No one wants to be preached to, especially someone who just turned on a track to vibe out to some hard rhymes. The most effective way to make a point in hip-hop has always been through a personal account, lumping yourself into the issue. Such is the case with “Antique Gold,” the new single from NC Producer L’Orange and Mr. Lif‘s new The Life & Death of Scenery project, out today.
The duo brought Florida MC Chester Watson along for the ride on L’Orange’s charging production. The two MCs take turns rhyming about materialism in America through the lens of gold. They resolve that having trinkets is all well and good, but what does it mean in the big picture? Chester says he’s “something like a mercenary,” seeking one empty trinket after another to quell his discontent.
Mr. Lif steals the show with a thoughtful, poetic verse in which he laments, “I was told that if I rocked gold, it would date me back to the first Black man’s soul,” and asks, “do you believe in fairy tales that could fit into the mold, in the mold of that old antique gold?” Ultimately, it doesn’t seem to matter how much we believe in the story anymore. We’re all “antique,“ they’re just the first to admit it.
The Life & Death of Scenery is available for purchase here. You can stream “Antique Gold” below.
