![]() Opener “God’s Reign” - with its serpentine hook courtesy of label-mate SZA entwined with Ab-Soul’s sharp contrapuntal verses - is its strongest track (and one I keep revisiting), revealing what could have been a much more focused and fluid album without sacrificing Ab-Soul’s signature stream-of-consciousness lyricism. ![]() There are as many vague “sacred” references ( “Your soul sits on your third eye, soul sits on the throne,” “I carry the cross, if Virgin Mary had an abortion, I’d still be carried in the chariot by stampeding horses,” “Figure deal me I’m filthy I know it’s greedy out here/ I told you that, but I made my way through it like Moses did with his staff!”) as there are lines that start with “These days…” But what exactly these lines mean when placed in various popular rap contexts (trap, neo-R&B, cloud rap, hardcore, etc.) is as delphic as his self-proclaimed “smoked” soul.Īll of that said, These Days has its rapturous moments. There are tracks called “God’s Reign,” “Tree of Life,” and “Stigmata” in between tracks titled “Hunnid Stax,” “Just Have Fun,” and “Sapiosexual,” yet despite their distinct sonics and subjects, each of these songs are scattered with provocative yet aimless philosophical musings, almost every line a groaningly clever proverb thrown like a prophetic thorn at a dank basement dartboard. Image and imagery themselves - specifically religious - are recurring motifs on These Days, at least nominally. This is not meant as a slight against Ab-Soul’s abilities as a lyricist and rapper - which are exceptional, as evinced by his 2012 album Control System - but even if “abstract asshole” is less a business card epithet and more of a self-aware observation, exactly what “image” is Ab-Soul abstracting on These Days…? That Ab-Soul calls himself “abstract asshole” then seems like a calling card while Kendrick turns a handheld camera on gang violence in Compton and Danny Brown spiritedly relays what may be the most poignant story ever told about buying Wonder Bread, Ab-Soul waxes poetic, making a strong enough case for rap’s lyrical legitimacy that it could convince even my grandmother that hip-hop is actually a worthwhile art form. Movies about specific characters in a detailed world are spellbinding because they make no attempt to cater to us they are defiantly, triumphantly, themselves.”Ĭrafting and maintaining an identity as a rapper in 2014 is not an easy feat, especially when your contemporaries consist of Kendrick Lamar and Danny Brown. ![]() “Movies made for ‘everybody’ are actually made for nobody in particular. There will be a lot of references to the vibe of today, the sound of today and the subject matter of today.” “I want to try and touch as many bases as possible.
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