Marc E. Bassy – Only The Poets Vol. 1

Marc E. Bassy – Only The Poets (Vol. 1)
Self-released: 2014

At a little under 30 minutes, Marc E. Bassy’s Only The Poets (Vol. 1) is an easily accessible project. In fact, there isn’t much that’s esoteric about Bassy’s aesthetic. While that sort of openness does lend itself to bland, undefinitive artistry, what makes this release stand out is how strangely intimate it sounds for a pop/hip-hop joint. Bassy’s leap into the solo game ought to have been a rough one, especially since 2AM Club music sounds geared-toward the blue-eyed college crowd. But herein lay another oddity: Bassy’s hip-hop excursion just might be better than his group material.

A big part of Only The Poets (Vol. 1)’s success is its sense of cohesion. Bassy could’ve very well gotten away with a midgrade collection destined for a purgatory in the iTunes playlists of suburbia. But here, we have a since of oneness with the amorphous, aquatic-style production. Bassy classified his music as, “future R&B music.” It’s a reminder of how too ubiquitous the characterization has become in the advent of the FKA twigses and Tinashes of the world. He’s also cutting himself short. The genre on display here sounds like it’s his. There’s an earned thrill in the sudden bubble popping in “Relapse” underneath its nocturnal moodiness. But instead of resting on the production, Bassy dives in, brooding with seduction and contorting his voice with urgency right as the climaxes start. (IAMSU! is here, too, with a serviceable but not great verse). “Over The Water,” the mixtape’s clearest claim to ubiquity, subdues its saccharine optimism with a submergence-feigning riff that potentially proves to be an indelible one—long after its three minute playing time expires.

As for Bassy’s rapping: Meh. It works in some ways. A big reason is how none of the rhymes sound particularly forced. The verses only serve to give a song its porcupine texture before Bassy leans back on his hook singing strengths. For example, he hits with semi-precise double-time rhyming on “Cigarettes” (“Singing with 50 Cent on New Years Eve I never felt so high before tip/ Maybe back before I was thirteen”) before lifting himself to a new high on the hook—because that’s what you’re really here for. The hard-knock tale on “Catch Myself” is partially done in by Bassy’s pipsqueak-ish flow, but again, it’s buoyed a bit by the sensual shimmy on the hook.

But it’s at this point of the mixtape—the third track—where you recognize Bassy’s weakness: He isn’t that strong from a vocalist standpoint. For the majority of Only The Poets (Vol. 1), he keeps it at this boyish, nasally register that comes across as less of a signature and more of a limitation. The savage recount of the American Dream on “American Dream Life” sounds particularly plastic because of Bassy’s inability to carry weight vocally. And although Only The Poets (Vol. 1) has good songs, they are ephemeral in their lack of new concepts. It’s a decently articulated work made under the night’s cover with drug and pussy urges—and nothing more.

3 out of 5

You can listen to Only The Poets below and download it here.