Thirty Three Jones

Home Interviews Reviews Artists Desktop Subscribe

Bless 1
Hometown: Chicago, IL
Label: Unsigned

In my ongoing quest to find quality hip hop on MySpace, I came across rapper/producer Bless 1, who hails from the West Side of Chicago. After listening to the tracks up on his page, my initial impression was that he sounded like Common Sense did early on in his career, both in the beats that he raps over and the subject of his lyrics. Not too surprising, as I'd imagine most Chicago rappers that came up after I Used To Love H.E.R. was released have been influenced in some way or another by Common. Bless' lyrics do a pretty good job of detailing life in Chicago, keeping it authentic without cursing. A lot of rappers would end up sounding like Will Smith if they were unable to drop four letter words throughout their lyrics, but Bless manages to pull it off. Not that I have a problem with rappers cursing on their records, but it is an interesting change of pace to hear a track without it.

For today's track, I'm putting up Bless 1's Never Give Up. The laid back beat's dope, and Bless rides it pretty effortlessly. Check it out:

Bless 1 - Never Give Up

The beat for this track was produced by Rythm from Art, straight outta Paris, France. Bless is currently working with Rythm on a full album that will be available for free over the internet. The plan is to have the album completed by December, so I'll keep you all posted on that.

To hear more of Bless 1's music, stop by his page on MySpace. You can also grab a freestyle he did over J Dilla's Another Batch over at OhWord.