#songoftheday / REVIEW: CHRIS RIVERS: “DOWNTOWN” (NSFW; MAY BE TRIGGERING; READ REVIEW FIRST)

“Downtown” is Chris River’s first single from the album Medicated Consumption, which will be out on October 21st.  First of all, the Lana Del Rey sample is what first made me fall in love with this song.  That’s how it begins, so of course that’s going to hook you first?  But then Chris starts rapping and blows it out of the park.  He’s just fantastic.  He has the skills and a great voice that makes you want to listen.   I was a fan by the time the song was over.  Thing is, I wasn’t watching the video when I listened to the song.  I hit play on youtube, yes, but then I went about multi-tasking with the intention of watch the video after if I liked the song.  Well, the video is rather explicit.  It’s not easy to watch.  The song tells the story of a guy who sleeps with a woman who tells him she has HIV after.  And the story’s conclusion is horrific.  He rapes her and leaves her for dead.  I’m not saying that to spoil it for anyone, but it needs to be said in case people are triggered by rape scenes.

Now that I’ve seen the video, I’m a bit disturbed.  It rattled me.  You don’t see many music videos that end with rape scenes.  But Chris has a story to tell and it’s one that happens in real life and I don’t think he’s trying to glamorize it or exploit it.  I think he’s just telling the truth, calling it like it is.  Other rappers mention rape in their lyrics and are just doing it to try to be controversial.  They say it’s just fantasy or whatever.  But that’s not what’s happening here.  I don’t think Chris gets pleasure from thinking about rape.  No, he’s just painting a picture and that picture is called reality.  And the song, well, it’s a winner.

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