Song Spotlight: "HEATWAVE" by Jordan Montgomery

On August 4, Jordan Montgomery of Driving While Black Records dropped $TILL NOT 4 $ALE, nine tracks he says he’s been working on since COVID started. One of the tracks “HEATWAVE” definitely brings the heat and shows off Montgomery’s talent. He raps about traveling and making a name for himself because, as he says at the end of the song, “sometimes you gotta talk that shit.”

The track is braggadocio and heavy and is bookended by Montgomery addressing the listener in candid sound clips. “HEATWAVE” is part freestyle laced with wordplay and shoutouts to other Pittsburgh artists like Livefromthecity.

“Passport stampin
We trippin on acid
Flow on the track like I’m Cassius
Every time I drop its massive
Affected by the masses
I speak the gospel
Like the preacher in the masses”
The beat is very reminiscent of hip hop from a bygone era, stripped down and pitched up, but still has a repetition that will keep listeners coming back.

Montgomery says that the smoothness of the beat allowed him to step out of form and freestyle for a bit, and the result makes for a fun listening experience. While the mixtape can certainly stand on its own, Montgomery considers it an extension of his previous full-length project, Thank You 4 Ur Purchase But We R Not For $ale.

“I still have a lot of promotion left for Thank You 4 Ur Purchase but I thought it would be cool to show my fans what I've been working on this past year,” he says. “These songs aren't properly mixed or mastered. I wanted to relive the era of when artists put out mixtapes and demos."

He adds that, while he plans to have the tracks mastered to put on DSPs, the mixtape is now available on Audiomack and Bandcamp.