Another is “Kendrick Lamar’s Interlude” using the same beat and style from “Ab-Soul’s Outro” on Kendrick’s Section.80 album. Some of the highlights for me include the verse at the end of “Tree Of Life” where Ab-Soul incorporates the word “soul” in many different ways, ending with “…that was a stretch/ I’m Ab-Soul-lutely the best”. With Ab-Soul mimicking the general mainstream hip-hop landscape, there are a few songs on here I’m not really feeling, but it’s an overall solid album. Among these hidden gems is something you don’t see too often: a full-length rap battle at the end of the album with Soulo and Daylyt trading acapella bars in the booth. Part of the fun is hearing how songs completely change before they end, almost as if there are hidden extra songs throughout the album. While Control System had a bunch of songs I liked better than anything on here, These Days is a smoother listen from front to back, and generally has a more fun vibe to it. That’s not to say Ab-Soul has become wack, it’s just a different style to get used to. There are a lot of repeated lyrics, less complex rhymes, easy to follow flows, and generally dumbed-down subject matter. There are still glimpses of his old style, with his focus on wordplay and thought-provoking lyrics, but These Days sees Ab-Soul sort of emulate the sound of modern mainstream hip-hop. Just when you thought Ab-Soul established his style, he went and switched things up on this album. The Black Lip Bastard has set high standards, but his homie may have a point.This album threw some fans off, as it sounds very different from Ab-Soul’s previous album, 2012’s Control System. Ab-Soul can’t even fuck with Herbert,” one of his long-time friends, King Richard, says at the end of “No Report Card”. (The music video bravely recreates the conditions of his suicide attempt, while a separate lyrics video shows comments from fans sharing how the song impacted them.) “Herbert”, meanwhile, details the relentless string of struggles that he’s fought all his life: being diagnosed at 10 years old with the rare disease Stevens-Johnson syndrome, which impacts his skin and his vision losing his father to gun violence and his former partner Alori Joh to suicide and more.īut what’s notably missing from Herbert is those conspiracy theories that electrified older albums like Control System he’d rather mine his own life experiences for deeper meaning instead of digging through the annals of YouTube and message boards. On the former, Soul grapples with depression and substance abuse while motivating himself to strive for his personal best. He revisits his younger days of memorising Kris Kross lyrics (“Hollandaise”) and dealing with shady promoters during his journey to rap stardom (“Moonshooter”) taps into the street culture of his hometown of Carson, California (“Gang’nem”) and spits like his life is on the line on the DJ Premier-produced “Gotta Rap”.īut the centrepieces of the album are “Do Better” and the title track, “Herbert”. It makes for his most grounded record yet: His boastful rhymes teem with gratitude, his nostalgic verses produce sharply distinct memories, and voicemails from family members and loved ones hold the album together. (This included things like seeing an image of Hitler in photos of the 9/11 attacks.) So this time around, the cerebral, heart-baring lyricist sheds the veneer of his rap moniker and exposes fans to his real name, Herbert. He lost two of his best friends-rappers Mac Miller and Doeburger-and started to climb out of what he describes as a “rabbit hole” of misinformation and conspiracy theories that impacted his relationships with loved ones and critics alike. In the six long years since Ab-Soul last released an album, he's been through a lot.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |