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Will Schube’s pants were unfortunately shipped to his neighbor.
Chester Watson improves everything he touches, including Bible verses. “Love thy neighbor” is a fairly straightforward concept, but on “Flights,” Watson adds an addendum: …And if love isn’t enough, give them knottily brilliant rap verses, too. A bit of backstory: “Flights” started as a beat from a Brooklyn-based production team named INVT, who had the singer Kesari stop by to lay down some vocals. Things happened, life went on, and the track was forgotten. Fast forward a year, INVT relocates back home to Miami, where they live down the street from Chester. The two parties linked up, and “Flights,” was finished. POW is proud to premiere below.
On the percussive, stop-and-start beat, Watson sounds more monotone than usual, but as is always the case with our blunted king, even his most expressionless flows servs a purpose that betrays his perceived energy. On “Flights,” Watson’s voice scans as ambivalent but is really a tool towards a more precise aesthetic wrapped around the beat’s characteristics. Quiet knocks and low rumbles float through the mix, so Chester matches it. He’s a technician as much as he is a rapper, fitting between the quiet moments of INVT’s beat with an exacting focus rappers twice his age have yet to harness.
Watson is able to stretch the beat and examine it like it’s under a microscope; every minute detail fits with his words. His rhymes unfurl more than follow one another in a straight line, lacing around each other to create a verse that’s both narrative driven and stream of consciousness. Watson raps more than he speaks so it makes sense that his inspiration for the track is fairly simple: “I think the song speaks for itself. Late nights and early mornings reminiscing on love.” Fair enough.
Go ahead and introduce yourself to the neighbor you spent three years politely nodding to. You never know what talents they may hold.
