I hit a creative wall with my own music so I thought I'd check out your album for some inspiration. I had some time to sit down and play your album a few times through, so I figured I'd give you my thoughts.
Beats: The production wasn't always to my particular flavor, but there wasn't a single weak beat and everything fit together really well. Some nice variety in atmosphere while still sticking within the same vibe and theme. Definitely felt like some space shyt. Took a few listens to get used to the digital crunch sounds on
Horizon Event, but once it clicked it stopped bothering me and I was able to enjoy it. Production wise
Stars was the big stand out. Instant involuntary head nod once those drums come in.
Flow: I thought your voice and flow mostly fit well with the production. You had some really dope verses and well crafted rhyme schemes all throughout.
Stars also stood out flow wise. You hit that sweet spot of being technical and skillful while also sounding smooth and effortless. It's like the audio equivalent of that feeling when scissors start to glide through the paper. Definitely my favorite song on the album. If you do another video my vote would be for that joint.
SS Polaris and
Horizon Event were my next favorites, and then
Crash Course and
Where I Left My Heart. I liked the way you switched up the flow on
SS Polaris and
Where I Left My Heart. Both weren't really to my taste production wise but they were still stand outs for me because they helped to break up the monotony a bit and I like how you changed up your flow on both. Plus the feature verse was nice.
Lyrics: This verse was my favorite from the album:
Game ain't but nine innings,
From base to base I raced to scrape a plate called safe,
Them hunger pains gon' wait
Yeah, them hunger pains is gon' wait
Be the typa shyt that make you steal 'til you home-free
Even fukk around and do it when it's no need
That's the love of the paper, the infatuation with imaginations of Joneses
fukk around and get found in Jonestown
Face-down in a crowd of yo pals
Worship that dollar you gon' drown
Keep that eye on the prize, that's an eye on the night
On the brightest of bright, the Northbound
On the brightest of bright, the Northbound...
The first verse on
Horizon Event was another stand out. The lyrics are technically very impressive all throughout. Very tightly written and I can tell you put a lot of thought into what you write. I can also tell Lupe is a big influence for you in the way you like simplify some complex subjects into just a couple bars. You've got a great pen.
Overall: I thought it was a really well put together and cohesive project. The space theme throughout in the lyrics and atmosphere of the production really tied things together. Not a single skip for me. I'm going to keep checking for you and
@ShaDynasty after this, and I definitely see myself going back to listen more of this album later.
As for my critiques, I'm going to be brutally honest, so hopefully you don't get offended.
My 3 least favorite songs were
I Mean It,
Flip and
Sol Model, and they all next to each other in the track list. They weren't bad songs, but I think it would have helped to break them up to help the flow of the album.
Your writing does lack a bit of personality and voice. Your perspective almost comes off as a deity narrating and making observations from the outside, which can feel kind of bland. I think you need to find a way to add more of a human element and put more of your experience into your writing.
@GreenGhxst and
@Ghost Utmost hit the nail on the head. The verse I copy pasted up there really feels like it could use a bar at the end about what you think about it all. You made a bunch of observations about society, but never offered what your role in it is or how you feel about it. Even if you just switched it up to "I never lost sight of the prize, kept my eyes on the night, on the brightest of bright..." it adds a whole lot more depth to the verse. The video
@Ghost Utmost shared was perfect in explaining what was missing. Not just about putting more personal statements for an emotional connection to your audience, but also finding that uncomfortable feeling and holding on to it while you write so more of your personal experience and voice bleeds through that way as well.
Another thing was that your flow did start to get monotonous through the album. There was some nice variety with the beats to experiment with, but there weren't that many deviations from your comfort zone. I think some of the slower beats like
I Mean It and
Sol Model would have benefited from some more urgency in your writing and delivery. It seems like you approached the beat the same way you would something with a higher BPM, which lead to a slow delivery over a slow beat. The feature verse on
Flip definitely seemed like he was writing to a faster beat as well. I have the same issue with Ransom's flow as well, and I know people look at him as one of the top spitters right now so this could just be my personal preference. I think you should either lean more into your comfort zone, which seems like something a little higher in BPM like
Stars, or try to experiment more with different flows, like on
SS Polaris. This might just be a personal preference, but I think you fall back on dragging out syllables a bit too much. I think you should try leaving the negative space rather than filling it in by stretching a word out.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents. Take it or leave it.
