NEXT Album Review
Mavi - End of the Earth
With these reviews, I can’t skip, rewind, replay, or stop the music once I start. I got to play the entire album, straight through, and give my immediate reactions. At the end of each song I’ll decide if I’d replay it or if I’m ready for the NEXT track.
1) “TIME TRAVEL” (prod. aloisus)
Mavi’s voice moves upon beats with the grace of an Allen Iverson crossover. Aloisus’ produced a Spring day after Easter with this beat. How the sample is looped brings the warmth of a hug to eardrums. Hearing the word “Gonzo” in a rap song speaks to my inner journalist. Hunter S. Mavi. I would pay good money for a Fear & Loathing in Charlotte mixtape.
Starting with the hook builds up to the verse nicely. “I can’t write all the time because I can’t lie” is one of the best opening lines in 2021 thus far. Mavi is an open-heart lyricist. Every word pours from the center of his chest. “I’m trying to buy the Hornets y’all tell Mike to Calvin Cambridge.”
Not a bad bar in the verse. Each line slides into the next like the pieces in a game of Jenga but his tower never topples. “TIME TRAVEL” lives up to the best brag on Let The Sun Talk, “What kind of songs you make, the kind you got to read baby.”
Love the outro with his Grandmother. She sounds like every sweet southern grandmother you will ever meet. This is a keeper and a hell of an intro.
2) “THOUSAND MILES” (prod. Isaac)
“THOUSAND MILES” has the bounce “TIME TRAVEL'' didn’t. Isaac gave him a head-nodding beat with the brightness of a warm afternoon in April. Play this with the top down. I love the tempo and Mavi’s delivery is sharp enough to be a scalpel.
“Went from buildin' love to buildin' guns up, now my brothers steppas” The boy is rapping. By far one of the most absorbing new rappers in the market. It’s his imagery. Mavi doesn’t write, he paints.
“Smacking niggas that ain’t head nodding, this shit is hard as fuck, bro, you dead wildin” got a laugh from me. Every rapper should feel that way about their craft. Love how he says nostalgic here.
No hook, just straight raps. The amount of words he fits in this one verse is more words than I heard on the last Nav album. I love the “I wonder how God feels?” refrain. Keeper.
3) “METHODS” (prod. Nephew Hesh)
END OF THE EARTH reminds me how it felt to discover Lupe Fiasco’s Fahrenheit mixtape series. Lupe had a potency to his writing that made me want to study each word. Mavi gives me that same feeling.
“METHODS” is a craft record for rap heads. The words are running out of his body as if they are on fire. Is he even taking breaths? The conviction in his voice has the bite of a Cerberus. He’s taking off and the beat hasn’t dropped yet. This is how you grab the listener with a rapid yet fluid flow. Mavi raps like he’s aware of the listener but he doesn’t make his songs too simple. He’s here to captivate, not coddle.
The “I don’t condone” run of lines are excellent. When he says, “I don’t condone but I think your little baby eyes wonder, I don’t condone but we made a bet and put a prize on her,” is more shiesty than any line Lil Durk rapped on “Back In Blood.”
“METHODS” might be my favorite. “I been cutting up like this before the cover of FADER.” So far not a song worth a NEXT.
4) “LIFE WE LIVE” (prod. KEEMTHECIPHER)
“LIFE WE LIVE” slows the tape down. “Companies fucking with me just to seem woke” is a line a lot of Black creatives can relate to. “All my idols dead” is another one. “Niggas want fake smoke, I am not McMahon.” He’s full of these lines that jump out.
No hook here. Mavi is like a mixtape rapper. He reminds me so much of Wayne. He’s the kind of rapper to do an album intro like “Tha Mobb,” and rap with no hook for four minutes and keep your attention the entire time.
“LIFE WE LIVE” is the shortest of the songs, not my favorite, but it’s good. Another keeper.
5) “TOWN CRIER” (prod. aloisius)
Another aloisius beat. A subtle, angelic build-up and a rapid-fire flow. The battery is in Mavi’s back. He’s supercharged. He’s overflowing with introspection. The stream of consciousness style works here. Hard to keep up with every word. Genius was made for a project like this.
I’m glad the production doesn’t have drums. Drums would ruin how gorgeous it is the way the wrong shoes will ruin an outfit. I feel bathed in light.“Y’all niggas wasn’t laughed at in school, I was.” He said it like a badge of honor. There’s just something unstoppable about him. “My daddy taught me can’t a curse word, who taught you that shit in school.” That says it all right there. Keeper.
END OF THE EARTH wasn’t the best pick for the first NEXT since I didn’t feel compelled to skip any of the five songs. It’s that good. My favorite EP of the year thus far.
The length is less than 15 minutes, but the listener isn’t shortchanged. Mavi has a gift for constructing raps that are wordy and mesmeric. Balancing technical craft and memorable content. Refreshing for the mind and pleasant to the ears. What else can you ask for?
Final Tally: No Skips (of 5)