by osmosis

The life of rappers, who at one time had to sell tapes outta trunks, has been irrevocably changed by the digitized America. That’s not a new and novel concept at this late date, but what is becoming more and clearer is that if you can do it on the internets, you can do it in front of a real crowd – for the most part. So regardless of what one might think of Asher Roth (or the fact that his face was on pretty much every bus stop in Los Angeles during the beginning of the summer), he illustrates the point pretty well.

But there are legions of folks out there doing the same thing – they just don’t all happen to be from Pennsylvania and enrolled in a bachelor’s program. Regardless, QuESt has been at it, following roughly the same path as some other digital phenoms for what’s gotta seem like years. The Florida based emcee aligned himself with the iLLRoots crew and producer/web-wrangler Mike Waxx. The relationship has yielded a series of mix tapes that have been mostly positively received by the (pretend) internet press. But a scant few months after the release of his last project, QuESt returns with Broken Headphones.

The rapper’s love of all things D.A.I.S.Y. Age is well documented at this point – but this newest release seems a bit detached from that. The production is probably what separates Broken Headphones from not just QuESt’s idols, but his back catalog. It’s an updated sound given the ‘90s style production that Distant Travels Into Soul Theory sported. That’s not meant to figure that the beats here are lackluster – just different.

But much in the same way that Distant Travels Into Soul Theory dealt with the travails of relationships – one specifically – this new release seems to do much the same thing. It’s an odd corner for a rapper to find himself in when he so clearly finds merit in some of the more cerebrally powerful emcees of that bygone (‘90s) era. QuESt surely isn’t done. There isn’t even a proper album under his belt as of yet. If he wants to get there, though, his rhyme book needs to hold a bit more than songs about ladies no matter how beautiful each might be.