Stay – Shawn Cook
The art of moving any music genre forward is evolution rather than revolution. Musical styles from rock n roll to hip-hop to punk may have been borne of chaos and culture classes, but the steady honing and development of the sound keep things moving in the right direction. It is something that Shawn Cook is well aware of if his latest single, Stay, is anything to go by.
It captures all the elements that made hip-hop great in the first place and blends them with more forward-thinking ideas. There is a modern move for every old-school groove, and the resulting music takes in heavy beats and ticking, trap-beat timebombs, brooding sonic washes and vocals which seem to spin and waltz over the top.
Musically it is new, yet at its core, it will be familiar to those who hold hip-hop dear to their hearts, the ideal blend of the fresh and the familiar. As I said in the opening paragraph, revolution is fine, but evolution is where it is. Knowing where you come from is helpful, but understanding where you are going is more important. It will be interesting to see where Shawn Cook goes next.
