Fashawn: Boy Meets World

Remember that feeling Illmatic gave you when you first listened to it? It’s a feeling rarely felt again by hip hop listeners this day and age. While the album itself wasn’t as uplifting or bright and shiny as one would expect to get when getting this feeling (a la A Long Hot Summer, Connected), it reeked of true hip hop, and that alone, that essence of an album was always hard to come across. Enter Fashawn, a Cali native who certainly spits his heart out on every track. Tie him together with fellow Cali producer, Exile, and it is instant chemistry on Boy Meets World. Together, they evoke this feeling of real hip hop, true emotion, and genuine mannerisms through their craft.

Certainly a student of the game, Fashawn borrows tastefully throughout the project to compile a marvelous barrage of tracks both paying homage to past influences, as well as indulging new, fresh stories and concepts relevant to the present. “Hey Young World” undoubtedly has both a Slick Rick influence with the light-hearted Nasir in mind, too. It’s a track for the young ones and elders alike, with the simple message of being what you want to be. A subtle, yet beautiful nod follows on “Stars,” as it consistently references to the bright, complex, and reachable stories in the sky. Fashawn paints an optimistic picture like no other and gives even the most cynic listener a chance to look to the sky with hope. This emcee hits chords that most listeners wouldn’t anticipate being strummed throughout a listen, but, “Life as a Shorty” opens both eyes and ears to a difficult and realistic upbringing story, channeling the vividness and emotion displayed by Deck in his classic “C.R.E.A.M” verse, but also applying a delicate and unique touch of sensitivity. While the string of great songs doesn’t stop with “Ecology,” the track provides a mind-boggling commentary on the streets claiming: “it’s hard to be optimistic/ when you live on the same block as the killers who just got outta prison/ still walkin’ with my head up/ there gotta be something better than this scene/ of police sirens and paramedics/that’s my philosophy, if you feel the same than follow me/ this is the ecology.”

The album’s shining moment comes with a feature from Blu on “Samsonite Man,” as the two speak on their hip hop luggage (as opposed to baggage). The track can be taken a variety of ways; how diverse their rhymes are, how well traveled these two emcees are, how universal their rhymes are, etc. Blu’s rhymes sum it up: “listen, I’m just one reflection/ you see me on stage and think I’m God-reflecting/but, see I’m really just John/my passport says so/folks say I’m retro and I guess so/bag over my shoulders/no packin’ clothes, on the Metro/alone again lookin’ out the window at the road again/ask yourself why I left home to roam when I never been Home or to Rome.” And if that isn’t the stand out, there are plenty to choose from, such as the Pharcyde-esque “Lupita,” or the rather dark and disturbing “When She Calls.”

Exile may have been the perfect fit for Fashawn on this project, simply because as Fashawn tells stories of deliverance, Ex follows through with gems like “Boy Meets World.” When ‘Shawn speaks of divinity, Ex provides the platform with “Father.” Even when things get a little gloomy, there’s the production on “When She Calls.” Exile matches Fashawn shot-for-shot on Boy Meets World, making it a masterful combination of beauty, bleakness, and mystery. This producer leaves enough to the imagination of the listener to form their own story. Even if there were no lyrics, Ex achieves a feat of making a song within a song; a talent not many beat makers can say they have the capability of doing.

Tracking in with 15 joints, Boy Meets World certainly isn’t lengthy in numbers. Instead, Fashawn and Exile manage to flesh out an idea by its opening track (“Freedom”), and complete the concept with the final words on “Boy Meets World.” Sure, the album could do without “Bo Jackson,” and even “Sunny CA,” but they still serve a purpose on the album, especially the latter. Nevertheless, this twenty one year old certainly has provided a thinking-mans hip hop album, though. Give this LP a full, thorough, and attentive listen, because as a student, Fashawn has certainly done plenty to make Mr. Feeny stay off the fence and give this one a great mark.

89/100

“Samsonite Man”

“The Ecology”

“Lupita”

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