MIXTAPE & EVENT REVIEW: Casey Veggies-Sleeping In Class, NYC
At the foot of Times Square with concrete and skyscrapers all around a scene is being nurtured. In the offices of Jay-Z‘s Roc A Wear clothing company (and the cooler less pushed Artful Dodger) “swag” rapper Casey Veggies is unveiling his re-upped Sleeping In Class. A reintroduction of sorts with new songs added to a project he released in 2010.
The location was a warm showroom with a few outfitted mannequins, free mixed drinks and a bunch of “cool” people. From the looks of things it seemed that some people where there for “I was there” points, others looking for a possible Jay Z sighting. However, Hov was nowhere to be found. Which begs the question, why exactly was this listening party held in the RocAWear offices? Could there be a Casey Roc Nation signing happening in the future? Who knows? But for this evening one thing was made official Casey is making a name for himself.
As he moved from track to track on his project explaining the inspiration for some, and just diving right into others, the crowd bopped along. Most held conversations to pass the time. The few ladies in the place made for good distractions and the free booze kept folks entertained.
Some of the songs on Sleeping In Class showed promise. It’s all LA throughout, which is a good thing. It’s always respectable when a rapper puts their experience in their music, instead of trying to live out a foreign one. A few other artists bubbling below the surface like Navegante and The Oxymorons were in the spot.
The vibe of the music being played reflects a carefree yet troubled mind state of today’s youth. Sounds like most youth since the beginning of time, and with that Casey often sounds like most hip hop in the market. His production choices work most of the time, although on the system in this office it doesn’t shine through. The project features guests like Dom Kennedy, Mac Miller and Tyler The Creator. Very strategic being that most casual rap fans will have heard of these guys (except maybe Dom BUT YOU SHOULD) before Casey.
By the end of the session people were more than ready to move on to see what else the night had to offer. It’s a tough task keeping the attention of your target audience in this day and time. An event like this at least gets people mentioning Casey’s name. The thing is now what do you do with the conversation.
Story by Dashaun Simmons for Fusicology.com
