At the age of just 16, Maryland native redveil crafts a surprisingly solid conscious-trap project in Niagara.
Maybe I lied: conscious-trap is something I just made up right now. Simply saying “trap” invokes thoughts of vapid or non-complex lyrics over throbbing bass and sharp hi-hats, whereas only saying “conscious hip-hop” depicts redveil’s lyrical approach accurately, but incorrectly denotes the production as boom-bap or “old school.” Whatever the case, redveil infuses soul samples, elements of trap, and lyrics about his aspirations for success into this primarily self-produced, self-written record. Alternating the track listing for the first leg of the record in jazz rap vs. trap styled production, Niagara gives off an extremely cohesive and alluring feel to the progression of tracks. “Campbell” is a hopeful, confident start to the record, and indicates this project will see redveil setting himself aside from many of the monotone-delivery tracks presented on his prior album, Bittersweet Cry. His newfound love for more varied melodies is paralleled by the increased use of soul and R&B samples on this track and in most others, like “Badnews” and “Revolutions.” On these two, redveil continues to promote political consciousness, discussing how the daily injustices he sees on TV factor into his everyday life. “Weight” gives a taste of the soul-trap direction that redveil takes with many of the tracks, all the while continuing his elaborate technical rhyme schemes and topics of political awareness. The verse on this track sees some of redveil’s better flows throughout the album, reminiscent of Lil Uzi Vert’s fire-spitting cadences. The distorted, damn-near clipping bass distortion on “5500” makes for a perfect car playlist song to go crazy to with your friends. This is both a blessing and a curse however, as some of the lyrics here or there are imperceptible due to the sound barrier given off by this distortion. A slightly darker turn is taken in the second half of the project, with the haunting underlying melodies in “Clench” giving a spooky feeling to the track. This track has some of the more aggressive deliveries seen by redveil, with bars calling out white America and the nation’s severely damaged governmental infrastructure. One of the better features on the album is provided on this song as well - more on this later. The downward-spiraling piano sections in “Grass” continue the darker production themes, which conclude with the rock-bottom “Fastlane.” Here, redveil discusses navigating around the pitfalls presented in the road towards success, and how he has the hunger to stay motivated and push on. The stumbling piano progression in this cut marks the lowest point in the record emotionally. On any normal album, Chris Patrick’s feature on “Clench” would have a great shot at being considered the best feature verse. However, both Donte Thomas and D’mari Harris on “Drown” absolutely blow every other guest artist out of the water, with D’mari Harris edging out Donte Thomas by quite a bit. The heartfelt, intimate performance by Harris on the bridge will forever remain a personal favorite of mine. In contrast with the previous three tracks, “Drown” takes an incredibly bright tone in production, with a wailing synth lead conducting the song. This feel-good quality of the track helps make this song become, quite literally, one of my favorite songs I’ve ever heard; it absolutely blows my mind that this isn’t redveil’s most popular song by miles. I’m unsure if any amount of analysis on this cut will do it justice, so I’ll let you take a listen for yourself. Closing out the album with “Pigeonman,” a track which I severely underrated for far too long, redveil shows off his ability to write slick double-entendres and catchy choruses. Though likely my least favorite on the record instrumentally, the song makes up for this for the most part with its clever lyrics. The novelty of an unfamiliar sound such as the one crafted in this project is something I only get to experience 2 or 3 times every year. Although a majority of the tracks here are less than 2.5 or 3 minutes in length, I don’t see it making much sense to extend them simply in order to add an extra verse or two. Niagara makes a strong case for redveil to not be written off merely as an “Earl Sweatshirt clone,” but rather a unique artist paving the way for a new sound to come. Tracks to check out from Niagara include “Drown,” (!!!) “Weight,” and “Badnews.”
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorEnrique Cardenas III Archives
November 2021
Categories
All
|