RATING: 6.5/10
Chicago native Supa Bwe has released the first of two EP’s that will serve as a prelude to his future album No Thanks. In an Instagram Q&A, he gave context to the theme of the seven track project, stating “the fact that I risk my life for the bag, but it goes unnoticed, unappreciated by the ones I risk it for. All it takes is a simple ‘thank you.”
I enjoyed the range of Supa Bwe’s talent that he demonstrates throughout. He shows a lot of versatility from the auto-tuned I Hate You to an aggressive PROBLEM / FUEL before ending on my favourite track of the EP, Entropy, a slower jam featuring Dounia (an artist I hadn’t heard of before but will definitely be checking out further). This EP, and Supa Bwe in general, is one of the main reasons why I think Chicago produces some of the best Hip-Hop music. You get artists like Chance The Rapper and Noname who incorporate more of a jazz tone into their work while also getting artists who take more inspiration from the gang violence and lifestyle like Chief Keef. Every now and then you get artists like Supa Bwe and Saba who are able to demonstrate a great balance of both these themes.
The Chance feature on the EP was quite disappointing for me. As a big Chance fan I expect him to show more skill lyrically and sonically, something that his recent singles have lacked too. The seven track EP runs for 20 minutes but feels incomplete to me. I felt like songs like Time For Me and PROBLEM / FUEL could’ve been worked on longer but that being said, this project was only meant to act as a prelude to his upcoming album. I think Supa Bwe felt a pressure to release his music and seems to now have begun a roll out of projects this year but at what cost? I wonder if potentially working on the songs longer and fleshing them out could’ve given him room to release two albums with a more complete feel.
Still, I am extremely excited to see what Supa Bwe has in stall for 2019, but I’m hoping to hear a more complete body of work in No Thanks.
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Frank Tremain 