Shaya

Shaya is a bit of a hip-hop nomad. He spent his formative years shuffling between numerous foster homes, from Indiana to the Bay Area, which shaped not only his tumultuous childhood but his taste in hip-hop music. Just as he was never accustomed to staying in one place for long, he never seems to stay with a particular sound. On his debut album, Fallen Awake, he uses eight different producers on 14 songs. One thing that does stay constant is Shaya’s flow, which is good but without many changes to his delivery the album trails off gradually as it progresses. With that said, Shaya’s heart is in the right place. With his commitment to resurrecting thinking man’s music through heavy emphasis on lyrical content, the album shows promise. A track like "Impeccable Concepts,” in which Shaya staggers his delivery and lets the beat come to him, sheds light on precisely what is lacking in much of the album and indicates that there is more in store from the young MC, and it will be worth a listen.