Hoodie Allen – Leap Year [Download Mixtape]
Ever since Pep Rally, Hoodie Allen has been telling me that he plans on taking his music to a new level. Hoodie is an artist who is often defined as a “white rapper,” potentially a member of the “frat rap” genre as he does best when sampling fun pop songs and displaying clever wordplay. But Hoodie Allen is convinced that he’s more than that; he knows that making music is something he wants to do with his life, and to prove it he left his prestigious job at Google to pursue rapping as a full-time career. It certainly says something when somebody turns down a job at one of the very best companies in the entire world to … well, rap on stages night after night. In Hoodie’s own words, Leap Year is an album that offers “a look into [his] world and what it means to step out of your comfort zone.”
To prove his abilities, Hoodie Allen and producer RJF tried to craft a new and much original sound on Leap Year. The opening track, “Song For An Actress,” which Hoodie told me he wrote for an anonymous actress, is a clear sampling of “Don’t Gotta Work It Out” by Fitz and the Tantrums, and “Dreams Up” features “White Nights” by Oh Land, but the rest of the songs on Leap Year depend much less on pre-made samples than the tracks on Pep Rally. What separates Hoodie from the rest of his compatriots in the young hip hop world is his understanding of musical structure and wordplay. Sure, a ton of young artists can pull punch-lines that make you pause and replay, but Hoodie’s lyrics tend to be interconnected throughout entire projects and it seems as though every word is chosen with a particular goal in mind – to create a pattern or metaphor that perhaps some listeners will catch on the first listen, others may get on the third or fourth listen, and some listeners may never get at all.
Beyond lyricism, Hoodie seems to understand what comprises of a hit song. Hoodie Allen’s music is not just poppy for the sake of being catchy; he creates musical structures that, when all put together, build a song that will stick with you for a long time and will leave a mark. Whether it’s his repetitive hooks that will get stuck in your head, tonalities that force you to sing along at their every occurrence, or pauses and breaks at particular moments that make particularly strong punch-lines stand out, Hoodie understands that sometimes successful music has an algorithm for success, and he seems to have found his own algorithm that resonates incredibly well with a large fan base. (Maybe Hoodie learned a thing or two about influential algorithms during his stint at Google.)
In listening to Leap Year, I got about a quarter of the way through the tape and thought to myself, ‘Damn, Hoodie, you haven’t quite done what you promised to do. You still have the same flow; your music still sounds so similar to what I heard on Pep Rally.’ Now, to be clear, I’m a huge fan of Pep Rally, so really there’s nothing wrong with that. But I do know that in wanting to grow and expand as an artist, Hoodie has to prove that he can go beyond boundaries that were set for himself in hit singles and a successful previous release. Well, then came “Push You Away,” the 8th track on the tape and perhaps the most different.
MP3: “Push You Away” – Hoodie Allen
I think Hoodie is taking a leap (no pun intended) of faith with tracks like “Push You Away.” Do I think there is room for improvement? Yes. I don’t think that the singing is quite perfect yet, but I think it’s something he can work on. I think he can still work on delivery of these deeper songs, but it’s certainly a move in the right direction. BUT, I think what’s important here is that Hoodie is telling the world that he can do more than rhyme with a fun little flow and within the realm of sampled pop music and bubblegum lyrics. He’s stepped away from what might be considered “frat rap” and has adopted a sound very similar to underground artist Macklemore, who also tends to rap about much deeper and personal issues. Hoodie has strayed from his norm and opened up to the world about his life a lot more on Leap Year. I asked Hoodie which songs his personal life influenced the most, and he was quick to answer “Push You Away” and “Moon Bounce.” “Those two are ones where I can give myself chills just thinking about the moments that made me feel that way,” he noted. The second I heard both of these songs, I knew that would be the case.
I’ve been craving some content from Hoodie that was really an honest expression of what his life has become, and I think he has delivered just that with Leap Year. Sure, there are still tracks on the tape that are mainly party tracks and may not have that type of content, but that’s okay, too. In fact, he did an incredible job with those tracks, and they’re fun. But there is still material on the tape that tells a story about who Hoodie Allen really is underneath the cover of pop wonder coming from a young white rapper. The world knows a bit more about Hoodie Allen, born as Steven Markowitz, today than they did before Leap Year‘s release.
MP3: “#WhiteGirlProblems” – Hoodie Allen
So. Favorite tracks on the tape? I’m going to have to go with “#WhiteGirlProblems,” “Song For An Actress,” “The Chase Is On,” and “Can’t Hold Me Down.” I sincerely thought that the deeper and slower tracks would be my favorites, but I still think there’s a bit of work to be done in that delivery. The singing is a little forced for me right now, I think. Let me know what your favorite track(s) is/are! Download link below.
DOWNLOAD LEAP YEAR – HOODIE ALLEN
NEXT: Hoodie Allen All American (April 2012)
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