Rome Mallory might be the hungriest-sounding rapper that I’ve heard in ages. Within this album’s first two minutes, the Charlotte resident preaches about freedom from materialistic restraints, the purpose of the soul without the physical form, and generally attaining a knowledge of self. ‘Light Shines Thru You’ is incredibly powerful stuff, recapping the artist’s journey towards being a successful entrepreneur and setting the tone for what is a truly jaw-dropping musical product.
‘Come As U Are’ follows immediately in the tracklist, it’s another story of struggle that is accompanied by a wistful, nostalgic visual (check that out here). The rapper criticises capitalism, demands reparations for his people’s suffering and, on the softly sung hook, preaches individualism by way of physical and mental expression. Musically the track is crisp and instrumentally diverse, featuring strong jazz-rap elements. ‘Sky So Blue’ adopts a more soul-inspired sound, lyrically it’s a homage to the love of his family and a promise to do better by them. To cover Into the Light on a track by track basis would be doing it a disservice however, as the entire project ties together wonderfully and I would recommend that you listen to it in its entirety.
Mallory’s delivery is husky and passionate, his lyrics bleeding into fibres of each and every beat that he tackles here. He’s just as adept on buttery smooth jams (‘Vibes Make U Wanna’) as he is on the heart on sleeve emotion of ‘Family Jewelz’. This latter song works fantastically as a closer, as it recounts the most impactful stages of the rapper’s life and provides listeners with some serious insight into the events that molded Mallory into the artist that he is today. Every song on this project is equally worth your attention, partly because it covers so much ground with its diverse array of production but also because it seems as if every time a new track starts the rapper spins yet another rich tale of him overcoming struggle, finding peace despite the chaos around him, and generally realising his self-worth as both an artist and a person.
Listen to Into the Light here.
Follow Mallory on Twitter here.
– Chris (@108seraph)
108MICS 