dARTh Tone - TMC featuring Smoke Loud (Official Audio)
What’s good everyone? Hope the weekend starts off right for y’all and allows you to do something productive for yourself. Today’s forecast is brought to you by way of Reno, NV. The artist dARTh Tone and Smoke Loud come together for their latest offering titled “TMC.” An emotional record that pays homage to the late Nipsey Hussle and the mentality he left behind to inspire those trying to find their own path. A different but appreciated style from the heavy handed MCs who typically have more aggressive deliveries. The switch up is refreshing and unexpected.
It has been a productive 2021 for Tone and Smoke Loud, dropping multiple tracks and EPs across the two artists. The two have multiple records with each other prior to this release, so the chemistry is perfectly executed on the though provoking message they are sharing. To see both artists in a more honest, vulnerable state really brings listeners in. As a listener, I can feel the everyday hurdles the artist face and try to overcame daily and immediately begin to identify with the feeling. If you are familiar with either artist, then you know that their pen is inspired by real life experiences and written with intent. Without further delay, let’s get into it.
“And no one’s coming to the rescue, everybody’s got their issues. 260 in the rental, got goals I gotta get to. Big money on the menu, gotta hustle like the rent’s due. All the ugly that I went through but the marathon continues.”
Tone kicks off the record with his chorus to set up the scene, life is trying and no matter what happened yesterday that has nothing to do with today. Things happen and that’s that, the extent to which it lasts as source of suffering is controllable. We can never control the things that happen to us or that are destined to happen as that is our path intended. They say the future is the reason why our past played out the way it did. With that in mind, you are not the only one going through it. No one will be able to get through it like you can, when you’re in the driver’s seat there's little advice or help that you can use to get you there. You can succumb the trauma and cease to thrive but that’s counterintuitive to the whole precipice of life.
There’s no safety net or refresh button that helps accelerate the growth process. It’s going to be uncomfortable and sometimes unbearable but you will be better for it after. Take it all with grace and hold your head as you stride into the person you deserve to be. Nothing in life stops but drive and desire, which is all we have internally to keep us going. Tone is no stranger to the ups and downs but he’s not letting it hold him back. He is taking control of his own narrative and humbly speaks to the listeners, his loved ones, and god about what he has come to know over time.
“Just leave the past in the past, you held me down when I was broke and I was down on my ass. Even though I did you wrong, you always gave me a chance. I’m buck eighty in the rental but 160 on dash. I must admit, I was stressing like a bitch. Know the marathon continues, started shit don’t ever end.”
Coming up Smoke Loud knows all about starting off with the short end of the stick. Being disadvantaged early on has its effects and causes you to act out of survival. It may not be rational but you live how you got to and find a way to get by. Over time, it does something to your spirit. It can either ruin your perspective on life or it can make you hungry to see something better for yourself. Luckily for Smoke’s case, he used it as fuel and found a way to make his life more comfortable than it had been in the past. Hardship without motivation is easy at this point, so challenging yourself to demand more from life is less daunting when you have gone without for any period of time.
Staying productive and feeding your spirit with goals that satisfy your own goals, or desires, is the most rewarding part. Small wins are like numbers, they add up. Smoke knows better days are upon him as long as he keeps trusting in himself and following his heart. Things fall in place much more organically when you just do what feel right without expecting a specific outcome. Just picture yourself where you want to be, you will never know what its going to take but you will find yourself there if you focus on it enough. There’s no such thing as wasted energy, just put it in the right places and you’ll be alright.
“I was set in my ways, when you lose a baby brother that’s one hell of a pain. Rode the bench my whole career, wasn’t pressing the lane until I became the coach and put myself in the game. I’m on my bounce back, tell all my doubters I’m doing good. Tip, knock Tone off what he doing. They wish they could, shit.”
Tone has been involved with music for a long time. Perhaps the first time I came across Tone’s music was around 2009 on myspace. That just lets you know how long he has been working on his craft and the growth involved. Along the way, Tone has done soul searching within himself and the company he keeps. Lessons were learned and things happened that didn’t make sense at the time but healing eventually found its way to him. There was a moment where his potential may not have been realized by himself. However, enough people believed in him to where he was able to step outside himself and want to give his craft the same respect that it has garnered from others.
Its a beautiful thing when you stop sleeping on yourself and give yourself credit before you wait for others to give it to you. In Tone’s case, he knew his worth all along but no matter how far he wandered from it, there’s always something intangible to call you back for a reason. He is doing everything in his life, as a man, for himself and the example he wants to set. It doesn’t matter if everything goes as planned or desired, it’s the character building process along the way that matters. We grow through what we go through. So take your lumps, take the time to help, and take aim for whatever is within your trajectory. When it’s all said and done, the only thing that is left is your memory along with the stories of all the dope things you did while here. The lives touched and minds opened by watching you fearlessly go for your hearts’ desires while following your moral code in defiance of what people think of it.
The song itself is a wise conversation waiting to be had with yourself and can tell you a lot about what it means to work on yourself. A personal favorite that is equally catchy as it is informative. Go stream this down below and tap in with two really good MCs who are not afraid to create outside the box. Follow them below and run it up! Stay tuned for more written blogs on the best artists you may not have heard about.. yet!
— the weather watcher 🌦🛰