This is the first time in 3 days where I haven’t had a review request to fulfil, and as much as I love being the workhorse who keeps up with all the demands, there’s something beautiful about just searching and finding an album for myself that I find interesting, and that’s exactly what’s happened here! So let’s talk about it!
This April release is the exciting collaboration between rapper ‘Knowitall’ and producer ‘bop phrases’, who the latter I only discovered recently as he produced the ‘Twogeebs’ record ‘But Wait, There’s More’, and since I loved that record, it only made my fascination with the man stronger! The rapper I’ve never heard of until now, and I have to say across this brand-new 10-track presentation, it is absolutely dope!
So, starting with the production, what we have here is a brilliant blend between elements of:
-Soul
– Lo-Fi
-Ambient
-Art Rap
– R&B
And when you combine these types of sounds, you’re left with an album that is an absolute treat for the mind and the ears. From the very first song, you could hear your mind at ease and your stress vanish with the gorgeous harmonies, the soothing atmosphere, and the blissful intentions woven into every sonic fabric of the production.
Also, I love how the album began with that old-school narration sample introducing the concept of ‘Welfare Island’, which really helped pinpoint the narrative and the ideals that this duo wants to convey to the audience across this album, and I just love how using that into they were able to craft an entire emotional connection and experience with us based on one idea that blossomed into one of the most powerful and serene projects I’ve heard all year!
Now, onto the man of the hour (well, man of the 23 minutes) if we are talking album-length accuracy, ‘KnowItall’, a man with a telling name and one I expected a lot from considering the grand production set up, and he absolutely nailed it!
If Bop is the harmony of the project then KnowItAll is the confidence, passion and enthusiasm of the project. He provides various levels of quality, personality, creativity, originality and honesty will on the beats. One line that really stood out to me that stuck to me days after I finished listening to it was the opening line on the song ‘BlackWell Asylum’ where he goes
‘Got Trauma from my Momma’s past, that I wasn’t even alive for’ that kind of honesty on the tracks is what makes him stand out. That line still sticks with me on the daily, so heavy.
When he’s rapping he commands the beats and showcases his fluent flows, his consistency in his world play and down to earth lyricism.
Another thing I love about him on this one is that he’s doing it all alone. Not many albums these days has no features and working solo he still kills every single song with absolutely no skippable bars or verses!
I’m so happy I took the chance on this one because it blew all my expectations. Absolutely fantastic chemistry and I hope we can get a series of these two! This feels like the new Apollo Brown X Philmore Greene collaboration and I’m down to see more!
https://open.spotify.com/album/4ZmQGQ06QqixumEyPcj9rR?si=Q8f6pBdLSi24r_RC4eWhuA
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