[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="322" caption="Promo shot of Floco Torres"]
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At approximately 2:52 p.m. every Friday afternoon, I feel it. By “it” I’m referring to that campus-wide anxiety “to do.” You know what I mean. You don’t really care what you do. You just want it to either a) not be homework or b) not be regrettable (if you withdraw from a class later in the semester, go ahead and include option” c” which is regrettable homework, a sad combination of options “a” and “b”).
On January 28th, this collegiate malaise was noticeably absent from my afternoon. In its place, I felt an unfamiliar and soothing calmness. Was I high? No. Was I really high? No. I had plans.
Actually, “plans” is a bit of an understatement. I had PLANS. I was set to go to a Floco Torres concert. Who is Floco Torres? That’s your first problem.
Floco Torres is Macon’s premier emcee. I was first introduced to him during the Bearstock of 2009 and have been a fan ever since. Unlike your favorite rapper (I assume your favorite rapper is Swizz Beatz), Floco is incredibly versatile. For his latest performance, departing from the spacey, eclectic sounds of his last album Psychadelphia, Floco mostly showcased songs from his upcoming album Floco’s Modern Life, his first album with his recently formed band, “Dope as Fuck.” I’m not sure if that’s the actual name of the band, but he said it and I heard it, so there you go.
Rather than jumping right into his new material, Floco opted to team up with his DJ and start us off with some of his older works. Slyly endorsing his album by donning an insidiously clever T-shirt that said “FML” on the front and “It doesn’t mean what you think” on the back, Floco began his set with “Runaway Girl,” a dreamy, somber song in which he wittily and reluctantly dismisses a former lover.
Although for many rappers such a subject often leads to misogynistic ranting, Floco avoids this path, making it clear that despite his regret at her decision to leave him (again?) he respects her wishes and respects her too. A few songs later, he performed “I Want You to Hate It,” another of his “classics.” In this song, Floco details the paradoxical relationship he has with his haters. Although their hate is intended to derail his train, to their dismay, he ironically uses it to keep his locomotive running at full power.
His next song “Side Walk Talk,” which featured Jubee of fellow Macon group City Council, was one of his newer tracks. Although this song is also dedicated “to the haters,” the smooth collaboration of the summer jam-like instrumental with Floco’s wit (“Cuz you’re side walk talkin’, speakin so fast that we don’t hear you like an auction,/You ignore the cones and proceed without caution, not noticing the traffic jam that you are causing”) and Jubee’s faintly raspy yet dynamic vocals made the song a true treat and made it easy to forgive Floco for playing such conceptually similar songs back to back.
Following a very brief intermission in which the band set up and the members of crowd “adjusted” their blood-alcohol levels, Floco returned to the floor with his crew and from there the night ’twas but a dream. Whether they were performing rock remixes of Floco’s old hits such as “Beastie Flow” and “Hot Like the Sun”, a lyrical showcase and a catchy summer jam tune respectively, or performing newer joints such as “Give & Take” and “Bad Day at a Carnival”, they rocked. Hard.
My favorite part of their performance was the fact that the lyrics were discernible despite the fact that — well, a band was playing. If you had the misfortune of hearing Gym Class Heroes at the Bearstock of 2009, you might recall (to your acute displeasure) that the vocals were nothing more than a loud, grating murmur amidst an overly produced cacophony. It was kind of like listening to Linkin Park perform chopped and screwed covers of Glee songs in Arabic (that might be a compliment). Also, there was a guy waving a giant flag for some reason. Floco and his crew don’t do that. They give you the best of both worlds (rock/rap), not the B-sides to a Justin Bieber album (Bieb-sides?).
All that to say, look out for Floco’s Modern Life, due to drop within the next two months. Support (good) local music.
Floco’s Modern Life
