Fly America's Derek Luh is an artist I've been sleeping on, I'll be the first to admit that. But his latest project, "Hollywood Blvd", is one of the more balanced projects I've heard this year. The seven-track EP only sees two features, fellow Fly America artist Mark Battles and Brittani Jenae. The short tracklist and limited features play in Luh's favor here. He's able to truly display his versatility as an artist.
That versatility shows up in every track on the project. The first song in is entitled "Lifestyle" and it immediately grabbed me. Those ominous chimes in the beat and his slick flow is in complete tandem. Both play up one another and gives us as the listener the feeling of boastfulness that is coherent in Derek's verse. As his project progresses that balance really becomes apparent. There are more love-sounding tracks that are completely opposite from the first song. His bars are still relentlessly lyrical so it has that consistency, but the lyrics are more loving. The remainder of his EP are songs where he flexes his lyrical muscles like in "The Way We Do" (which features Mark Battles). The song impressively shows how skilled he is as a rapper and shows he can do storytelling. Being a lyricly minded guy I appreciated that and it let me know that Derek Luh is no one-trick pony.
I came into this project not knowing who he was. Now I'm walking away as a fan. "Hollywood Blvd" has hard-hitting lyrical songs, love concentric songs, and good simple songs to bump to. There's something for everyone on this project and that's what makes it good. It has that balance not many artists can find. Derek Luh is someone I will be watching. And so should you.
Check out the project in full below.
Lead Photo Cred: tumblr.com
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