A Denver transplant living in Silverlake California, in his words, "Old Man Saxon is a rapper!" When not rapping, he also teaches rap at the Musicians Institute in Los Angeles California. Best known for his 2016 EP, The Perils, Saxon embodies the oddity and scholarship of LA in his writing and his delivery. He'll crawl around in a turtle costume for a music video if he has to, as long as he gets his point across. Make no mistake, Saxon is far from a gimmick.
"Stop Shooting" sidesteps the comedy, but keeps the quality intact. "Stop Shooting" bangs in the same exhilarating mode as a near-death adrenaline rush. Here we have fight-or-flight music. The track builds momentum over a rattling beat, simulating the anxiety that drove Saxon to write the song in the first place. Woodwinds come in soon after to heighten the paranoia. From verse to verse, Saxon's energy is on the verge of boiling over. With the high inflections on "stop shooting!" marking the beginning of a serious panic attack. In that same breath, the song is something of a desperate plea, not just from Saxon but from a nation that's letting its own people die over party lines.
Of the track, Saxon says: "I've been having massive social anxiety being in big crowds lately because of all these mass shootings happening in the world. This song is the best way for me to deal with this anxiety. It's a really simple song with a really simple message 'Motherfucker stop shooting!' so I can chill and enjoy my night. I listen to a lot of songs that casually reference shooting and killing another person but I don't know many songs that talk about opposite. It's not just about mass shooting, or police shootings, or club shootings, it's just a general call to action to all motherfuckers to stop shooting."
The 29 year old rapper's second EP The Pursuit is coming out in the first quarter of 2018.
Connect with Old Man Saxon on Twitter and Soundcloud.
