SaveMoney has enjoyed unprecedented success this year; thanks to fan’s and critic’s high praise for both Chance the Rapper’s Acid Rap and Vic Mensa’s Innanetape, the Chicago crew have found their way to the forefront of hip hop. Boasting roughly eight talented emcees within their ranks, the collective has plans to take over the game and show that they have more to offer than two stellar rappers. Tokyo Shawn is relatively unknown outside of Chicago, except for real underground rap fans and soundcloud specialist, but that might change fairly soon. The SaveMoney emcee brings a unique blend of laid-back, swag rap and social consciousness that offers listeners lyrical content that is easy to listen to, but not devoid of intellectual observations, which helps set him a part from the more prominent members in the crew.
His latest song, “U No Me”, borrows Ta-Ku‘s “He Justin” for it’s beat, creating a gorgeous ambiance for him to spit on. Ta-Ku takes his time building this beat; it begins with a slow moving synthesizer arrangement, layer upon layer are laid on top; until the beat breaks, introducing the drums that have distinct glitch properties to them; finally another layer of electronic instruments joins the fray, but this time they have more of dance vibe to them, a interesting movement away from pure ethereal early sounds. Tokyo takes this rather unique beat and completely making it his own.
Lyrically, he is all over the place, like the Ta-Ku’s production, but still centered on young adult angst. He begins the song rapping introspectively, touching on his insecurities and his aspirations in art, in a serious mellow tone. When the percussion make their appearance, the entire vibe of the song shifts, becoming more lively and upbeat. At this point he is more concerned with having a good time to not focus on some of the problems mentioned in the earlier half. It is a cool juxtaposition, the two parts both reflect portions of real young adult life: being alone focused on the pressure of daily life, or partying to cope with the stress.
Tokyo Shawn is a clever rapper and he shows signs of becoming the next SaveMoney emcee to make some serious waves in the music community. His soundcloud is full of his older material, if you want to catch up on his work so far. Definitely check out SaveMoney’s other members’ soundcloud as well, they are making a lot of great music.