Steve 'Flash' JuonIf you’ve been writing about rap for 30+ years (where does the time go) you’ve heard Schama Noel’s story before. You’ve probably even written that you’ve heard this story before. It can’t be helped. No aspiring rapper ever seems to be born with a silver spoon in their mouth with the possible exception of Kid Rock (ugh) or Lil Jon (aight whatever). Noel’s hard luck story includes being born in Haiti and having two Christian conservative parents who had no interest in him rapping. He’s gone from those humble backgrounds to having a “Sugar Mom” on “Two Can Play That Game” who can treat him to anything he wants because she adores him just, that, much.
Now let’s talk about the cover of his album for just a second. It appears he’s plugged his Wi-Fi extender into the floor and set it on top of a globe to both figuratively and literally imply his reach is global. The electrical cord also spells out his name. He and his friend clearly like cords just that much, because they’re both using wired controllers instead of wireless ones, but that might be appropriate if they’re playing Final Fantasy VII. I’m not talking about the modern day remakes for PlayStation 5 — I’m talking about the original you can heard sampled on “King Midas.”
So we know Schama Noel comes from humble backgrounds, yet he’s also a gamer who can afford to go retro, which went from being a cheap and affordable hobby 20-30 years ago to one that’s now ridiculously expensive. It’s to the point that while I don’t encourage piracy I certainly understand why people would emulate games instead of paying hundreds of dollars for them. What’s funny is I think Schama Noel could afford it all along, because his bio also says he was “invited to perform in Dubai” in 2015. That doesn’t just happen. Dubai is one of the wealthiest cities in the world and if you’re not friends with some rich people you’d better be rich yourself if you’re going there, otherwise I doubt you’re being “invited” to anything.
Now let’s be fair — it could be BOTH. He could have been born into poverty in Port Au Prince and then one or both of his parents moved up in life to a well paying job where they could suddenly afford to become jet setters and live in a gated community. We’re not getting the full story of his life from one bio and we’re not getting it from songs like “Was Up, What It Do” either. I’m not getting poor kid, rich kid, Haitian kid, or anything else from his tracks. The vibe that comes through most clearly is “someone who looked up to Odd Future and A$AP Mob as a kid” because he’s rapping on and off beat and spilling lyrics out of his mouth at a quick pace. He’s definitely a rap artist and not a wannabe singer.
Songs like “Comfy” sound like they were meant to go viral with a heavy bass thump and a catchy hook, but when I wrote this review the song only had three views in two months. Now just by virtue of reading this write up those numbers will go up so I took a screen shot to preserve the moment. It doesn’t mean he’s a failure as an artist then nor now, but it’s probably a good thing he’s got a “Sugar Mom” after seeing his stats. The overwhelming feeling I get from “Two Can Play That Game” is that he can afford to dabble in rap because he’s not that worried about his cash flow — and to be fair he’s not that bad at it. The problem is that since he’s not starving to make it he’s not hustling that hard either and I genuinely feel like I discovered a rapper no one had ever heard before despite all evidence to the contrary.