Shy Glizzy – Take Me Away 

I’m glad to see Shy Glizzy back up in this bitch with a new album and going by Shy Glizzy again instead of his recent ‘Jefe’ moniker. Jefe doesn’t sound bad per se and makes for a good chain in this video, but Shy Glizzy is Shy Glizzy. The Glizzy Gang head honcho has a knack for these heavy but melodic songs like this that focus mainly on death and what people will be saying when he’s gone/what type of legacy you leave behind, i.e. this one and 2015’s ‘Funeral’, which was previously Glizzy’s finest work in my opinion. ‘Take Me Away’ is the standout track from his recent ‘Quiet Storm’ album and may challenge Funeral for his career best so far.

I love the montage setting the mood in the beginning of the video, with the random, dispassionate shots of Glizzy’s hood (the overgrown back alleys behind apartment buildings, clotheslines, staircases, the D.C. skyline off in the distance, a police helicopter circling overhead, guys posted up on the corner) interspersed with him walking in the rain and waiting in his house with police sirens outside the window. The cold, sobering beat goes perfect with it. I’m certainly no expert on this type of thing but the intro is A+ cinematography. It really feels like the calm before the storm. (Side note – is the album name ‘Quiet Storm’ a Mobb Deep reference or less likely a reference to the ‘quiet storm’ radio format of smooth jazz and R&B which actually started in D.C.? Bigga Rankin sheds some light on the title in the album intro, yelling, in the way that Bigga Rankin does, “One thing you learn growing up in these streets is that you can’t run from the storm forever. You have to learn to stand up to it. There is dignity in surviving a storm. You won’t ever walk out of a storm the same person that went in. Glizzy you survived every storm that came your way.”) Even the title ‘Take Me Away’ goes perfectly with this vibe.

From a fashion perspective, I’m not sure if I’m feeling the Supreme umbrella but those Georgetown Hoyas shorts are fire. Bonus points since he’s representing DC AND because I looked for them online and couldn’t even find them so a rare gem indeed. (Another side note – Lightshow also had a song called ‘Burberry Umbrellas’ recently. What’s with these DMV-area rappers and high-end designer umbrellas?).

The chorus is simple but hits hard – ‘If the streets take me away, a real nigga I die.” He’s come to terms with the fact that he can die any day in the environment he’s in and while he’ll survive at all costs at least if he dies he feels like he never caved in or folded and no one can say he wasn’t ‘real.’ It’s a steadfast but sobering message and I would imagine this song was probably influenced by the recent death of 30 Glizzy.

A great song and video by the Jefe and a perfect epitaph for his album. I would love to see him making more music like ‘Take me Away’ and ‘Funeral’ as time goes on.