PReeMO, Concrete Dreams Review

Coming from Houston, Texas and having left home at 13, you’d assume that PReeMO would have plenty of issues and experiences with which to form lyrics about. His latest offering titled “Concrete Dreams” certainly confirms those suspicions. Due to having to fend for himself in gun-happy Texas of course there are gun based lyrics, for me this pushes “Concrete Dreams” from a nostalgic hip-hop masterpiece to grown up gangster rap album. This has it’s problems, mainly comparisons with extremely successful artists such as; 50 Cent, Nas and Lil Wayne. Although PReeMO lacks their unique delivery of lyrical content there is a certain complexity to the beats which is often lacking in more mainstream rap and you can hear this in the brass instrument inspired tracks “Lost Highway” and “No Goodbyes”. It is clear a whole heap of effort has been applied to every track on the album, and after a few listens you find your head gently nodding away with the beat without actually really listening to the lyrics. I have nothing bad to say of the lyrics, they are very competent, however at times they can be quite repetitive and lack a necessary hook to really engage a regular mainstream music listener the majority of the time. I also feel that it lacks the grit that you would expect from somebody who has had to look after themselves for so long. I was expecting a collection of songs which your brain would certainly remember as it would have been vibrated through your nose. Unfortunately, as I have discovered, listening to this whilst trying to do any other activity makes you wonder of the Pantheon, and causes the task to feel as long as it took to build. If you enjoy hip-hop it’s well worth your time, if not I doubt it will convert you unfortunately.