Artist Spotlight: Beyond Belief

Year started- 2009
Projects: Bobby J From Rockaway, What About Bob?, Beyond Your Reach
Best songs: "U Don't Know Me", "Bobby Meets Bless", "Irrational Thoughts", "E.L.O", "Father's Day"

There has been a surge over the past few years of new white rappers that come into the rap game with the gimmick being that they don't fit in with the hip-hop culture. They take the fact that they're anomalies in hip-hop and use that to propel them in the spotlight for a quick fifteen minutes and their rhyme skills are just a secondary aspect of their character. Beyond Belief does not fit in with them at all. The man can rap and that is not a compliment I just give to anyone. Beyond Belief is a breath of fresh air to anyone that truly loves rap and misses hearing good verses all over good beats. Bobby J From Rockaway was Beyond Belief's debut mixtape and it was full of him rapping over classic 90s beats, even going over an almost-but-not-quite "Ice Ice Baby" and making it listenable to hip-hop purists that just like to sit back and enjoy good bars. You need to have more than just have good wordplay and flow to make it as a rapper though, you need to have content behind your songs and Beyond Belief delivers. Beyond Belief is very personal with his music especially when talking about the suicide of his father in particular. You can feel the raw emotion behind his vocals, the somber feelings of regret, shame, and sadness all behind his bars.

When Beyond Belief released his first album, What About Bob?, I was admittedly a little worried about the direction he was going in as an artist. What About Bob? sounded more like a mix you would hear at a frat party with the exception of "U Don't Know Me" which is my favorite song by him, easily. I was afraid that he was going to denounce being regarded as a good lyricist and try to cater to the fanbase of the afrementioned "rappers", but with his second mixtape, Beyond Your Reach (which has a really cool E.T. cover), he proved my assumptions wrong. He goes back to his roots, but does it in his own new refreshing way and once again puts out quality music all the way through which is a rare find nowadays.

Only time will tell what will come next from NY native Beyond Belief, but you can be the first to know what he's up to by following him on twitter (www.twitter.com/beyondbeliefnow)and checking out his youtube page (http://www.youtube.com/user/focus282)that has new uploads with snippets of new music and videos every Wednesday.

Posted in: artist spotlight,beyond belief,beyond your reach,bobby j from rockaway,mediafire,what about bob?