Walking into this song is like walking into an elevator. The song opens with a friendly piano-laced beat, like something you'd hear in an elevator during Christmas time at a Hilton hotel– but then the elevator starts to malfunction and it begins jerking up and down, shaking you around, and before long you're being thrown from wall to wall, smashing into each one with great zeal. That's sort of what Maino's new song, "2012 Predictions", sounds like. Starting off nice and cheery, rapping about the end of something great but the beginning of something greater, Maino throws around predictions like the recovery of Chris Brown and Rihanna's relationship, and even president Obama being re-elected. However, shortly after the Obama prediction, the song verges off the main road and undergoes a radical change in direction– choosing instead to visit Maino's future. After a short sound bite that harangues Maino for worrying about everything but himself, he comes out rapping hard about the tribulations of being a rapper– the same old spiel any shopworn rapper would dish out. Being incapable of devotion, having all the money in the world, and killing everyone in the game, are just a few things he goes through. I do give it to him, though, because the song itself is fun to listen to, and the sudden change of pace in the song is kind of dope. I also enjoy how the guy speaking in the sound bite sounds like someone who's been spending a little too much time with Tyler, The Creator. If you enjoy ambivalent beats, rappers who think nothing but success lies in their futures, and feeling like you're on a road to nowhere, give "2012 Predictions" a little over 3 minutes of your time, and I'm sure you won't regret it. Enjoy!
[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/33037630"]
Hopefully, with any luck, we can expect Maino's LP, The Day After Tomorrow, which was originally intended to be released November 22nd of last year, soon– "All The Above" is getting kind of old, after all. The intended release date is January 31st, but it seems to be tentative.
