DaLor, was born in Brooklyn, but raised in Queens, an inner city youth, it has been the norm for the youth to be brought up cold and hard cause the streets are just that , cold and hard. The general message of the track Superstar is that you have to learn from experience and experience is the best teacher. Also that it isn’t hard to follow your dreams and remain who you are. You can make it cold and hard by not ‘staying on your grind’. Ultimately, the word play and rhyming to make sense, relay a message and entertain at the same time while relating to specific audiences mainly hip hop lovers. DaLor has done just that. Telling it like it is with the average young person. Let alone the average person in general. The statement ‘life is to short, so live your life’ reflects the main point for this track. That it is by hard work that one can enjoy the luxury and fruit of their labor.. Advising listeners to ‘stay who they are’ is an attempt to focus on the positive aspect of ones upward progression from bad circumstances to good ones and quickly. Reminding the listener that they are superstars too no matter what they do in life. Moreover, to present themselves as such, a superstar.
When you think of rap music most people think old school hip hop. However, today there is a new kind of rap music that has a whole genre of its own called Underground Rap. This type of rap music follows the same guidelines of general rap music in that contains a series of lyrics that rhyme to specified rhythms. The catch is to tell a story, present a moral dilemma with a solution, to speak on the rhyming skills that one possesses or to voice how much one possesses. However, often a hip hop artist can convey negative values to youth. This is not the case with DaLor. Yes the lyrics are explicit, as is all underground hip hop, nevertheless, this is the real deal. There are no fooling around with words unless the artist was filling in time. Which is the case with this track.
During the intro, DaLor uses bells that bring in the tempo. Underneath the bells are a subtle vocal, giving the description of what one might purchase while on a shopping spree. Overlaying tracks is common in hip hop and the percussions that overlay the initial intro of the song comes in on time and is not so profound. However, the relevance and the necessity of the percussions adding to the beat for the rhythm is obvious. With such artists as lil Wayne, Eminem, E-40, Dr. Dre and Jay-z that have been known to showcase their rhythm and rhyme dexterity, while being creative enough to tell a story, give a lesson or some type of instruction. The ultimate goal is to make sense and have a purpose. Explicit, explicit, explicit!!! This is necessary in order to get certain points across and to show that you are serious in what you are saying. superstar speaks to the general population and can pertain to anyone.
Overall, the track is clear and understandable.The melody is catchy, the lyrics are right on point as it pertains to what the inner city youth are facing these days, however, unless it was purposefully done,the chorus is slightly off key Which is a tactic used by skilled artists to convey a little sport in the hip hop genre. Moreover, reminding the working world that they can be what they want to be but should remain who they are. Is good advice. I’m all for it!
By Linda Dawkins
