![]() Does that have potential drawbacks? Of course. Even on biographical tracks like “Hollandaise” where he remembers what it felt like doing freestyles in Blackplanet chatrooms (to kids reading this: ask your parents or older siblings), he never makes it easy on the listener. Some prefer simplicity in their rap music, plain speaking, and simple cadences over poetic license and devices. Ab talks about failed relationships, self-doubt, dreams fulfilled, dreams deferred, his inner conflict with religion, California city streets, and he even admonishes other rappers while keeping his skills at the forefront. Making astute self-observations while maintaining that poetic edge isn’t as easy as Ab makes it sound on “Message in a Bottle” or any of the following 17 tracks. ![]() “Getting loaded to the point I ain’t controlling myself/ Couple grams and I’m on the Gram trolling myself/ Like, get a hold of yourself, gotta get over myself/ This message in a bottle ain’t gon’ open itself.”Īnd that’s just the opening track. Ab’s vulnerability as an emcee works to his favor here, as he combines his insightfulness with incredibly clever wordplay. ![]() The album starts with a loving voicemail from Ab’s grandmother, which plays into the album’s focus on the man behind the rap name: Herbert Anthony Stevens IV. Putting it simply, Herbert reminds everyone that when it comes to rapping, Ab-Soul is a problem. Luckily for the TDE, and more importantly for Ab-Soul, Herbert (out Friday, December 16th) shows he’s more than capable of putting the record label on his back and chiseling his name in hip-hop’s upper echelon. It hurts to lose your best rapper, but one imagines it feels like a thousand beestings all at once when said rapper is one of the greatest of all time. Herbert, his latest offering, has a lot of pressure on its metaphorical shoulders as it represents a post-Kendrick Lamar era for Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE). The game changes so frequently that questions about Ab’s emcee status aren’t out of bounds. But in hip-hop, six years often feels like 15. In the real world, six years is a long time, especially considering these six years. Ab Soul’s last album, Do What Thou Will dropped in 2016.
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