ASTRO “Lose Yourself” on X Factor (Video)

I wasn’t sure when I was going to put up the next article that pushes the “R.I.P Heavy D” post down the blog. My heart was heavy and I didn’t feel like posting new music for awhile, as I recovered from the loss of one of my childhood Hip Hop idols. But tonight, the Astronomical Kid returned to X Factor and put up a performance that would make the Heav-ster feel he was leaving Hip Hop in the good hands of the next generation.

For those that don’t know, Astronomical Kid – Astro for short – has been writing rhymes and producing music since the age of 10 and has been featured twice on MCMIreport.com’s Youngest In Charge category. He has a few videos out and you can find more of his music on his websiteÂ theastronomicalkid.com. His stand out performances in my opinion are his debut single/video “Stop Lookin’ At My Moms“, his mixtape style remix of Hustle Hard – “Different Hustle“, where he preaches the benefits of working hard and hitting the books in school, not taking the “easy” way out by other popular, but illegal or immoral hustles. He has a different hustle. He also goes in on an episode of “Spittin In Da Whip“, with mad bars and at the time he was about 12 years old!

I like to feel I always knew this young man was destined to make it. I was just waiting for the news he is signed to one of the major camps in the game right now. When I heard he was a contestant on X Factor, I knew it was on! On his first appearance, he went with his best foot forward and gave them a tried and proven joint – part of his song “Stop Lookin’ At My Moms”. He cleverly worked it in as a skit where he starts off gettin’ at Simon, telling him he caught him and to cut it out. At first it looked like he was buggin’ out – how are you screaming on one of the judges and the producer of the show and you haven’t even spit a bar yet? Then the beat came on and we’d been had. It was the intro to his song. And America caught the fever.

Well, the honeymoon is over. Astro can’t just go through his catalogue and kick his known material. He has to cover songs in the categories they use on X Factor each week. On top of that, he can’t simply spit the original lyrics of someone else’s song, because that’s not what MC’s do (and thank god for X Factors producers realizing that or all the Hip Hop artists would have been real corny, just saying other people’s rhymes). So, every week, Astro has to write his own verse (like he did with “Different Hustle”) to songs selected within the show’s theme.

Last week he did Kris Kross’s classic party anthem “Jump“. Lyrically, he killed it and even took shots at the newer artists of today.

The new generation of rap, is kinda wack, so right now I’m takin’ it-takin’ it-takin’ it-takin’ it back!

Check out how he bodied it tonight, with Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” off of the 8 Mile soundtrack. Like the original song, Astro gets personal and talks about several personal struggles, from being homeless to having Diabetes. The song is dope.Â For those who are late, you can seeÂ Astronomical Kid’s audition performance in front ofÂ Rihanna andÂ L.A. Ried, to see if he can make it on the show (he does “The Message“), after the jump. I also threw in his performance from last week’s show.