Written By: Elise Olmstead
When I saw CozmikSpirit on an Ohio festival lineup, I never expected the unique musical experience she creates! Upon closer inspection of her music, I discovered that she is from Dayton and I had actually seen her perform at a show before LITZ, which made me even more excited to dive into her mixtape. The CD was professionally recorded at BlackLite Productions, self-titled and affectionately dubbed the “mixtape,” and given away mostly for free and sometimes for donations. “Our mission is to spread consciousness and love like butter!” she says of the project.
The conscious hip-hop music of CozmikSpirit consists of not just rapping, but soulful vocals, samples, and lots of hopeful lyrics about our shared struggles, local life and her friends, and all the small pleasures in life that keep us hopeful. Lyrics like “Awaken consciousness, rise above the consequence…flavored like condiments” spread a positive message with a tongue-in-cheek twist.
The first track “Warrior of the Rainbow” sets the scene – Cozmikspirit is walking down “Shakedown” feeling “fleek.” Clearly she is of the colorful Ohio festival crowd, and like that, I’m sold. With lyrics in “Cutty Cruisin’” like “party like wavy” and “eyes roll back, touch your chakra like reiki” combined with a smooth TLC R&B intro and chorus, CozmikSpirit is offering a full-on festival flavored conscious hip hop experience unlike anything I’ve heard before. I love the local references she inserts into some of her songs, including a song titled “Maydaze,” a local festival thrown by friend Sam E Dee.
This local flavor sometimes hits very close to home for me (even though yes, I know, I’m not technically from Ohio). Featuring samples from “Carry Me Back Home” Liz reminisces about Norman Dimitrouleas in “Norman’s Song,” their friendship and the lessons he taught with his life. The lyrics of the chorus sing “Friends for life” and what she learned: “Take from the earth what you plan to restore, and by that I mean love is the answer for sure,” bringing tears to my eyes.
There is too much to be said about this entire mixtape than can fit in a review, so I urge you to take a listen for yourself, the collection is available to listen to for free on Soundcloud. I’m sure there is a song that you can identify with – even deeply, and I applaud Liz’s effort spreading the message of love!
Check out more of her music here!
