Abstract Rude & Kenny Segal – Through The Darkness
Halfway through the second verse, Abstract Rude puts himself at the door of a train car as a Pullman porter, answering to a name that isn’t his. A few lines on he’s in a Ragtime-era crime story, then picturing Django back off the chain. The history keeps showing up in the present tense, and that’s how “Through The Darkness” makes its case: the vote as something people before him fought for, not a box to tick.
Kenny Segal produced and mixed it, Daddy Kev mastered it, and it’s out now on Rhymesayers Entertainment, released the day before the November 3 US elections. A full album from the pair is due in 2027.
Between the hooks, Rude runs through his ledger: what his first rhyme paid, how close his first record came to a considerable number, being 19 and going after every mic in the room. The chorus admits success comes and goes, which is a more honest pitch than most protest songs bother with. He also calls himself neither right nor left while naming which side he hopes holds California, and he doesn’t try to square that.
The ballot gives the song its reason to exist. The war stories are what I’d play a friend first.
