hard truths.
Until then, we’ll be bumping Big Time and praying for the day the autotune goes away.
