CrackHeadz: The Next Ones Up?

CrackHeadz are a rap collective formed in late 2017, consisting of a multitude of members currently unknown by name besides their Soundcloud tags. The lines they spit tend to be overall the “average” topics of rap today. These topics range around making money, drug culture, and women. Each one of the members that step to the mic have their own personalities, which is made very present through the tone, energy, and proficiency that is given. They have two previous songs on their Soundcloud, “Always” and “WhiteBoi Freestyle”. “Always” was produced by Moneay and Seismic, while “WhiteBoi Freestyle” is supposedly produced by Jimbo, but it is not clear by the way it was written. They recently came out with a new song, called “Myself”, produced by Kid Ocean.

“Always” is the first song that came out under the CrackHeadz name. Though this could seem as amateur attempt at the rap game (and it is), there has been a clear progression in the CrackHeadz’s way of creating beats, mixing, and rapping. But looking at this song retrospectively, it is clearly not a starting place for the group due to a multitude of reasons. The most obvious one is the one that introduces us, the chorus. Please take in mind that the translations from song to lyrics is not very easy, especially in this song so there may be inaccuracies that “I’m rollin’ potent, I’m sippin’ potion, I’m rollin’ up a cube beside the ocean…” This simplistic scale doesn’t give the song a strong standing block. It simply makes the song seem as if it was quickly written up and wasn’t truly thought of while recording. The beat throughout this song is one that I believe comes premade with almost every music software available. This isn’t to say that the beat was bad, but it could’ve been manipulated or every changed completely to match each rapper’s way of approaching it. There are three rappers in this song that switch off after the chorus is repeated. The first rapper takes the song by a pretty relaxed manner, following the snare. Their energy is sort of below average, showing me that they’re used to rapping but as a first impression, this doesn’t interest me as much as the next rapper. The second rapper resounded with me by their sheer speed and proficiency at it. Without skipping a beat, they match the beat with precision, making it seem as if it was meant only for them. Their lyricism is okay, but doesn’t quite reflect what the other rappers were going for or the style of the song. The third rapper is one that I didn't harmonize with. Their tone of voice does not resemble close to what the beat is. The lyrics are pretty bare, and should be more than just about kush and "the haters". But hereon after, CrackHeadz does attempt to move forward from this trial-like attempt at rapping and hone in on their mistakes.

“WhiteBoi Freestyle” could be a hot take on the skits present in Kanye West’s The College Dropout, with skits such as “Lil’ Jimmy” and “School Spirit”, but there is a major difference between these two artists when it comes to skits. While Kanye kept them under a minute and changed up the beat for the different actions happening within them, CrackHeadz took a different approach. By having the skit made into a freestyle, it gives them the ability to have it over five minutes long and only changing the beat a few times throughout it. The one on the mic throughout the freestyle does in fact seem proficient at rapping in general and having good flow. Their tone is a bit off, but I respect how they try to follow the beat of the song and the driving bass. The lyrics on this are kind of bare minimum, not going too hard or telling anything that I haven’t heard before. The beat, I will say, is pretty alright. I enjoyed how the bass didn’t blow out the rapper’s voice and complimented his vocal range.

“Myself” is CrackHeadz latest song, and to me, this could be the track that can launch their next song to become more well known outside of the groups that already listen to them. There are some things that must be taken from this though, I’m not simply here to say that they will be in stardom with Volume #1 coming out soon yet undetermined date. There are some obvious things in this song that if they go back to the drawing board and fixed, they could make something I wouldn’t mind blasting for a car ride with the boys. I remember back in the days of Nintendo 64 when Super Mario 64 came out. I used to play it all the time at my friend’s house until I got picked up by my parents. But like any child, I always hated playing the water levels. They were so frustrating to complete because swimming mechanics and everything slowing down. This beat exactly reminds me of what I would hear in a water level. The reverb on the piano made me take this song within the first ten seconds to be just a slowed down, cloud rap song. But right at the 15 second mark, I’m blasted with the same rapper back in “Always” that made me even want to go back to CrackHeadz. The first rapper goes straight for the kill by spitting line after line with what seems like has been practiced repeatedly. One of my favorite lines during their time on the mic was, “Smokin’ that medical, Popping some pills, not at a hospital”. Just constant after constant flows that match the beat beautifully. But lyrically wise, again they do not corelate with the beat or the other rappers in any sense other than when they talk about. I’m not sure if the CrackHeadz understand what a chorus should be. Their main chorus singer seriously needs to step up when making their chorus because I’m checking my watch to see when they’re done with their very monotone, low energy voice. The second rapper has improved since “Always” and I believe that they were also the one on “WhiteBoi Freestyle”, but correct me if I’m wrong of course. They have improved in matching the beat with flow, but besides that, nothing much has changed. The lyrics are still average, even when they try to say something deep; for example, “At first I wanted to hit it, Then I got feelings”. Really, couldn’t expand on it by going in depth about it or anything? Alright. The third rapper, I really have nothing to say except for my eulogy to the track. There was no correspondence with anything the other rappers said beside some weak statements about smoking. I’m not telling them that they're bad at rapping for life, but comparing to the other rappers, it's a hard suit to follow. Overall, I enjoyed the song and really do want to hear what CrackHeadz could be with this potential. With some moderate changes, I could see a large following to them.