Ransom - Sublime Intervention

"I got a gift from God but my debt is still with Satan."

Album: History of Violence Mixtape
Genre: Hip Hop, East Coast Hip Hop, Gangster Rap
Album Release: March 13th 2016
Length: 3.44
Producer:
Vocalist: Ransom [age 36]
Label: Momentum Entertainment

Official Audio


Instrumental


Sampled from Smokey Robinson - Will You Love Me Tomorrow

Charts, Streams & Sales

Spotify = 42,000 +
YouTube Music = 35,000 +

Credits

Sample: Smokey Robinson - Will You Love Me Tomorrow (1973).

Details

• Ransom retired from rapping in 2018 at the age of 38. Never really able to break through and pushing 40 he hung up his mic to think about what might have been. Until then, his music had served a steady diet of street life, drugs and guns. A persona that seemed to match the reality as he had already spent two years in prison for possession of an illegal firearm. But wisdom comes from experience and Ransom only found his niche after he stopped trying to make it.
  
  Ransom started rapping again, but the gangster from yesteryear had been replaced by a veteran who had seen it all and survived to tell the tale. His 'Director's Cut' series with Nicholas Craven, complete with song-titles to match, was told as if he was in a horror movie, chased by the ghosts of his past. Suddenly, people could relate. Everyone has made mistakes in life and the ghosts they create chase after us all.
  
  For me, 'Sublime Intervention' is an early example of the dichotomy that made later Ransom so interesting. "I did a lot of wrong so I don't need for nothing but I look over my shoulder for the reaper coming." He unapologetically recounts a tale of thug life, drug dealing and worse "nightmares of bodies, dead faces in a bag" in a way that's unflinching. He isn't asking for forgiveness or sympathy, he's just recounting how he got here and imparting the street knowledge learned along the way. Ultimately, he got what he wanted but can't savour it "I'm trying to live well but well enough will never last." His prize is cursed.
  
  It seems to me a lot of the "hard lessons learned on the streets" wisdom of hip hop is the same knowledge a father passes down to his son. But many in the streets don't have a father. The material things only have so much value but when people grow up poor it's easy to mistake the material as more than it is. It's a father that truly provides a sense of security and his presence is never more felt than in his absence.
  
  Ransom's music is, for me, a cautionary tale of a hard life. As a child he spent time in foster care. When you need money now long term strategies aren't viable. Many young people, in their desperate search for a way out of poverty make the mistake of joining a gang and dealing drugs. Hopefully, Ransom's words can help people in a similar position avoid prison or death by the gun.
  
  It takes courage to tell your truth. While many of us would have sugar coated things, or hid them entirely, the real artistic value of Ransom's work comes from allowing people to see things as they truly were, warts and all, because it's only then we can really learn from it.
  
  
• The cover of the mixtape features a Fedora wearing Ransom holding a revolver and looks like a poster of a 70's crime film.
• The track features grim, hard nosed street lyrics spat with a coarse voice over a luscious, beautiful sounding piece of music. The contrast of which creates a bittersweet feeling for the listener.
  

Artwork