bless up

Is this man the unofficial protege of ‘A Tribe Called Quest/Roots?’ It sure sounds like it! A man whose never had the intention on following the current wave of Boom Bap and instead has paved his own sonic adventure one that is delightful to the touch! Let me talk about it!

This is the brand new album by MC -Alma16 and Producer -Cole with the features from
-Quadroon
-LJ Smoove
-Sammy Veins
-Mupream
-Izaiyah

And within this half an hour of content we hear Alma at his most potent and passionate! It seems with each album his smooth qualities amplify and he pushes even further his principles, convictions and integrity which is coated in his exceptional Hip-Hop performance that I can only describe as ‘Stella’

He doesn’t have a ‘gangsta’ personna or anything just straight dope lyricism, strong charisma, smooth flow and a fun introspective subject matter where he discusses everything from living in the moment to IPhone’s to the relevance of money! It sounds like he’s just speaking in the moment and if that ain’t straight 90’s homage rap then I don’t know what is!
He’s impressed me since the first project I heard of his and he’s only gotten better with each drop!

It’s so refreshing to hear a man with no violent agenda in his themes and lyrics. It feels like a relaxing palette cleanser to hear him utilise his surreal deliveries, engaging atmosphere and superb attention to detail that not many can say they match!
Although I wasn’t familiar with most of the features on this album they all added fantastic chemistry and content on their respective tracks! Equally smooth performances and actually makes the songs feel amplified instead of being their for feature sake!

Now onto the Producer Cole, this man blew me away with what he performed on this project. This is one of the smoothest and stunning production work I’ve heard all year and I mean that with all my heart! Let’s discuss some of these beats shall we?

We’ve got songs like -say my grace and it starts off with what sounds like a father talking to his kid about who he thanks when he wake up! As this is going we get introduced to those beautiful and angelic vocal harmonies that loop around the song! Combined with some delicate keys, shimmering chords with some subtle bass and minimal drum work!
If heaven had a montage track, this would be it!

There’s the track -vacation which honestly made me smile ear to ear due to it’s relaxing brilliance. This album starts off with those plucked strings that remind me of a 80’s Stevie Wonder cut and as the song progresses we have some sharp violin strings, rhythmic drum beats and what sounds like light water drops in the background! (Especially at the start) everything about this track feels lush!
I also love how towards the end of the song we get these horns to add a bit of flare to the song!

I loved the song -earthquake for it’s methodically paced melodies that almost put me into rem sleep! From those opening gorgeous vocal loops that later advanced into this thick drum patterns, light bass with some delicate keys and chord progressions!
Although this one is more stripped back then the rest it feels absolutely ambient in it’s execution!

I need EVERYONE! To give this one a try. It’s the sonic equivalent of sleeping in a hammock right next to the ocean on a beautiful Sunny day listening to the waves crash! If you don’t believe me, listen for yourself!