Azuré has been quietly building both a buzz and a base this past year. You may have seen him spit at a show or even bobbed your head to his 2012 solo project, The Umbrella Theory like we did. Or perhaps you have seen him DJing for J. Lately and the HBK (most recently at SXSW). Then again, it’s a possibility that you encountered him teaching kids to write, spit, and produce at McClymonds High School’s Legacy Studios. No matter what your introduction to Azuré was, you’ve most likely been impressed– moreso when you consider that he does all these things well.
Azuré’s video for “Slow Motion” is representative of his various paths and abilities (he also produced the track and the video). We see him hanging with rising stars Iamsu!, P-Lo, and Kuya, in addition to the younger CaliMade crew that he’s helped mentor. And then there’s the feature emcee, LV, who was one of Azuré’s students at Mack. Azuré is still hella young himself, so it’s dope to see him embracing both mentorship and fellowship in a scene that is often quite competitive in nature.
“Slow Motion” sounds like an iLLmatic track with a more contemporary flavor; a fresh take on a vintage sound without being a cheesy homage to a bygone era. We’ll have to wait to see what the rest of his forthcoming Mint Condition album will sound like, but chances are that this is a sound he’ll continues to embrace. Regardless, his mouthpiece is skilled and his writing is honest. In a genre rife with materialism and misogyny, it’s good to know that folks with good values are lacing our ears and educating our kids, and that’s a movement worth supporting.
