The track starts off on a real high, the simplicity of that synth riff has great impact. The attitude and the volume steps into the spotlight soon after, and the track suddenly sounds very heavy and big, yet it remains instrumentally minimalist. The vocal performance is the main thread of character throughout this piece, though the riff is also loaded with personality, as is the beat – the beat has a refreshingly unique, tripped up sort of rhythm to it. Similarly, the entire mix stops and starts at various points within the music, keeping the whole thing interesting at all times.
Alongside of all this, it’s undeniably the vocal which holds the whole thing up so highly. Everything from the tones and the inflections of the voice itself, to the passion and the confidence in the performance, and even the flow of the lyrical expression throughout. It feels like a short song, and it’s noticeable, but it’s far better to quit while you’re ahead than to carry on for far too long and leave your audience getting tired of it. The hook to this track is another fairly simplistic element, but it stays with you. There’s no melody to it, but the strength clearly lies in the artist’s performance of the key line, so those inflections and that particular choice of tone used to separate this section from the verses is more than enough to make it count.
For a number of reasons this is a track that stands out from a lot of other recent, underground hip-hop releases. Part of it is that the artist doesn’t appear to be trying too hard to be something outside of himself. The art comes across as natural, nothing fake is needed to give it substance, and that’s hugely valuable and likely to bring listeners back for more.
By Rebecca Cullen
