Expectations by Carlos Bryant

 Carlos Bryant is an 18 year old emcee from Stockton, California who dropped his debut album, Expectations, on December 12, 2012 while he was still 17. Carlos isn't your average 18 year old "wanna be" rapper, this guy has got SKILL, and a lot of it. In his rhymes he raps about whats real to him, and you can tell that he expresses himself through his music. On this album you don't hear music about money, girls, cars, or drugs, you hear songs about hope, life, love, and his views on society as a whole. I respect anyone who does their own thing, I respect them even more when their "own thing" is a dope album called Expectations. On this album you see a feature by rapper Andy Higgins, who is a very talented artist from North Carolina. I thought this was cool because it shows that hip-hop has gotten away from being so segregated meaning that 15 years ago, you'd never hear a song by a guy from the west coast, and a guy from the south, it was unheard of. I'm glad to see that music now (for the most part) has no boundaries. When listening to this album I found that one of the coolest things about it, was the poetry. Yes I said it, poetry. You actually hear poetry on a few tracks where there is no beat, just Carlos speaking. I think this is really neat because it shows what kind of emcee he is. I think that by doing poetry on an album, he will open more people's eyes and ears to hip-hop and think that its not all just a bunch of thugs saying violent things. When I asked Carlos if there were any inspirations for him being the very lyrical artist he is, he told me that his father passing away a few years ago really motivated him to be the artist he is today. I find that neat also, because there's always a story behind artists, and in Carlos Bryant's case, he uses his fathers passing as inspiration to make deep, joyful lyrics and I think that's when I realized that Carlos has all the potential in the world. I can't forget mentioning the very smooth production by BigJogiCain(on the right side of the album cover), together these two make CLASSICS! Give them maybe 2 years and who knows they could be the next Blu & Exile, beat and rapper duo. Just to share some stats on Expectations, it has gotten about 700 downloads on hulkshare, and that is a very impressive number, especially for a debut album. In conclusion, Carlos Bryant will be the next big thing, seeing that he continues to develop as a lyricist, and overall artist. The album Expectations really shocked me with how good it was, only 1 or 2 tracks on the 13 song album that don't "wow" me, but even then they were still solid tracks. Do yourself a favor, get this album, its free, and its good, not many things better than that!

* Download Expectations HERE! and follow Carlos Bryant on twitter @MindOfCarlos
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