Chris DeLine

Growing from his 2011 debut album The VIP Room, Nashville MC Truth Clipsy has returned with the wordily-titled EP, The Very Ink with Which History is Written is Merely Fluid Prejudice. Where VIP served as a personal a coping mechanism, molded around a dark period where the MC lost four close friends, Clipsy calls the new collaboration with producer JOTA ESE, “an extension of the hope that I have for what hip-hop is evolving into.”

After connecting online and exchanging a series of messages, the duo agreed that a collaboration was in order. Before long they released both “Get Free” and “Thermometer,” and the immediate response from fans kept them going. “He kept sending me tracks,” said Clipsy, “and I kept recording.”

As last month drew to a close the duo dropped their second wave of songs with The Very Ink. “I just wanted to bring that golden age feel into to the music we were creating,” Clipsy continued. “I wanted it to have that aggressiveness that I truly feel is missing from contemporary hip-hop.”

That aggression is immediately felt with the EP’s combative opener “Clubber Lang.” Using audio clips of Rocky Balboa’s infamous foil, the track finds Clipsy verbally swinging over a soulful and funky old-school beat. And much like the MC’s approach to his lyrics, the sound reflects a purposeful attempt at maintaining a rough texture. “I wanted it to sound raw, gritty, dirty, and grungy. JOTA even ran every song through a tape machine to give it that old analog sound.”

As both artists continue to carve their own unique paths, Clipsy looks ahead to an artistic renaissance in the city and beyond, reflecting on where he feels the duo fits in. “I feel like underground music is going to be what saves hip-hop,” the MC adds. “And I’m just glad that Truth Clipsy x JOTA ESE can be a part of that evolution.”

[This article was first published on Break on a Cloud.]