I had never heard of Big Vic until I saw him perform at A-1′s record release party for The Book Of Adam. I was instantly impressed by his refined flow, stage presence, and most of all, lyrical content. The performance offered a small sample of Big Vic’s music and I was interested in seeing if he had the ability to put together a solid project. An opportunity to find out came towards the end of last year when he dropped The UnReal World for free download. I clicked play with high expectations based on what I heard inside the Brick & Mortar Music Hall a few months earlier.

The project starts off with a promising intro where Big Vic touches on some current events with impressive world play and some insight on his mentality. Then “The Unreal” starts playing and halfway through I was feeling disappointed. The lyrics on the track are the same ignorant bullshit lyrics we hear from other rappers that brag about things such as violence, crime, hoes, drugs, and no respect for education. Just as I start thinking that Big Vic is just a typical street rapper, he ends the track by saying “you wanna know the best part of the song? None of this ever happened.” I was relieved to find out my assumption was incorrect and this was a track that fit perfectly with the theme of the project. Next, The UnReal World transitions to a track titled “The Real”. This track also mentions crimes, but it’s deeper than bragging about it. Big Vic tells us his personal story with lyrics that show us a little about his relationships with people in his life, especially his family. For me, the greatest quality in music is authenticity. It’s not difficult to differentiate between what’s real and what’s fake (for the most part), and I’ll take authentic content with a mediocre beat and flow over fake content and a great beat and flow any day. Fortunately most of this project features authentic content with greater than mediocre beats and flows.

The thing that makes real content so great is that it makes it easier for the average person to relate to a song. For example, “Escape” is based on how Big Vic was feeling due to certain events in his life. I definitely have not had the same experiences as Big Vic, but I found myself really connecting to the mood of the track when I was going through tough times at my job. I think most people have had experiences that have made them feel like running away and could connect to the song. Another song I really felt a connection to is “The City”. I typically like any track about the city where I was raised, but this track is one of the better ones in recent years.

Big Vic’s creativity shines throughout the project. Here are some of the lines that stood out to me:

Cuz one step for me is like 10 for ya’ll, and that wasn’t even to point out the fact that I’m tall.

My George Foreman flow will grill them with hot bars.

I can shoot slower like MAC-10 [Mack 10] or faster like TEC-9 [Tech N9ne], is he talking guns or rappers? You decide.

I guess it’s fake it ’til you make it, go into clubs trying to make it rain, knowing you wanna rake it.

The UnReal World is more of a mixtape than an album and has Big Vic rapping over different types of beats, including some well known beats used by mainstream artists. It’s a solid introduction to new listeners, giving us a glimpse of what he’s capable of. The high expectations I had before I listened to this project will be even higher before playing his next release.