Ol’Souls is the rising duo of emcee, Raw, and vocalist, Tayo. In celebration of the one year anniversary of their first mixtape, Soulfrito, the two are providing an in-depth, hilarious, and revealing look into their lives with The Good Ol’Days vlog. It kicks off today with the first episode that shows there’s a difficult, but inspirational, truth to some of their finest work.
When asked which song he considers his most personal, Raw instantly answers, “Broke Nikka,” off last year’s ill Soulfrito mixtape. The 22-year-old MC reminisces on his childhood, and how his mom worked long shifts at McDonald’s for minimum wage. Back then, he recalls just being happy to get Mickey D’s whenever he could, but now that he’s older? “I understand a lot of things like that and it’s like, ‘What the f*ck?’ It’s pretty shi*ty,” he says.
His partner-in-rhyme, the 21-year-old Tayo, can definitely relate. Between cracking jokes about his heritage, he says that the hardest thing he’s faced in life was being homeless. He’d work the third shift at a factory and then sleep for four hours or so in his Jeep, eventually having a breakthrough in meeting Poundz, who’s been their biggest supporter and has always encouraged the two to create great music.
In addition to being inspired by their own lives, the two were influenced by greats such as Nas, Lauryn Hill, and OutKast. You can hear the fingerprints of those influences in Ol’Souls’ music, but it’s all very much in their own voice, which becomes that much more apparent in this video. That’s not only true in the tales of their younger years, but also when Raw drives the point home that he wants to create a movement with their music. He’s not sure how that’ll happy yet, but he promises he’ll figure it out.
You can watch the first episode of the vlog , which was shot and edited by music photographer Michael Todaro, via the play button above. In addition, be sure to peep the Ol’Souls Soundcloud to hear more of their material.
Message.. Stay true to self. Self liberation. Overall equality. Selfless. – Ol’ Souls
Please join us and attend the Second Annual SOURCE360 Festival & Experience in Brooklyn, September17-20th. SOURCE360 celebrates the innovation and creativity inspired by the positive use of Hip-Hop and represents NYC’s and Brooklyn’s diverse cultural tapestry! Last year’s SOURCE360 featured over twenty events and took place over a four-day period. It was a big success for the borough and attracted over 30,000 attendees. We hope to make this year’s event even better! For more information, be sure to check out our official press release and details here.
