By Odeisel

Rent is too damn high. Gas is four bucks. The concrete jungle is getting too expensive for the lions and the tigers and Klye Rapps has had enough. KRS-One joins in on the rent strike with the track “Rent.”

Moody guitars and a slow–sizzle drum provide most of the drama on this. Sparse keys and atmospherics flesh out the balance of the composition and the steady pace allows you to focus on the rhymes.

Rapps talks of roaches and rats and urban slum lords who suck the money from their tenants yet never address their complaints regarding the condition of their residence. The video features an under pressure Kyle, wondering where he’s going to get the bread come the first of the month. Having to pay a slum lord is just salt in the wound.

Kris Parker goes hard in the vein of fuck that I’m not paying this slum lord a thing. He too mentions the drab conditions but is not coughing up one dime until his complaints are met. The only time the landlord comes around is the first of the month while the building is full of crime and thugs and not an ounce of harmony.

These are the times that try men’s souls and Kyle Rapps does an adequate job of expressing that frustration and desperation without over dramatizing the situation. To paraphrase a famous American, “Whacha gonna do, when rent is due on the avenue?”

Follow Us on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/planetill

Follow Odeisel on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/odeisel

Join Us on the Planet Ill Facebook Group for more discussion

Follow us on Networked Blogs