Before I begin, let me first say I that no matter my view or opinion about Viva Fidel and his music I will give him prop for his content. I went and checked out a couple other tracks by Viva (“The G Files and “Never Always”) and found that his lyrical content contain social and conscience ideology. To put so much time and effort into a song and video like “Build Not Battle” when so many other artists will put the same amount of time in effort to talk about their pimp game, or the cost of their jewelry, cars, drugs, and guns. To focus on a domestic violence shows that Viva is not in it just for the radio play. Hip-hop is part of the blame for the domestic violence rate in this country. We as a culture have made it acceptable to not only tolerate, but to act as if it’s a real man that can smack his “hoe” up with no regards to the impact on his family and community. So kudos to Viva Fidel and any other hip-hop head that walks the road less traveled.
As far as the song goes, I liked it. I was initially drawn in by the video, directed by G Sound Films, which was very well produced. It gives a good visual on the point the artist was trying to get across . Its shows a typical husband and wife stressing over unpaid bills and how they manage to let their tempers get the best of them. I like how the video never really put blame on him or her but highlighted errors in behaviors that any reasonable person can understand and relate to.
The track is a little slow for my liking but the production was tight. The drums and bass sound nice and crisp, the melody fits the song well and the piano sample is similar to a DJ Premier piano riff, very nice. After listening to the song a couple of times this track really grew on me. After about the third listen I found myself bobbing my head a little bit,so that’s a good sign.
The lyrics, written by Viva Fidel and peformed by Armagideon, were okay. For a song that’s looking to bring awareness to domestic violence I would have liked the lyrics to be a little bit harder. I think this is one of those topics that need be discussed in brutal honesty not subtleties. In the words of Lauren Hill “And even after all my logic and my theories, I add a mutherf*&{41e357fed0c84f9247e7e029c2544c4f4d2795d9dff547b874d0988202651dd4}er so you ignorant ni*{41e357fed0c84f9247e7e029c2544c4f4d2795d9dff547b874d0988202651dd4}as hear me”. In other words just come harder so you can reach the hard headed ones.
Overall I would give Viva Fidel’s “Build Not Battle” 6 out of 10. Unfortunately the lyrics bring it down from a potential 8 but I hope to hear more from Viva because I am feeling the message he is trying to bring.
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Soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/armagideon
https://soundcloud.com/vivafidel
Twitter:
twitter.com/gideon029
twitter.com/vivafidel
