Sac: Get Ready To ʻRAWKʻ with Mahtie Bush X DJ ETHIK
Album: RAWK ALBUM
By Aaris A. Schroeder
Editor-In-Chief
August 24 marks the release date of the album, “RAWK” for emcee Mahtie Bush; a staple in the Sacramento Hip-Hop community. He began the notorious “Backpackramento” movement in ʻ07 and has been in the lime light and behind the scenes for over two decades as a second-generation HipHop head, emceeing, breaking and organizing.
Bush did not always live in Sacramento, he left for a while and lived in Las Vegas as a kid and was even thrown in and out of the foster care system for some time. Just like a lot of his past albums, his music content is based upon how he was raised as a young person with parents who abused drugs and struggled as a family to get ahead. Living in a broken home didnʻt jade him, it pushed him to success as an emcee, promoter, b-boy, husband and father. HipHop saved Bush, allowing him to get involved with emceeing, break-dancing and the culture of HipHop as a whole.
One of the best tracks on the album, “Glue” is reminiscent of Bushʻs crew, The Peoples Revolution A.K.A. T.P.R. The song reveals seamless melodic gangsta piano, complex expressions and simple rhymes ready to keep a crowd moving and flowing.
Bush begins the song by saying, “This is the breakdown of how my lyrics start/I stick to the script while playing my part.” This is also one of Bushʻs favorite tracks.
“Iʻm just talking a bunch of shit because that’s who I am. I’m a jerk but I am a beautiful man.” Bush says with all seriousness aside.
Along with “Glue;” the track, “Leave To Be Famous” both tend to follow Wu-Tang Clan influences. Dark beats over verses evocative of Sean Price and cuts throughout the song reminding all, “Gotta leave to be famous/Gotta be successful” is the tone of the song. Bush leaves fans full of tenacity and validation, recognition and assurance. Sacramento has always been a city full of artists with so much talent and yet so few have left. Bush is one who has rocked the mic locally, left to tour, received worldwide press and still came home to raise a family and rock the mic. His humbleness shines and his gift of spit/rhyme manifests in this song.
Previous to the release of “RAWK,” Bush released the music video for one of his top singles, “Skid Row.” Raw, loud beats cry out on this piece even though modern hip-hop is melting the edges of this track and melding the song into an iron-clad release. Think “Kill Bill;” the film, on a hot, summer day in the streets of Sacramento, with pimps, hoes, dealers and users. They thought I was dyslexic, I thought yaʻll was slow?”…”Wondering if I would make it home… eight years old.”
“Skid Row,” tells the story of Bushʻs parents who were both using drugs and government subsidies, no help in sight, even the neighbors were on drugs, fiending while Bush took care of his little sister because his parents could not.
“I worked through it though,” Bush tells in the track.
This album is just full of great songs, representing Sacramento. Recently, Bush came home from a 10-city tour entitled, “The Ladies Night Tour” with Chino XL, Equipto, Dj True Justice and Masta Of Ceremonez. Bush recently opened for Rakim and completed an album release event in Reno, NV with Dj Ethik. Bush has plans to open for Scarface in the near future.
Learn more about Mahtie Bush, musical and B-Boy events as well as his newest release, “RAWK” by visiting his official website.
LISTEN TO MAHTIE BUSH ON PANDORA NOW!
LISTEN TO”SKID ROW” HERE ON YOUTUBE
