Last Offence = MY Hip-Hop

Being a HUGE music fan I come across artists and music that represent various facets of my personality all the time. But on occasion I come across certain artists that I feel represent ME and what I believe in. In a way they feel kindred to me and they inspire me. Rapper, Last Offence (Lasto), is the newest artist to be added to that list and he has quickly earned a place amongst my upper echelon of favorite artists.

This N.Y. emcee (by way of St. Louis, MO and recently L.A.) is part of the newer generation of openly gay rappers making a name for themselves in the hip-hop scene. Within the last year this former film-maker to be has released an EP, Run A Lap (a good head start for this new emcee), and more recently a mixtape, Not For Non-Profit , one of the best hip-hop recordings I've heard all year.

Not For Non-Profit is a melting pot of lyrical braggadocio, clever word-play, social commentary, revealing lyrics and sex.

When it comes to talk of sex Lasto both simmers and turns up the sexual heat with songs like "Wet Dream", "Back it On Up" and "On Top." The former is an exceptional blend of 90's hip-hop flavor and sexual come-on's that finds Lasto and fellow emcee, Nano Reyes, boasting that, "Any dream about me is a wet one." The song "Back It On Up" is a banging club track that has Lasto and his fans heading straight to the wild side of the dance floor as the Jay-Z sampled chorus instructs listeners to, "Back it on up/Back it, Back it on up/Back it on up like a U-Haul truck." However, on the latter track Lasto ditches his sexual commands, preferring instead to seduce over a softer middle-eastern inspired beat as he asks, "Why are you here?/You should be living in my bedroom...I Won't stop till I get up on top/Won't stop till I get up on top."

But lest anyone start to think that Lasto is a common whore he makes it abundantly clear that getting at him is no easy task. Over the synth flares, gun cocks and sirens of "Don't Go There" Lasto declares, "Yeah I'm into these nuts and ball sacks/That's common knowledge now/But I ain't no slut, ninja/Calm it down."

Besides being someone with a healthy sexual appetite Lasto is also a slick and witty emcee who's fully aware of his talent, and rightfully so. On the dirty-south inspired track "Fresh As I Wanna Be" Lasto comically boasts that, "I'm tight, tight, tight dawg/Like a gerbil's coochie." The song "They Don't Like Me" (Which seriously reminds me of The Karate Kid) finds Lasto cleverly professing his lyrical might on an even grander scale as he proclaims that, "Whatever god you believe in/You can believe in this fag."

Putting aside his own vanity Lasto also puts a lyrical mirror to the world around him and skillfully tackles a number of social issues affecting the gay community. On "Here & Now" Lasto blends observant and reflective lyrics with a blazingly powerful horn-driven beat as he sounds off on the effects of the Down Low; "The DL epidemic the way that it hit those black men/I feel I need to scream it out/Like fuck me from the back end."

Lasto dives even deeper into conscious waters on the anthem "Who We Are," covering topics such as Matthew Shepard, Harvey Milk and marriage equality. While the guitar driven beat may be a little too VH1 light for my tastes the lyrics are enough to carry the song as he asserts that "You will not treat me like you better no more/You will not treat me like a leper no more."

On one of the mixtape's most introspective tracks, "Not Whining," Lasto waxes poetic over Kanye West's "Say You Will" beat about his presence in the hip-hop world. In it he admits, "Ninja I'm not whining/The game don't want me/Won't pump me/No tender feelings/None of those warm fuzzies...the game don't love me." What would come to many as a crushing realization about the music industry's homophobia Lasto takes in stride and counters with an iron will and unstoppable sense of destiny; "But I've invested in this/See if you die and you just let your destiny sit/And you don't fulfill it/Fuck was you talking about, Willis? Why was you here for, homie? This is not a game." That type of strength and honesty is what makes both him and his lyrics so endearing and allows him to adeptly take Kanye's beat and create something equally as moving as the original, if not better.

Not For Non-Profit succeeds in lyrics, diversity, production and wit. To put it simply, it's dope and to speak simply of Lasto, he IS hip-hop to me and his voice is worth being heard. I, and now hopefully all of my readers, impatiently await his full-length album, Rap's Misfit. Until then I bow in his honor, give him my personal stamp of approval and formally "ride his dick."

You can download both his EP and mixtape from his myspace page http://www.myspace.com/whoislastoffence

Check out a video of his show from this years Mondo Homo Festival in Atlanta with fellow emcee, TwiZza

Side Lipton ~ *That's me laughing and screaming "YAES!" after TwiZza cups his tidday.*

Still don't think he's dope? Well here's a video of Lasto in a freestyle word game with fellow emcees Medino Green and Rowdy Raz.


*Lasto comes in at 4:22*