Bad – art for cheap

Review: The Search by NF

The Search is the fourth studio album from Michigan rapper and singer Nathan Feuerstein, aka NF. Feuerstein, now 29, has quite a bit under his belt with quite a few hit singles, as well as a platinum album (Perception). The technically skilled rapper’s early work was certainly interesting to me, and his 2017 single “Let You Down” was inescapable, but The Search was my first real critical look at Feuerstein’s work. Released last year, the album famously beat out Chance the Rapper’s disastrous The Big Day, much to the surprise of mainstream hip-hop fans. With no real foot in any camp, I feel comfortable to say The Search is retroactive in more than one way.

The Bad: Thematically, The Search is about Nathan’s past, present, and future. The first four tracks dwell on NF’s mental state—his OCD, his paranoia, his inabilities, and his demons. This may sound well and good, but after the fifteenth minute of melodramatic fast-rapping set to overblown instrumentals, it gets redundant. Much of the lyrics read one of two ways: hollow, repetitive expressions of self-hate (“That’s when I start to get anxious, That’s when my thoughts can be dangerous, That’s when I put on my makeup and drown in self-hatred”) or purposeless rhyme fillers (“I can be critical, never typical, Intricate with every syllable, I’m a criminal, Intimate, but never political, pretty visual”). This flip-flopping takes any bite out of good bars. It gives the idea that NF worries more about quantity rather than quality in wordplay. Songs like “Time” and “Hate Myself” try to emulate the pop rap success of “Let You Down” and “Lie”, but sound painfully underwritten. For some reason, Nathan seems to dislike featuring other artists on his tracks, and the hooks, sung by NF almost every time, suffer for it. As far as I can tell, there is one feature on the whole album (Sasha Sloan on “Only”). One of my biggest gripes with this album is the quality of the instrumentals. There is absolutely no variety or flavor in The Search’s beats—a death sentence for the bloated, 20 song track list. The runtime is around an hour and fifteen minutes, and the slow piano mixed with echoing drums tired me out within the first half hour. There’s only so much a man can take.

The Good: Nathan Feuerstein’s biggest strength is his fantastic (if ill-employed) flow. He does well on songs like “No Excuses”, and I enjoy a few bits of “When I Grow Up”. His voice stays crisp and smooth throughout most songs, and his raw talent is undeniable. There are moments on songs where Nathan’s honesty pushes through, and genuinely emotionally moving lines happen. One example of this is the dismal “Nate”. In this song, NF reflects on his past and his come-up. Though this is a concept not unheard of in rap, I found the dialogue between a young Nathan and his successful, future self to be rather good. Not as many lines fall flat, and the storytelling element that moves the track along is really good.

Conclusion: Though technically impressive, The Search is mired with inconsistency and uninspired melodrama. NF comes off sounding like a young Tyler Joseph, or a more innocent, straight-edge emo rapper on many songs. The hour-plus length coupled with a void of compelling backing beats stretched my patience. And, as much as I was impressed by his talented flow, NF is a bit behind the game. He has gone on the record claiming 2000’s Marshall Mathers as a big influence, and it shows a bit too much (and I can genuinely say that me calling Nathan’s work derivative of Eminem’s early career has nothing to do with anything but his sound). All in all, I did not find this album to be anything other than a blip on hip-hop’s radar, especially when you consider all the great rap albums that came out last year (All My Heroes Are Cornballs, Feet of Clay, Ginger, Bandana, and countless others.) I just hope that next time, NF summons a bit more artistic courage.

I give this album 3 balloons out of 10. Thanks for reading.

Review: Heaven or Hell by Don Toliver

‘Heaven or Hell’ is the debut studio album from Cactus Jack affiliate Don Toliver, an artist who first came onto my radar after a great feature in 2018, on Travis Scott’s ‘Astroworld’. After a pretty underwhelming performance on 2019’s Jackboys project and a lifeless Tik-Tok hit that seemed robotically engineered for the site, my interest was admittedly dialed back a bit. I hoped the lack of energy Toliver brought to ‘Jackboys’ was a fluke, not really indicative of his future as an artist, but sadly, I was let down dramatically by ‘Heaven or Hell’.

The Bad: Don Toliver struggles to do anything on his debut that does not resemble a far better artist. He often sounds like a bad version of his label head, Travis Scott. Other times, he seems to not just emulate, but plagiarize Young Thug’s sing-song style flows, just with less personality and flair than Thugger. Furthermore, throughout the 12 song track list, there are nearly no songs that actively jump out to me. Toliver’s dreary style is the epitome of boring; he makes songs that are 2:30 feel like 5 minute treks. I couldn’t count how many times I had to rip my finger away from the skip button, as Don Toliver stumbles his way through a lifeless instrumental with lifeless autotune and lifeless melodies. The title track, Heaven or Hell, and Company are both prime examples of this. The lyrics are pretty typical trap rap: drugs, money, sex, and the occasional gang talk. Toliver doesn’t seem to realize how ridiculously clichéd his writing is, and without an interesting vocal presence or a well-executed beat, it is mind numbing. The few features on the album aren’t bad, but can sound painfully out of place, like the explosive Sheck Wes on the chilled beat of Spaceship. Wes creates such a dramatic contrast of energy to the utter lack of vigor that Toliver provides and it almost sounds forced.

The Good: There are moments on some songs where I found myself nodding my head. After Party, one of the shorter tracks, has some pretty sticky vocal moments and some good production. No Idea, while being oversaturated and overhyped, delivers some fun in its high pitched, playful chorus. Some features, while not incredible, deliver a kind of oasis from Toliver’s same-old-same-old.

Conclusion: The primary feelings I got from ‘Heaven or Hell’ were lifelessness and unoriginality. The record is solidly produced, yet still finds a way to sound toothless; it is tightly mixed and mastered, yet still finds a way to sound half-assed, unfinished, and underdone. Most of the blame is on Toliver’s uninspired performances. It’s ironic that Don Toliver, with all his melodic non-rapping, sounds so incredibly monotone. He always sounds like he exists under the instrumental, not standing out or commanding attention. Even in the brightest moments of this record, Toliver just sounds like somebody else. He shows potential for sure, but with a debut so shaky, it makes me wonder why I was excited in the first place.

I give this album 3 purgatories out of 10. Thanks for reading.