AT THE TOP, IT’S JUST US.
FIRST THINGS FIRST
BY HELLIE YOSHUA
FIRST THINGS FIRST, is the first debut single of Hellie Yoshua’s first debut album birthed in the winter of 2020. Although this song along with the album was conceived in the final months of 2015 — This track signifies his passions and struggles as you can hear the pain brushing off the song especially with the soulful vocals of close friend and wonderful musician Amyna Love. This one song is simply the beginning of so many other great songs Helle has to offer but if this was the last song He ever made this is the one he’d want to be remembered for forever. Most of all this is a tribute to his mother for his past, ‘selfish’, actions. This single truly meant a lot to record, get the sound close to how he wanted it and to just release. Most of all this song exudes ‘Growth’ and grow, is all he’s trying to do.
• Listen ’FIRST THINGS FIRST’ on SoundCloud
• Follow Artist on Spotify
KING OF THE FURNACE
BY HELLIE YOSHUA
King Of The Furnace...is by far my greatest piece of work, next to First Thing’s First which is why I put them right after the other. The transition to me is flawlessly because to me it’s like once I get the ‘sorrows’ and the ‘crying’ out the way it makes room for the the gritty, street, shit talking side of me that I personally feel I display so well. KOTF is that real shit. I mean the beat just says it all. This is one of those beats that I could literally just rap on forever. This is for the Cypher heads specifically. The beat is simple but you don’t even hear niggas rapping over anything like this anymore which proves again the mind of rä lomac is just different. When he played me this I instantly said YES. It just sounds like Chicago. I take huge pride in my city & especially with everything I write, I’m an Artist-Artist not just a ‘Rapper’. So I got harmonious on the chorus & hook, another forte of mine because I wrote this at a heightened time of Mike Brown’s & Laquan McDonald’s death and so many others which of course changed the course of this country’s mindset on how we’re viewed as Black People. Also coming from the Chicago, dealing with our own violence as well has taken a toll on myself and so many others like me. I could preach on these things for days. But you can hear the pain in my voice. This song says it all.
• Listen to ‘King Of The Furnace’ on SoundCloud
• Follow Artist on Spotify
I DON’T WANNA DIE TODAY
BY HELLIE YOSHUA
I Don’t Wanna Die Today — is a song that became a lot more special to me because of the elements and the time invested into the track. A lot more went into than I thought it could be. The fact that I only had a two-track of the beat itself to record to, until my engineer who is also a producer himself remade the entire beat, and I couldn’t have been more thankful.
The entire 5 years before I previously, officially dropped this album I was literally going through a lot of shit. From jail, family fall-outs, failed relationships, and a lot of that started with the untimely passing of my grandfather in 2015. One thing in this life that none of us can really control is death. So to say the least the home going of my Grand Dad wasn’t the easiest to deal with and I coped with it in a lot of dangerous ways. This one is definitely for Johnnie Taylor. And ultimately it’s for anyone who’s ever faced a time in there life where you felt like it was your last moments or ‘darkest days’. And lord knows I’ve felt enough of those dark, lonely, low times. If you’ve ever felt down & out or depressed or didn’t quite have the confidence to complete or finish the journey at hand. Your journey. Just knowh it’s not over until it’s OVER.
• Listen to ‘I Don’t Wanna Die Today’ on SoundCloud
• Follow Artist on Spotify