Give an MC a white canvas, a paintbrush, and a vivid imagination and he might be able to muster up a decent enough story. Give an MC like Charles Hamilton the same opportunity, and he will bring as much confidence and not fall to the conformity of any norms. The Ohio born and now Harlem bound rapper is out to set his own path in the music game. With his new mixtape Outside Looking, one could expect to take a journey with a hyper active Sonic the Hedgehog fanatic.
Hosted by Green Lantern, the mixtape is heavily congested with samples they were cleverly used to conjure up a delectable musical concoction. It’s clear that Hamilton has a plethora of influences evident on his song “Unapologetic;” where he is not apologizing about being the sick MC that he is molding himself to be. In the midst of that, he incorporates a twist from the chorus on Madonna’s song “Human Nature” just to say that what he does is only part of being human.
On the 9th Wonder produced “Don’t Touch Me,” Hamilton comes hard with aggression and “Brooklyn Girls” is a flagrant tune giving a warm shout out to all fly Brooklyn divas. “In front Of You (Go Dumb)” is like taking an acid trip with a choppy melody and a mix of a classical tune fading into the television theme song of Cops.
Throughout Outside Looking¸ Hamilton takes pride into comparing himself to Sonic the Hedgehog as if Sonic is his alter ego. “Nov. 10th” ices the cake when Hamilton raps over a sampled beat from the Marble Zone a level on Sonic 1 from Sega Genesis (“I play Sonic while I’m blowing that chronic / Pick my favorite rock and roll topic / You hear the rings I got to go shopping / Stop the flow not you Dr. Robotnik”).
Outside Looking is a refreshing mixtape when it comes to the lyrical content and how Hamilton is able to incorporate different genres of music to make his own personal sound. If he keeps it up he can definitely be a rapper extraordinaire and bring something new to the Rap game from which we desperately need.