Sheek Louch f/ Mike Smith - "Keep Pushin'" (mp3)

There are a few monster tracks on Sheek Louch's new album, Silverback Gorilla, but "Keep Pushin'" is not really one of them. It's one of those songs I respect more than love, just for its rhythmic structure, which is not hugely complicated but utterly unique by rap standards. The beat has a six measures instead of the usual four, to allow for a hook that emphasizes its title with a few extra refrains of "gotta keep pushin'" by generically named generic R&B guy Mike Smith, and though they could've just kept the hook that way, the whole song stays in that structure, leading Sheek to spit some weirdly paced 12-bar verses (and one 6-bar verse at the end). It's not hugely creative, but just disorienting enough to make the song kind of awesome.

The rest of Silverback Gorilla is by no means a masterpiece, but possibly the best case scenario for a Sheek Louch album, which is nothing to complain about. He still can't bring the brutal reality raps like Styles, and he's still not a punchline artist on the level of Jadakiss. but on songs like "Don't Be Them" and "Mic Check" have more heart than he's shown on previous albums, and Sheek has a knack for putting his most entertaining lines right in the hooks of his songs. Top 3 best exclamations from choruses on Silverback Gorilla: 1. "I know the radio ain't really gon' like this!" ("Go Hoodlums"), 2."I ain't tryin' to make a record where my mama ain't proud!" ("We Spray Crowds" (no homo)), 3. "til police come and ruin our night!" ("Two Turntables And A Mic").
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