The alias of West Virginia-born-but-Brooklyn-based Transgender rhymester Max Skaff, Uncle Meg attempts to overthrow the soul-crushing social codes that dictate our lives by searching for inspiration in digital riffs and world-weary observations. Justifying the deserved “plenty of promise” tag thrown at him around the times of his dialogue-heavy anthem “Taylor Swift” and the bangin’ Dangerfield and Bug releases, Meg returns with a new album this week…and premieres his “Impermanent” video here today!
The 10-track Can’t Stay the Same — a collaboration with MC John Debt — is out December 1 as a FREE album download via Soundcloud, and its brash, exuberant racket easily fulfills the promise of his previous work, featuring in spades what is fast becoming Meg’s trademark style: a smooth delivery of self-confident, unfussy lyrical deftness mixed with a prankster’s cheeky insinuation. Fortified by Debt’s hoarse trash-rap, the album crams a wealth of creative ideas to the gills and documents certain emotional life cards; namely, Meg’s gender transition from female to male, Debt’s period of relationship turmoil and homelessness, and staying strong in the face of an unsteady state of the nation.
“I listened to this album whenever I was scared and needed to be brave, and time after time it would give me confidence,” Meg says. “I listened to it right before my surgery, I listened to it whenever I had to get blood work done, I listened to it whenever I had anxiety on the train. And for some weird reason it always calmed me down immediately because it was a piece of art that I knew was the real me and I associate it with a very special experience.”
Normally brash and sassy (see the character play of first single “Winning It or Losing It”), “Impermanent” is a more thoughtful visual, keeping in spirit of the song. The Don’t-Fuck-With-Us swagger is still intact, but the emphasis is clearly on things central to Meg and John (identity, itinerancy, change and growth) and hitting it with passion and energy. Submit yourself below…say Uncle!
Can’t Stay the Same tracklisting:
01. Easy Ride
02. Impermanent
03. Real Love
04. Leave So Soon
05. The Sunrise
06. Winning It or Losing It
07. Good and Wonderful
08. Resistance
09. Spells
10. Champion
More about: Uncle Meg
