GREG GREASE WORLD
South Minneapolis MC/Producer/Drummer/Visual artist/ Garment maker.
GREASER GREG
River Life Greg
A Blue-Collar Afro-centricity is present throughout all of Grease’s music, but takes front and center on BTLFTW. The literal grind of “working seven to four and feeling mis-er-able,” and like his latest release -- 2013‘s Black King Cole EP -- the constant existential grind of a Black man finding his place in America, even with knowledge of self. Building on the theme of his 2012 debut album Cornbread, Pearl & G, Grease paints a picture of the inner city with a tactful brush. Jobs aren’t worth much as corporatism rules everything around him.
There is a craftsman’s attention to each syllable within his myriad of flows, and a desire to explore the range of his voice-as-instrument, singing several of the album’s hooks. The album’s production, provided by Grease and aided by Medium Zach, Proper T, Ackryte and Starro of Soulection, sheds predictability. Uplifting piano riffs give way to somber violins, chirping bird choruses, moody synths, elegant flutes and spanish guitars. It’s a relentlessly textured sound that reflects the spirit of a crate-digger and the ambition of an orchestra, er, “Lurkestra” leader. A nod to Jay Dee and a wink to Sun-Ra.