“flow is great, the lyrics are loaded with honesty” Quest Legends – Mr Spotlight

Mr Spotlight has brought together a few different elements to musically aim for something that is very high energy, uplifting, and overall – the sort of sound that comes across as a celebration or a moment of accomplishment.

Click the audio below to hear the track in full! Click the image above to see a video clip

The introduction to the track works well in this respect, the sound has the energy of a big band performance, the beat is fast paced, as are the rap vocals that step forwards later on. The second rap vocal has a natural sound to it and the artist’s voice at that point has a human touch that works well amidst the theme of success and celebration – there’s something real there to relate to, a real person with a real story, and that’s always appealing.

The initial rap vocal, however, has taken the autotuned sound to an intense level, and unfortunately it really takes away from the value of the track. The sound makes the melody of the hook jar a little, it doesn’t seem to fit with the chords or notes of the musical backdrop, and it’s a shame because the less-touched vocal performance is fantastic – the flow is great, the lyrics are loaded with honesty, and the performance is emotional and confident and fresh.

The melody of the hook has the potential to hit hard and get caught in your mind, but the auto tune effect brings it way down, and the problem with this is that it makes the whole thing less effective. The good thing is it’s only an effect, and elsewhere in the track the production shines quite brightly.

There is still a lot of appeal to the music and the prospect of more tracks from the artists involved would be of interest. The music is not your classic hip-hop set of loops, it’s something new, and that’s a great direction in which to be moving.

By Rebecca Cullen

Rebecca is a Musician and writer from Manchester, UK, with an MA in Song Writing.