The M9 Project by Styles1001: Album Review
Rasar Amani, an emcee as well as a poetic mastermind, and Styles1001, a producer, have teamed up to create “The M9 Project”. The entire album is full of hip-hop melodies that flow beautifully within intense lyrical passages and jazzy instrumentation.
Opening up with “One of These Days” we get an enticing trailer of the polish and musical edge within Rasar’s intense rap bars. Also, the stellar production work of Styles1001 is noteworthy. The music here has a cinematic flair that feels very old school due it’s nu-jazz atmosphere, and the modern kick comes from the versatile beat arrangements. Once we reach the middle, the album’s experimental elements sprout up. With some dive bar jazz piano sequences, a recorded conversation just plays in the background in “M9 Manifest.” To me, this felt like the height of experimental music and the result turned out flawless. The rapper’s voice and choice of words have a significant weight in each part of the album it can be heard remarkably when in tracks such as “Need to Know” and “Seven”. And the music! Tremendously catchy I must say, this is because the jazz style accompanied on the track has the aesthetic of Asian beats and the jazz movement in Japan which is very futuristic but with a nostalgic appeal as well.
Nearing the end of the album “Thank You” feels like a very personal track and the poetry movements existing within the song are a hip-hop record gone wild. I think it is because of the tension in the atmosphere where the flow takes a slow detour and sounds more like a rap battle from the film 8 Mile.
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Photo credits: Designzbypurpose.com
Review by: Damien Reid