12/9/16

Jake Belanger

“A lot” is a very, VERY interesting song. It’s really the first time we hear Zay on a trap beat, and even better, on a Mike-Will beat. The beat is fairly simple, somewhat generic in terms of drums (following Mike’s typical 808 & hi-hat themes). However, despite the generic feel of the beat, Isaiah makes it his own, using vocal effects to stand out from the rest of these rappers today. Not only that, but we hear his unique lyrics, and plenty of emotion in every single word.

AA is a slower song, with Rashad singing fairly coherently on the hook. He sings in a way that seems like he’s a little drunk, which goes along with the lyrics in the track. He sing-raps for the majority of the song, repeats the hook, and then delivers some bars towards middle. I personally like his flow on this song a lot. This is another great example of Rashad trying out new sounds, and absolutely KILLING it.

Here’s the track I’ve been the most excited to talk about: Dressed Like Rappers. Definitely tied for my favorite song on the project, Dressed Like Rappers is a very slow song, and is one of the more personal songs on the album. He sings in-and-out about both love and lust, along with drugs and shame. It’s honestly the perfect song to summarize his absence over the last 2 years, and is one that I feel many can connect to. The first verse starts fairly normal, with a cool line, “Backpack full of that wrist and lungs,” but moves on to him talking briefly about seeing his son, and questioning his life (followed by him saying his pills are ready to use, in light of the addiction he’d faced.) The second verse starts off with my favorite bar on the entire album, “I can’t admit, I’ve been depressed, I hit a wall, ouch..” I can’t explain why, but that resonated with me the first time I heard it. There’s so much emotion in his voice, yet still a feeling of detachment and lack of enthusiasm, it’s just amazing.  The beat starts as somewhat droning and far back, but the drums come in and bring it all up front, resulting in an incredible song.

Don’t Matter is another great song, and the beat is very quick paced and energetic. The kick/snare patterns are very uncommon in hip-hop, yet Rashad makes it sound great. The song is a bit of a look at himself, but is still somewhat scattered. The hook’s vocal effects sound very good, and the background noises in the song are fairly unique as well. All in all, this track is one of the more unique on the project, and is definitely one to check out.

Brenda is entirely about Rashad’s recently passed grandmother, who he was very close to. It opens with a very nice beat, where Rashad sings a few times, “I got 2 cigarettes to my last name, I clock in for the check but I don’t wanna go.” The hook recites something his grandmother told him once, and the verses seem to be addressing several people directly. One of the best lines here is, “She too tired to talk, lately your thumbs hurt,” which is a comment on how many people communicate almost entirely through text & social media, a true epidemic. Brenda is one of the nicer songs on the album, and I would guess it’s Rashad’s favorite.

By George (Outro) is a very slow song, and has a hook similar to the song released at the beginning of this year “Smile.” Nothing in this song stands out too much from the rest of the album, but this isn’t really due to something lacking in the song; it’s mostly because the rest of the album is so good.

Find a Topic is a great song. The instrumental features a very nice guitar loop, and the hook is oddly nice (“Skin and bones, you are my favorite type”) due to the way he sings it. The song isn’t really about anything specific, but this is probably due to the title. By calling it “Find a Topic,” seeing as he struggled to find a subject to rap about, and rapping about many things, the song takes an interesting turn.

In conclusion, this is without a doubt my favorite album released this year. Isaiah Rashad is by far my favorite artist of all time, and everything about this album is perfect.