86. Derez Deshon - “Hardaway”

Derez Deshon embodies the best in Hip-Hop. He’s authentic, insightful, and accessible. He’s an artist who tells stories that are too often silenced from communities that are too often invisible, and he does so incredibly well. However, its not only the accessibility of his story-telling that makes him so transcendent, but rather where it comes from.

He’s not a character, if that makes sense. He hasn’t been molded into something he isn’t. He’s authentically himself, which means he’s grounded, or at least tethered to some underlying sense of depth, the muddied sense of self that nearly everyone wades through on a daily basis. Too often artists become one-dimensional. Who they truly are gets shaved away or simplified. They start listening to the cacophony of opportunists whispering in their ear or simply their own inevitable sense of pride and hubris and lose track of who they once were. They lose the depth that comes with being an actual human being and instead replace it with the cardboard cutout of a “celebrity” or “influencer”. They forget what its like to have or display actual emotion and thought – the real type, not the hyperbolic or sensationalized type that appeals to the lowest common denominator.

Somehow Derez Deshon has avoided this pitfall. He’s remained true to himself and true to his roots, and because of that he’s stayed true to the dynamic spirit that has shaped Hip-Hop. He speaks his truth. He gives voice to the trials and tribulations of America’s deeply-embedded and systematic racism and classism, and he does so with an overwhelming amount of candor and empathy. It’s simple yet profound, at once catchy and poignant, simultaneously causing the head to bounce, the mind to think, and the heart to feel. It’s powerful stuff, and Hip-Hop needs more artists like him now more than ever.