Oceanside hip-hop artist Nomis has been one of my favorite artists since I was in high school. The Forgotten Heroes album that he did with Jeremiah Bonds is considered a classic in my eyes. Nomis brings brutal honesty with every track, he gives you the beautiful, the good, the bad, the ugly and the horrific. With his fifth album “Rhodes To Rome” the veteran emcee continues to mature in life and on the mic.
If you’re listening to Nomis for the first time you’re getting a polished artist both on the mic and behind the boards. With the exception of three tracks Nomis produced this whole album. This is made even more impressive when you realize there’s a ton of live instrumentation incorporated into this. Let me stop gushing about the production and jump in.
“Rhodes to Rome” is a lyrically dense album, not in the sense of MF Doom where you actually have no idea what he’s saying (because it’s buried under lyrical acrobatics), with Nomis he’s trying to accomplish and give you a lot before this record ends. Records covering racism, trafficking, his own legacy are just the tip of the iceberg.
Nomis challenges us as humans and as artists in “Evolve” (featuring Ralph Quasar) . “Foreshadow” is a track that came out of nowhere for me, as humans and artists I think we all question what legacy we’ll leave. I don’t know being a fan of Nomis for this long and hearing this side hits me hard.
Features are slim yet potent. Joe Ayinde and Nomis team up on “Theory Of Self” where they reminiscence. And hot damn I did not expect a feature from Sintax the Terrific, but it fits. Two incredible emcees who’ve built a body of work of the years that can’t be refused.
“Rhodes To Rome” is Nomis in top form. I felt like in 2012 Nomis’ career took a turn. I remember before “Searching For Alpha Trion” dropped he uploaded a Youtube video talking about how he was investing more time into his music and more time into learning production. All of that has paid off, I truly feel Nomis has “Evolved” over the course of his career and “Rhodes To Rome” is a testament to that.