While crafting his Vice For President project, rapper-producer Vice Souletric had a mission. The Lorain, Ohio (about 30 miles west of Cleveland) resident wanted to salute his area.
“I always wanted to shed light on the fact that the region of the Midwest is truly the heart of Hip Hop,” Vice Souletric says during an exclusive interview with HipHopDX. “I feel the Midwest has contributed as much if not more to Hip Hop culture than any other area. Several of the greats, from Eminem, Common, Kanye, and Dilla, all come from the Midwest. The musical contribution extends past Hip Hop when you talk about The Jacksons, Motown and G-Funk. But more than anything, I think you find more pure, hardcore Hip Hop fans in the Midwest. Small towns all over the heartland will pack out to see a great show, and that’s what keep this culture alive.”
With these points in mind, Vice Souletric crafted Vice For President selection “Midwest Blues.” The song’s video is premiering on HipHopDX below.
Midwest Rap Blends All Regions’ Styles, Vice Souletric Says
Images of Freddie Gibbs, Hi-Tek, Common, Twista, Kanye West and Eminem are among those that appear in the video for “Midwest Blues.” Vice Souletric says they are representative of the diversity that bleeds into the area’s music.
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“Midwest rap is a perfect blend of all the other regions’ styles,” he says. “We have always loved and [haven’t] held a biased stance when it comes to the East Coast, West Coast and South. In the Golden Era of the ‘90s, while there were beefs and politics segregating those areas, we sat back and loved all of it. It shaped the music we made moving into the next millennium.”
In 2012, Vice Souletric partnered with rapper G.Huff for the Where Do We Go From Here album, which uses the same title as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 1968 book. With Vice For President, which features G.Huff and REKS on “Treadmill Lifestyle,” Vice Souletric wants to continue a specific Rap lineage.
“My goal is to contribute to the Hip Hop tradition of great emcee-producers,” Vice Souletric says. “It’s time for a new name from a new place. I want people to have that same feeling they had when they first heard [Kanye West’s] College Dropout, [Pete Rock’s] Soul Survivor or [Little Brother’s] The Listening. I just want people to know we make bangers up this way. The game is so wide open right now. It’s very little separating the Kanye Wests of the world from the Vice Souletrics, and I am trying to take advantage of that with great music.”
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The stream of Vice Souletric’s Vice For President is as follows:
