North Carolina rapper 10cellphones has entered December with a sudden change of tone and direction with his new single Live 4 The Day. Although this tracks sound, topic, and approach is such a contrast from 10cellphones previous content, the track is a welcome change that shows growth and progression as an artist.
With the track Live 4 The Day, 10cellphones throws a curve ball at the listener and hops on a 90’s sounding west-coast beat, it’s as if the beat was made in 1996 specifically for 10cellphones twenty-two years later. Even though the instrumental itself is very reminiscent of older west coast hip-hop, the track comes in with more modern mixing. The jazzy guitar compliments the depressing yet vibrant sounding synth perfectly, while also leaving space for these fragile yet suspenseful strings that provide another layer of emotion. 10cellphones comes in with a cold and subtle flow that goes hand-in-hand with the beat in place, 10 seems as if he is coming from a more depressing yet calm state. There isn’t much deviation or variety in his voice and flow for this track but there doesn’t need to be, 10 executes a more emotional sound with a constant accent of doubt that is displayed from his lyrics and delivery. This is definitely one to roll up to. Although the track is only a minute and fifty-eight seconds long, 10cellphones happens to make the most of it.
This change in sound and emotion is definitely a major sign of progression, we can definitely see that 10cellphones is becoming more and more willing coming out of his comfort zone. After listening to his most recent project 0010, one thing I did wish to see from 10 moving forward is more variety in terms of sound and subject matter. On the 0010 tape, there was two distinct sounds that 10 would typically go for: either a more playful, upbeat, trap-flavored tune such as the track HWBH (prod. by TRASH GUN), or darker more ruthless “shoota” talk shown in the track 10 Glocks (prod. By Uncledelema). To be fair, these two subject matters are the most common in todays hip-hop meta, however, a change in pace is definitely a way to stand out from your peers.
10cellphones has had a busy yet productive year in 2018. The Charlotte rapper has dropped two projects (EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF & 0010) and a plethora of singles to keep his fans satisfied. 2018 has been 10’s best year as an artist so far, and assuming he maintains his growing hype, never ending stream of content, and willingness to branch out musically, its safe to say that 10 will keep the ball rolling in 2019.
