By Rebecca Marx
Greg Grease is bang on with his new album Born to Lurk Forced to Work, a perfectly exposed snapshot of what is happening on our streets and in our homes right here, right now. The title originated in part from Greg’s attempts to be young and carefree but learning that this is a promise not always delivered. In his own words: “Originally inspired by skate and graffiti culture and my life experience of late nights, run-ins with the law, and enjoying my youth. While creating the album I learned about lurk ordinances, and the use of such ordinances as tools of enforcement and intimidation by police officers towards racial minorities and the homeless throughout history.” The Black Lives Matter Movement, Trayvon Martin, children being murdered by police, and the flashpoint-Ferguson, Missouri all resonate on this timely album.
Grease is a musical innovator, and effortlessly blends his punching urban rap with Motown (circa 1960’s) vocal stylings, old school scratch, jazz rhythms, harmonious keys, and vintage samples. “Rip Van Winkle” prod. by StarRo is the first single off the album and reveals all of Grease’s talents punctuated by his tortured keening of “Why God?.”
When the alarm blares at the conclusion of “Wake Up” the dreamworld it created is dissolved in an instant leaving one bereft in its void. The rapid delivery of “Paces” is an affront to the lungs that would leave a lesser man gasping for air. P.O.S cannot be improved upon as a collaborator on the track “On A Limb”, a song that emphatically urges the listener to make a choice-“do something!” Not one to mince words or suffer fools, the track “Open Caption” (FT. Fresh Daily) tackles the urge for fast cash, greed instead of good-head on. “My honesty probably harms me” may be true when you call out your contemporaries, while “Have you ever thought about it? This situation’s cloudy, our nation stay divided” rings brutally true. The iridescent beauty of “Sun Showers” shimmers with a Smokey Robinson hue, and “RGB” is a loving ode to Mother Africa.
An intense album that resonates with a stark honesty, illuminating a perspective that may be unfamiliar. The rap on “Rip Van Winkle” is telling: “Use your head because they feed us what they want to.” A genuine artist who tells his truth: “So often we are born into an environment where you must “Lurk” to survive. The action of maintaining a lifestyle of lurking in itself is work, thus Born to Lurk Forced to Work.”
Release date of 3/24 on Sound Verite records/River Life, release show 3/20 Public Functionary Art Gallery Mpls MN
https://www.facebook.com/GregGreaseMusic
https://soundcloud.com/greg-grease
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