“City Boyz, word to the wise.”

King Bogus, The Monarch did not have to have to go to class to be A-Grade. The cleverness, wittiness, and strategy of the Savannah creative seamlessly shines across mediums. I wrote about Bogus two years ago as his rebrand as the 9er took over Savannah, GA, where at one point he was hailed as the best rapper of the area. Bogus shows no signs of showing down, slowly biding his time like the coolest anime anti-hero never written before. 

Algorithms are against the modern rap artist trying to have their original music content go viral and be noticed by the music industry’s top tier platforms, but Bogus has used all in his arsenal to steadily progress past the competition and into the realms himself and many underground rappers have desired to be in. Memes and AMVs are underrated forms of modern music marketing (see Roddy Rich, Lil Nas X, the late XXXTentacion, Cardi B, etc.) that can propel one song into a viral sensation. I myself, am a jokester and meme connoisseur. I know what pops to the masses, going viral multiple times across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram with anime, Hip Hop, and Pop Culture material. Social media can be like the lottery, in which one viral moment can completely change the socioeconomic trajectory of one’s life as seen in the past decade, which is why individuals go to absurd lengths of attention with social media trends and skits. 

Some individuals like myself and Bogus, love the fun of it all like a clever game even though we both understand the implications of what it could do with our lives. Bogus, shortly after my trend of circulating content from other social media sites, took the best from the other sites as well, with clever captions and witty dialogue starters with the content, garnering consistent high engagement ratios as compared to his non-creative/creative peers to going viral more than few times; more than 5000+ shares and likes on posts on average. While this information may seem superfluous in regards to the music, during somewhere amongst our meme journeys, Bogus got the bright idea to edit posts before they took off, getting strangers, friends and industry individuals clicking the links in his post which would link directly to his music. Usually, and not to be rude, the music links attached to viral posts are less in quality for the average rapper incorporating this strategy, but the difference with Bogus’ music is that it indeed actually slapped consistently. By creating his own new avenue, Bogus’ organic plays would reach the tens of thousands and the Savannah rapping juggernaut would even gain organic placements on Spotify playlists, acclaimed regional DJs’ mixtape placements, and more. During this time as well, Bogus would rebrand the City Boyz joke–based off of the 2018/2019 facetious meme sensation as grown by cisheteromen–into his own wonderfully facetious brand with followers, new music fans and more. 

With the music connections made in the industry, a personal following, great ass music cooking in the cut, and a consistent low cost marketing machine under his belt, Bogus geared up for the successful release of his newest project to date, Feb.15th. Feb 15th is a triumph and culmination of Bogus’ hard work, sagacious planning, hurt, and braggadocio within a succinct 7-song project now available on Spotify and all platforms. 

The first track, “AinNevaHad”, was a good introduction to a story carefully curated from start to finish within this rap project, something that isn’t as easy to execute as rappers and musicians in general would think. The jazzy intro, restaurant sound effects in the back and short dialogue by Bogus in the beginning painted the scene for Feb.15th, a restaurant dinner with a lover of interest the day after Valentine’s Day, as Bogus raps “put me on your schedule” to easily serenade her with the factual chorus “This is what she ain’t ever had.”

The second track, the title track, commences after the comic City Boyz address beforehand, with a ballad dedicated to the rowdy, dirty macking supreme, facetious problematic group of dudes terrorizing the modern dating scene. However, this title track laments the struggles of maintaining a City Boyz situationship with a young lady. The bars and punchlines are of a clever level beyond his peers. 

“T-Shirt”, the 3rd track, contains another City Boyz word to the wise comedic announcement, with bars from start to finish and great instrumentation behind it. 

“She ignored my dms but I’m in her organs today!”

I vividly remember ”The Moonlight”, Track 4, being advertised in real time with the meme marketing aforementioned, accompanied by a Avatar the Last Airbender Season 1 AMV. This song is vividly poetic, describing the fleeting presence of a part-time lover like the moonlight in the night sky. While the entire project is brilliantly comical, easy to play through, has bops and much more, the melancholy nature cannot be ignored. In fact, it shows the darker side of the City Boyz, side nigga, and situationship lifestyle. In this life, you need someone who will love you in both the sunlight and moonlight.

Track 5, “King Solomon Freestyle”, truly showcases Bogus’ royal flow outside of his song making style, as he flows fluently like a river and shows he can go toe to toe with many-a-rapper at will over a layered instrumental. The “I’m not toxic, I’m a chemist” City Boyz statement in the song cracked me up.

“Did We”, Track 6, is boom bap beauty at full work with melody, clever bars and another catchy hook, asking the lover the realness of what they had beyond their situationship. “Let Me Know”, the final track, continues the concept as it ends the story with loose ends, such a life for one living the lifestyle of one accustomed to February 15th every year. 

Stream King Bogus, The Monarch’s newest project Feb.15th on all streaming platforms and follow him on Instagram and Twitter @ KingBogusTheMon and Facebook as Nicholas Bogus, watching the King’s ascension in real time to his glorious destiny.