Charlie Junter: “Golden MBS” – a guilty hip-hop pleasure!

Charlie Junter is a 22 year old Las Vegas native who grew up listening to classic hip hop “golden era” lyricists and a handful of “progressive era” artists. Mixing old school with new Charlie started the music collective by the name of ‘Urban Chiefs’. “We’re trying to spread love and awareness through the music again,” says Charlie. “When we were younger music was an escape to create and that’s how it should stay.” Charlie Junter is getting ready to drop his upcoming mixtape “21 Junt Street”. In the meantime he has released a 3-track EP, entitled “Golden MBS”.

I used to be a big hip-hop fan, roughly ten years ago. Since then, I feel as though the quality of hip-hop has gone downhill, with a lot of artists either going for shock value with vulgar lyrics or relying heavily on production rather than good lyrics. “Golden MBS” has a great blend of what hip-hop should be.

Awesome production combined with good lyricism. Charlie Junter tends to not be overly vulgar, which is positive for me. It’s a little awkward for me to be blasting curse-word filled music when I’m sitting next to people at red lights. I feel comfortable listening to this EP and will even argue that these are tracks that everybody can enjoy…even hip-hop naysayers.

While the industry still tries to find a sense of direction, Charlie Junter managed to make a good recording that hopefully will not be slept on by many fans. His flow is pure fire, and Junter may just be the most underrated artist of the year, judging by the quality of this recording.

Classic hip-hop music is very hard to come by these days; where it seems all the material we hear in music is disposable and forgettable after a few short weeks. “Golden MBS” as a mini concept EP, is an exception. Charlie Junter is an artist, not just an emcee. He is one of the few creative musicians who not only raps, but experiments with his voice.

His creativity is what comes across in a blaring white light and which will force many to compare him to the more eccentric and foremost experimental hip-hop artists of our time. This is a recording which fulfills a void that is left in hip-hop in its current state. The three tracks that make up “Golden MBS” cover three aspects of the musical experience – mind, body and soul.

Charlie Junter is one of those hip hop artists that go way beyond the boundaries of usual rap. The thing that makes him so special is that his creativeness isn’t controlled by what everyone else wants, he seems to do things his way, which basically means that he has control of everything he is doing which is something a lot of rappers can’t say.

And if like me you haven’t heard Junter previously, this EP introduces listeners to what kind of artist he is. From the opening jazzy feel of the opening track “Golden Mind”, he experiments with different tones and sounds and shows us that he’s a multi-faceted character that isn’t going to just be the same type of boring, dull, rapper that gets too much air time on the radio talking about the same things.

Charlie Junter is one of those artists that loves both rap and melody. This much is clear from listening to his sing-song style on “Golden Soul”, though lyrically and flow-wise, my favorite track is “Golden Body (Temples)”. All-round these songs are inspirational and the beats are amazing.

What is the heart of this EP? It’s about freedom, of mind, body and soul, and really not letting what other people think about you get you down. It’s kind of like getting up out of your house and doing something productive with your life. It is definitely powerful and targeted to rallying people, but in cool, smooth and laidback way.

There’s something fresh about Charlie Junter that makes “Golden MBS” both a guilty hip-hop pleasure and a meaningful part of modern rap.