Brooklyn based hip hop artist Ace A CAped CrusAder put out his latest release The Anthology late last month. Clocking in at only 22 minutes, the album is fairly short but it has no lack of substance. It delivers emotional and sobering verses over very smooth, relaxed keyboard and synths. Ace has an easy, laid back yet sorrowful sounding cadence and flow most of the time but he is able to turn it up on songs like The Switch Up and 100 Jesus Pieces. The Switch Up is a more dynamic song that probably showcases Ace A's rhythm the best. It's also got some pretty cool instrumentation - towards the end of the song it sounds like there is some kind of Gamelan influenced percussion going on. Maybe not what he intended, but I thought it was cool nonetheless. The songs are short, averaging around two minutes with the longest one clocking in at 2:48. I don't think this is a bad thing though - they are able to deliver their message without getting bogged down in repetitive filler. The signal to noise ratio is excellent - every song carries its own weight. The instrumentation on this album is a highlight for me. The meditative, pounding percussion combined with very artful keyboard work help create a moody, atmospheric canvas for Ace to rhyme over. This is an emotion filled album, and you really feel it come out in songs like Dear Momma, We're Falling Apart, Sunday Sadness, or We (Stripped). Ace A Caped Crusader blew me away with this release. The vulnerability he shows is refreshing. It's incredibly emotional. The writing on the instruments are fantastic. Every song is powerful and unique in its own way, and this makes it easy to burn through the record and then play it again, and again, and again.
Check this out if you're into lowkey, mellow hip hop/rap that tunes into feelings of loneliness, sadness, and depression. I think Ace A CAped CrusAder deserves a lot of recognition. He's been putting in work and has got plenty of other content that he's put out this year. I'm sure there will be more coming in the future as well. I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye out, I'm excited to hear what else he comes up with and I hope he gets bigger - after hearing this he definitely deserves it.
Top Three Tracks
Sunday Sadness
I love the lofi sound of this track. It's pretty short at 1:46 but it packs a ton of depth. Ace pours his heart out, and you really feel it. It's almost poetry, and makes you really feel like this song, and in a broader sense the album, carries a lot of weight. It's a good showcase of Ace A's songwriting prowess, and his ability to create atmosphere and emotion.
100 Jesus Pieces
This is the most aggressive song on the album, and I think it might also be the catchiest. The beat in the background and the keys are solid, letting Ace spit out some incredibly memorable rhymes. The lyrics in this song are pretty simple and nothing special, but it's the way they are delivered that make it work. I think that says something about Ace's ability to rap - this is the only song on the album that doesn't really have much depth to it, but it still landed on my top three because of how great the execution was. It's one of those songs that get stuck in your head - I know this because it was all I could think about at the bus stop yesterday night.
Enough
This is my number one track on the album. The phone call breakup at the beginning felt too real, and the sigh Ace does after captures that dejected, regretful, lonely hodgepodge of emotions perfectly. The theme of losing what you had because you couldn't see how good it was, and appreciating what you've got is powerful. All this is helped by some of the best piano work on the album. It creates a beautiful mood and makes every word hit that much harder. As the last song on the album, it leaves you in a swath of emotion and lets you stew over everything you've heard the past 22 minutes. A great ending to a great album.
https://soundcloud.com/aceacapedcrusader
https://twitter.com/loneIya
https://www.instagram.com/aceacapedcrusader/
Comments
Post a Comment