+Bisco Smith : Railroads (featuring: Human?, Grimace, and Esen)

"Layin' down track, that's why you hear bangin'."

Bisco Smith is largely seen as a solitary artist- the eccentric genius type, creating distorted headphone rap for late nights and early mornings. On his new single "Railroads", however, Bisco brought some homies along. Typically, rappers use tracks with several guest artists as an excuse to make a banger with significantly more style than substance. After all, it's difficult to carry out a narrative when each emcee gets only one verse to get his message across. Bisco and guests Human?, Grimace, and Esen manage to masterfully buck this trend on "Railroads," off Bisco's upcoming second full length The Broadcast. The four emcees' chemistry is evident, and it's no wonder, since they are anything but randoms brought in off the street to spit. "I keep my tune making within the family, with friends and folks I actually kick it with. This lineup is both the closest to me and a group that stays 100% involved in the music creation."

Perhaps it's not surprising to hear a track with a train theme from a rapper whose first passion was graffiti. In fact, one of 2009's best music videos, Bisco's "Strange Love," was directed by graffiti legend Carl Weston and features Bisco painting an enormous piece in the middle of the night. "Railroads" is, of course, only about trains on the surface. The track's four emcees use the railroad as a jumping off point to explore work ethic, movement of the masses, and thought patterns. Feeding off of the collective energy and insights of old friends and collaborators, "Railroads" is a posse track that pushes with the same unstoppable energy as a chugging freight train.

Bisco Smith's second full-length album The Broadcast will be available January 19, 2010.

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