I received this track from an MC named Absolute. I’m not positive about his age, but I have a feeling he’s rather young. You may notice that I point age out a bit when discussing music. The reason for this is because age takes a factor in how I review people’s music when it’s amateur. My logic is if you’re young, but have some flaws, you have room to grow and fix those flaws. If you’re older and have the same flaws as some of the younger MCs then maybe that means you should hang up the mic and try out another hobby. With that out of the way, let’s move on to this (perceived) young man’s music.
Off the bat I dug the beat he chose. It was a solid soulful beat with a nice sample of a soul sistah blowin’ for the hook. After hearing the beat for a few measures, I was really interested to see what dude was going to do with it. I was happy to see he didn’t completely fuck it up. He’s not the best rapper, but he isn’t horrible either and sounds OK on a beat. He immediately reminded me of a much younger Jeezy because of the gruffness in his voice. As far as technical skill on the mic, he sounded basic. Now, don’t get me wrong…starting off basic is not a bad thing at all! But going back to what I wrote above, if this guy is in his teens or early 20s I’d say he’s OK. If this guy were in his mid to late 30s, I’d have to say, ”bruh, let the dream die.”
A positive I can give to Absolute is he appears honest. He’s not writing some derivative bullshit about cars, bitches, guns and drugs. He rhymes about growing up without a dad, mom having issues with the law, dealing with his own self-doubt, etc. Some real life shit. He’s giving us a taste of his life as a youngster. Yes, I said a taste. A small taste. This leads into my gripe with this track.
My issue with this song is the fact that it’s only one verse. This is the only song that he has uploaded on his YouTube page and it only has one sixteen. That’s really not enough to judge an MC’s ability unless he’s just amazingly dope. This is like a chef asking you to judge some cookies he baked by only giving you a crumb from the bottom of the pan. Giving us one verse, especially for the type of subject matter Absolute is covering, is just not enough. And I don’t say that because he’s so incredibly dope that I’m dying for another verse. I say that because this verse doesn’t seem to have any closure leaving the song sounding incomplete. It’s like half a thought put over music. 1/3 of a spring roll before a meal that you’re not sure you’ll ever get. A trailer to a TV show that you’re not sure you even want to see. My point is I wish this had been a bit more complete so it would have been easier to judge him on, not only his skill as an MC, but as a song writer, which people seem to forget is a very important aspect of being a rapper. The sample was a really cool idea to throw on the track, but it still doesn’t give the track any semblance of completion. A suggestion to Absolute: please finish the track/thought before actually putting it on your mixtape.
Overall, I thought Absolute was decent. He’s nothing special lyrically, but his passion is what leads me to think that, with some work/tweaking/practice, he could possibly put together a decently solid project. Good luck to him.
“I cried when I put you in this verse. For every holiday that passes, that’s gotta hurt.”