Mic Gutz - It's So Hard

I haven't been able to review much music lately as I have been slaving away at my college assignments these past few months. In my time slaving way at said work, I have discovered a good amount of indie tracks both local and international. So let's kick this off with some good local rap music from Scarborough. If you're familiar with my previous writing on WhatTheHype and UpTopHipHop, you would know I am not an easy critic. If something sounds bad, I will be VERY honest about it. There have actually been times where my honesty has put me into hot water so don't worry about any sugarcoating around here. Anyways, let's get into this music video.

Let me just start this off by saying Mic Gutz is a bit of a local veteran when it comes to Canadian hip-hop and hip-hop in general. This talented emcee has been putting out quality underground music for years, and it is a shame Gutz and artists like him don't get more recognition. So expect to see more of his music here on the kauch.

The song itself is great. As usual, Gutz brings his booming deep voice out to play, chaining bars with near perfect delivery and cadence. I have a problem with mumble rappers, and it is partly due to being spoiled by artists who choose to enunciate their syllables like Gutz does here. Back to the point though, Gutz's deep voice contrasts nicely with the high pitch of the audio samples present in the instrumental. The instrumental itself is also quite nice, with no signs of overproduction (too many samples/effects) and no clips in the audio. BeatsbyAdD produced the instrumental, and it is evident he did quite a good job of it.

Apostolos Films and Screwface Films collaborated on the production for this video and I had no problems with it. The video is shot in HD mainly, with a few distorted shots added in for artistic flair and effect. Usually I have problems with this kind of practice, but the scenery in the video works with the effects as does the nature of the song. Gutz is present in front and center frame for most of the shots, with the look of a jaded individual who has had enough of the current state of rap music and the new generation of emcees producing it. The video can get rather dark in tone towards the end, but I feel that is appropriate given the aforementioned attitude of Gutz.

In conclusion, It's So Hard is a quality track born out of real passionate emotion from an artist dedicated to his craft. Gutz is venting his frustration on the rap-game, and at the same time penning a sort of love letter to the roots of the art. He is outlining the difficulty aligned with keeping yourself sane in a world of art that can be at times, insane.

Four out of Five Mics for this one.