Hoodie Allen Collaborates His Way to the Top.
Hoodie Allen can be notice with his new album Crew Cut. Artwork by Ryan Woods.
Steven Markowitz was born in 1988, in New York City. He is more commonly known as Hoodie Allen, which is the stage name that he picked up when he became an artist in the hip-hop/rap genre. He has his college degree in finance and marketing but his true passion was rapping, so that is what he pursued as his career when he left his job at Google .
During his career he has had two superb albums that have been released. The first album that Steven released was called Leap Year; this was released in 2011, and was then promptly followed by All American, which was released in 2012. Neither of these albums were free downloads, like his newest album, Crew Cuts is, but for being free it certainly does not lack in quality.
The first song on his latest album is called Let Me Be Me. This song has a mellow beat that incorporates piano, a snare drum, and a hint of a wind instrument. This song is good; however, it seems to be lacking something that makes it a song to truly stick in your head, though it does have a very relaxing feel to it that makes it easy to listen to. If he came up with a more creative beat or a bit more catchy lyrics, I believe that the song would have been a much bigger hit than it was (not to say that it was bad in any way).
Another song on the album that snatched my attention was F.I.F.A. This song also sounds like it has piano segments brought in and it has a very upbeat and happy sense to it, which are the things that make it so unique compared to some of his older songs. Also, one thing that makes this song stand out is that he did a collaboration with another group called Chiddy Bang, which is almost the perfect fit for two artists in one song, because their sounds flow so well together.
The third song on the album is Reunion. This song starts with a clever snare drum beat that sets the pace for Markowitz to start rapping and all of the other sounds to come into the picture. The sound of this song is a little more aggressive in the way that he raps. The aggressive feel is probably what makes this song one of my favorites on this album, but the balance with the mellow chorus just brings everything together and makes the track really pop.
Even though the album was a free download, I believe it was a marketing strategy to set up a larger fan base so he has a larger profit margin on his next album. Either way, this album shows what Markowitz is made of and what he is capable of producing in the recording studio. It demonstrates that even though he is still mostly underground, he has the potential to break through the barrier and be the next big musician.
Rating: ★★★★
