Love You Like the Westside

Allow me to begin with a disclaimer:

This is not an attempt at a biographical piece, you can Google @wsboogie for that; rather this is my attempt to shed light on one of my favorite artists who, in my opinion, does not get the reception that he deserves.

Now that that’s out of the way, lets begin.

The song that did it for me was “Sunroof”, which featured a very talented, stand-alone songstress by the name of Dana Williams. Honestly, I’m not exactly sure how I found the video—I would guess just scrolling through YouTube. However it happened, I was moved by the emotion in the lyrics; I was entranced with the aesthetic; and I was captivated by the story. Everyone loves a good love song, right?

Being the person that I have grown to be, I am never satisfied with the surface level of anything—I want to dig deeper. As I began to peel back the layers of catalog, freestyles, and interviews I was impressed, to say the least. “Sunroof” was on the second installment of his “Thirst 48” series, which, again, to me, was a collection of gospel inspired love songs, with raw lyrics to which I personally could relate. Sprinkled in there were some more uptempo “turn up” songs—I mean, he is from Bompton; proudly. Collectively, I feel that they are the perfect introductory pieces to Boogie as an artist.

Now in between the first and second “Thirst 48”, he released “The Reach”, quickly became my favorite. Although he was always lyrical and introspective, I feel this tape showed a lot of maturation as an artist. He always let you know where he was from and how he was coming but on this project he dug deeper. If you had to pick one of his three mixtapes to use as an autobiography, I would put my money on “The Reach.” Either way you look at it, these three tapes and his story is how he made history.

After signing to Interscope by way of, none other than, Shady Records and not releasing a full project for two years as I grew more and more familiar with his work to date, I see a video on YouTube, “Boogie-Everything’s For Sale [Short Film]”; I was sold. However, before I sing it’s praises, allow me to share my only gripe: twelve songs?! After two years?! I digress. I guess in this day and age of instant gratification and minute attention spans, I understand the decision. (In fact, that is part of the reason why I am releasing my novel in “Chaptisodes” every Sunday at 6:19pm.)

Even though it was fast food in my opinion, it was the Chic-fil-a of albums. He speaks with such conviction and passion of emotional lyrics that tug at your heart strings—especially if you can presently relate to one of the problems he’s facing like on “Silent Ride” or “Lolsmh”. In review, I would say that it delivered very concisely—like he always does. Then again, maybe I’m biased. I wouldn’t call myself a “day one fan” but I would say I was early on and I’m in it for the long haul. I’m almost positive that this piece from a writer who hasn’t quite made a name for himself yet will do him much justice, however, I must do my part. If you don’t take anything else away from this, go watch the video for “Sunroof”—if you haven’t already.

And I’ll leave you with this:

“Mother of my skies,

why you always gotta intervene?

Father of my time,

don’t you got some more to give to me?”

—Boogie “Skydive II ft. 6LACK”