The Immersion: “Losing Out” With Black Milk Posted by Dharmic X on 11/01/12 | Filed under Opinion, The Immersion

December of 2008 saw a huge snowstorm blanket the streets of Boston with treacherous conditions; the icy streets cause the BPS and other school systems to shut down a week before regularly-scheduled Christmas vacations. While the city itself has a reputation for being cold (and it definitely is cold), Boston does not normally get snowstorms of that severity, and in fact it was the surrounding neighborhoods and suburbs that got hit significantly harder.

But with school out, I was able to catch up, not only on an essay I had to write, but on all the dope releases that had come out earlier. And amidst the dope music, I had found my anthem for the harsh winter months.



I had been up on Tronic several months before, thanks to “The Matrix”, but over time I gravitated towards the grittiness of “Losin Out” particularly. The sample, “Let’s Talk About Me” by The Alan Parsons project, has been used several times recently, including by Cam’ron and Jadakiss shortly after the release of this record, but nobody has done the sample justice the way Black did.

Meanwhile, while the lyrics lack the introspection that I had appreciated in first solo Royce record I had discovered, their is a sensibility to the record that can be appreciated by fans throughout the world. I certainly did. “Losin Out” is able to conjure the setting and emotions of a downtrodden city that has gone through terrifying ordeals (“I’ve got more cases in the mothafuckin AR clip than they’ve got on our mayor”). But at the same time, the track is not a defeatist manifesto. Royce ends the song proclaiming, “Talkin about how we got it mastered; the fact is whenever me and Black get together, it’s a classic.” After all, despite all the obstacles Detroit has gone to, reaching the conclusion of the song a listener is reminded that the city is “never losing out.”

The fact that Black and Royce are able to capture the heartbeat of a city both sonically and lyrically was captivating. The video, which released in February, emphasized that point and really served as the perfect visual component to the track. And as a Bostonian, while I couldn’t relate to some of the trials and tribulations Detroit has gone through fully, I understood the harshness of winter.

At the end of the day, while a track like this sadly does not get significant exposure in this current era, “Losin Out” will forever remain one of my favorite tracks. I might not be a fan of the cold wind and icy roads, but seeing winter settle in (even now as the weather starts to get colder with the onset of November) reminds me of this record, which will forever go down as one of my favorites. And at the same time, it cemented Black’s status as one of my favorite emerging producers at the time and kept the name of Royce da 5’9” on my radar, allowing me to go back to his previous material when the time called for it...


(DJ Dharmic X is the host of This Culture Never Dies, 11PM-1AM Saturday on wnyu.org. Fans and haters, can follow him on Twitter and check him out on Facebook.)

See Also: The Immersion: Royce Da 5’9” Shakes Off His Demons