Paralyzed 11. Ill Keep On.Coming on strong with the speed of Eminem and the honest attitude of Lecrae, NF gets dark and introspective on his debut album, but theres plenty of hope and honor here as well.
You make a lot of money and you live in a mansion And pretty much got everything you could ever imagine. ![]() In the opening lines of Wake Up, track two off the self-titled 2014 EP that introduced him to a national audience, rising Christian rap star Nate NF Feuerstein used the luxurious, but lonely vastness of a massive home as a metaphor for the emptiness of a life without God. His bars echo a rhetorical question famously posed in the Gospel of Mark: For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul Fans who have been poring over the EPs lyric sheet for the past six months and change wont miss the callback to those lines in the title of NFs soon-to-drop debut full-length, Mansion. That resonance could lead one to assume the set would find the 23-year-old rapper the first hip-hop artist to find a home at Capitol CMG focused on more worldly subject matter than on the previous project. Actually, the exact opposite is true; rather than contrasting things of the spirit with things of the flesh, he turns the dichotomy inside-out, exploring his mental world as if it were a house complete with a haunted basement and numerous skeleton-filled closets. The title track, which comes on the heels of a technically dazzling Intro, makes that metaphor explicit. Over reverberate minor chords, hook-woman Fleurie sings, My mind is a home Im trapped in, and its lonely inside this mansion, setting the stage for verses in which painful memories childhood abuse, the death of a parent figure as neglected rooms in a psychological dwelling. The artists willingness to depict himself at his most conflicted and his refusal of easy answers makes this one of the projects most powerful cuts. ![]() Above all, the albums more introspective tracks illustrate NFs recent growth as an artist. No longer so quick to critique the spiritual vacuity of others (as he did in the quote that led off this review), he sets off down the much more difficult path of self-examination. In addition to symbolizing the artists inner space, Mansions title can be read as a more straightforward metaphor for the album itself, in that what sets it apart from its EP-length predecessor is mainly its scale. Since dropping his eponymous debut, NFs moved into a roomier crib, but hes filled it with the same aural furniture. In fact, two of the EPs tracks, All I Have and the aforementioned Wake Up, reappear here.) His rapid-fire flows and earnest sung vocals, as well as the intense, moody beats that back them, feel like more polished variations on what weve heard before. Which isnt necessarily a bad thing; listeners who fell in love with NF, and who are hoping for a bigger, better take on the same basic formula are unlikely to be disappointed by the rappers first full-length outing. If theres one thing Mansion feels like its missing, its a sense of humor. I know; thats a strange thing to ask of a rapper whos built his name on rawness and catharsis rather than verbal playfulness, let alone one who flat-out states, Im not a comedian. But why choose between wit and emotional impact when you can have both Like most melanin-challenged emcees, NF is annoyed by this comparison, but a certain rapper whose initials are M.M. A little levity could add depth to the artists more personal cuts, bite to his harder material and texture to his projects as wholes. NFs passion for his craft is clear and, even if he doesnt choose to hone his punchline game, I expect his overall rhyme style will only grow suppler and more sophisticated with the years. In the meantime, Mansion is exactly what it needs to be: a sturdy foundation that leaves him plenty of room to build. ![]() With it, you can rest assure that youll have all the latest optimizations, fixes and enhancements for your Intel graphics hardware.
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