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Nico and family
I always struggle with just how much personal information I should reveal about an artist whenever I put up their music. Do you, the reader, care about their "story," the motivations and inspirations behind their music, or do you just want me to keep things moving and get right to the songs? It's an even harder decision for me to make when it comes to artists that I happen to be cool with, artists that I've had some sort of interaction with outside of the internet. Such is the case with Clean Guns emcee Nico the Beast, who I've long believed to be one of the most technically skilled emcees yet to sign a label deal.
To put the following song from Nico in context, I think it's worth discussing what he had to endure in 2009. This past spring, Nico was briefly hospitalized after being involved in a fatal car accident that left one of his friends dead. Shortly after that, Nico's newborn son Domenic, Jr. passed away from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. At the time there were really no words for me to say in regards to that without it sounding trite, so I never mentioned it on here. I still haven't found a way to address it without trivializing the matter - I'm not particularly adept at dealing with personal tragedy - so we'll just move directly onto this joint from Nico in which he addresses the events of the past year and, not surprisingly, questions his own faith.
Nico the Beast - Make Believe (produced by Vanderslice)
Congratulations are also in order for Nico, as he recently announced that he and his wife are expecting another child. 2010 seems to be starting out on a much better note, and I imagine it will only get better from here on out.
Zilla has a few more new songs from Nico over at Clap Cowards. They're all tremendous, but here's my favorite of the bunch:
Nico the Beast - Wake the Beast (produced by Vanderslice)
Be sure to grab the rest of the songs. And expect to hear quite a bit more from Nico (and Zilla) in the very near future, as we'll be having a pretty big announcement coming before the end of the month.
1/17/2010 8:30:51 PM posted by Fresh