BIGSAM – “Off Balance” – intoxicatingly hooky, and simultaneously hard-hitting!

Rap and Hip-hop can be one of the intelligent, deep, and emotionally-inclined genres of music. It really depends on the artist. It can come across as being very powerful and moving, or simply vibe-filled and entertaining. Needless to say, hip-hop delivers a wide spectrum of entertainment values. However, there is one rap sub-genre that stands above all else in terms of the ultimate entertainment factor. It is a style of music developed in the southern part of the USA, and it is known simply as crunk.

Crunk is a very high-energy, club-oriented type of hip-hop. In musical and lyrical terms, crunk songs and artists are virtually identical. If it wasn’t for sheer differences in ego and attitude, it would be hard to tell them apart. An able practitioner of the trade, is BIGSAM from Tuskegee, Alabama.

The youngest of five children, BIGSAM himself is the father of seven. He has been making music for over 8 years, but just start releasing his stuff on all platforms from this year. He has his own label called, Felsam Ent., and his latest single is entitled, “Off Balance”.

“Off Balance” does what it’s supposed to do very well: it makes for one hell of a hype track. The lyrics are streetwise and witty. In other words, they are just the high-octane type of wordplay a party environment needs. Everything that pours from BIGSAM’s mouth is intoxicatingly hooky, and simultaneously hard-hitting. This only adds to the immersion experience, which is musically already well-designed to accomplish its goal.

The deep growling 808s and the skittering hi-hats form a highly resonating foundation, on which BIGSAM unleashes his forceful vocal pallet. The music, on the whole, is also very vibe-inducing, as it overflows with a groovy speaker-busting low-end beat and head-nodding handclaps.

You’ll have to admit that this brand of crunk is infectiously catchy. Again, the music does what it’s supposed to do: it meshes with the lyrics in perfect synergy, to accent the track’s energetic feel.

For the people who like their rap music to be hard and groovy as fuck, and totally unapologetic, BIGSAM has more than enough juice to satisfy their urge on “Off Balance”. Make no mistake about it, this is one hell of a record in the current new wave scene.

BIGSAM knows his game, and lets it run the gauntlet here. He sounds like a workaholic with an obsessive attention to his craft. The bass sounds are deep and rich, the drums slap and punch, and the track is shot through with tones that no one else seems to come up with anymore.

Though it rides on a mid-tempo beat, “Off Balance” is a high-octane record, and BIGSAM has the rhyming package to easily go pound-for-pound against his contemporaries.

He also understands how to come across like a rapper that is passionate about where he comes from, inspired by where he wants to go, and thrilled about living in the moment. This is what crunk and BIGSAM fans continue to look for in terms of his musical style and lyrical bite.