As Nas once rapped: “No idea’s original/There’s nothing new under the sun/It’s never what you do, but how it’s done.” A succinct encapsulation that sums up where so many young artists fly off the rails. Often, great art isn’t about creating something no one’s ever seen, it’s about how well you execute whatever it is you’re doing and how well you synthesize old elements in new ways.
Mani Coolin’s street sagas and aspirations of rap stardom on “Ten Thousand Hours” aren’t unique, but they’re presented against a convulsing serpent of a beat from producer Jay Kurzweil that makes the Los Angeles rapper’s detached monotone sound all the more mesmerizing. The accompanying video does a fine job of letting the song shine, adding a layer of roughly animated surrealism to neighborhood documentary and performance footage.
