Silas Luster – “Built on Stolen Land” – Jam-packed with incendiary moments!

Silas Luster is a hip-hop artist and lyricist living in Chattanooga TN. He has released four mixtapes with The BuLife collective and an EP in 2019 titled W.A.V. Currently he is racking up accolades for his latest 8 track album “Built on Stolen Land”. As a willing martyr for freedom and equality, his music openly reflects his views which he wears on his sleeve. As a lyrical rapper, his passion is clearly the poetry and meaning of words. His lyrics embody his fearless style and is a testament to the principles which code Silas’ music and mind. Seeing as speech sometimes appears to be futile in a country that has difficulty in listening. With his music, Silas Luster has found a way to grab and hold peoples’ attention.

And this is exactly what the artist sets out to do on “Built on Stolen Land”. Right from the opening track, “Eat The Evil” ft. theBlackbee (produced by Alonso Countit), it is clear that passivity is not admissible here. The power of music has too much potential to be wasted on futile topics and themes. Hence Silas Luster jumps right into the deep end of conscious discourse. Abuse of power, social injustice, discrimination and empowerment is quickly brought to the fore.

Silas loses no time or momentum, as he slides right into “Playgrounds” (produced by LethalNeedle), spitting out the verve of his inception: “I started rappin with a purpose. In the back of the Suburban. Swerve in traffic. Learning through my passion.” Moving onto “Lost Village” (produced by Jake Finesse), Silas Luster maintains the lyrical intensity, as he continues to unpack awareness and passionate knowledge.

Once a tool for artists to voice discontent and raw ideals, in recent times, hip hop has devolved into a medium where entertainers mainly embrace the virtues of sex, cars, drugs, and stacking cash. With this album, Silas – alongside only a handful of peers and contemporaries – brings back the real essence of the genre. Though he may be using profound philosophical and political theories, and argumentative skills, Silas Luster confidence is never overdone.

Jam-packed with incendiary moments, “Built on Stolen Land” is like a trip back to the glory days of conscious booth-spitting. The tracks are sharply focused and concise. Songs like “State of Mind” (produced by EPontheBeat), “Interlude” (produced by Texaco), and “Ghost of Bu” (produced by ViC CiPHER), flow by in stream of consciousness. Lean, tight and to the point, Silas Luster states the facts and rests his case, in each. Avoiding all excess embellishments that may distract from the message, which is at the core of these songs.

Silas Luster’s cadence and wordplay makes each of these tracks captivating, while the final two songs, “Our Return” (produced by ViC CiPHER) and “Lonely Road” (produced by lim0), serves as an ulterior reminder of Silas’ skillful tongue and vigilant ear for clean, luscious, yet non-distracting beats to rap over.

Throughout the album, Silas spins powerful imagery, turning the picture of “the land of the free and the home of the brave” on its head. Silas Luster’s ability to weave a sophisticated story around hard-hitting themes that are as personal as they are universal, is unparalleled in today’s hip hop scene.