20 year old Houston resident, HillaryJane fuses her vocals and raps over trap, hip hop, and soulful sounds. Her debut EP Stix and Stones is focused on addressing issues young people deal with such as bullying, low self esteem, materialism and giving a positive response. Nearly the entire EP was produced by Grammy Award winners 808XEliTE, aside from a remix by HXLY KXSS who landed his first song on Hillsong United's The White Album.
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An Emerging Voice| Posted July 28, 2014
HilaryJane received her first wide scale exposure on the King Kulture album Stop The Traffic. In my review of that album, I suggested to the readers here at NRT that we watch out for more from this artist. Well here we are eleven months later, and HilaryJane has been signed to Infiltrate Music and is releasing her debut album Stix and Stones.
The first track, "Chimneys," eases us into HilaryJane's style of smooth soulful singing along with a penchant for spitting a verse. Female emcees are not hard to come by, but ladies worth listening to are. HilaryJane can rap, plain and simple. Thematically, the song is written from the viewpoint of a person who realizes that the devil is a liar and that he is merely blowing smoke with all of the condemnation and lies that he lays on us. This realization comes when we "surrender to our King."
Thi'sl features on "Celebrity." This song is a slow pace banger. The bass is low, reflecting the heart of the narrator. It comes from a place of despair. Being a celebrity seems to the masses to be a life of ease, but this song reflects the hurt and pain that follows fame, and that the only thing that fills the empty hole that is causes by earthly riches is the love of Jesus.
"Stix and Stones" has an incredibly smooth flow to it. The drums paired with the vocal sample put you in an almost trance like state. HilaryJane's vocals pair perfectly on this song. The message is about the power of words in a person's life, especially negative words. As humans, we have a tendency to allow negative words to define who we are and what we are capable of. HilaryJane uses a simple children's rhyme to remind us that words do not define us. It is our relationship with Christ that defines who we are as Christians. It is The Word that defines us.
Closing Thoughts:
This is an impressive sample of HilaryJane's abilities as well as an exciting foray for a new label. The guys at Infiltrate have built a solid roster of young talent that will continue to give us quality music for a few years. They also have ensured that production quality is not lacking in any way, shape or form. The main thing missing from this album for me was more straight rapping. HilaryJane can rap, and we don't get to hear her strut this ability on this offering. I was left wanting a little more after six tracks plus a remix bonus track on the EP, and I hope we hear more from her soon.
Song to Download Now:
"Chimneys" (Get it on iTunes here.)
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