It’s been a minute since I’ve come across any freshly inspiring rap talent. Yeah, there will always be the notable crews and collectives out there pumping out quality creation after quality creation, but the popularity has a habit of permeating into the rhymes at times, and it’s pretty repulsive when repetitiveness is observed. You could say I’ve been desensitized or overexposed, but the fact remains that its become increasingly rare for myself and many others to unearth untainted efforts.
I’m gonna chalk yesterday up as a turning of the tide, then, after having seen surface an infrequently appearing EP on my SoundCloud feed late last night. The artist behind the effort, an individual assuming the identity, Sophisticated, almost shied me away with the pretentious name, but, because of my longing for something lyrical, I decided to give the EP he was pushing, Declaration, a listen.
It didn’t take long for me to become enamored with the initial, and overall effort on the EP. The D.C. rapper selected a tough trap beat to instigate the attitude of the overarching work, and infused it with dense sixteens spit through a surprisingly pleasant tone that carries throughout the tracks. The lines offered here and elsewhere on the project are coherent and creative, tough, but tidy in an intellectual sense; there’s little space for filler in the obvious passion Sophisticated imbeds into his bars. The authenticity of his aggressive inscriptions is stark, and his creative appetite, exceptionally enticing in its own right, warrants a closer watching of the artist and his future work.
Download: Sophisticated – Declaration [Mediafire]