shadowbox

i remember listening to let the sun talk around 2022 and being bewildered and kinda put off by the constant poetic and layered bars that felt like they were all too important to just pass by. that combined with the mix of explosive production that can overtake the lyrics and tune them out of my ears and barebones production that made me feel like i was better off reading the album really diminished my enjoyment of the album. as time passed and i heard the few songs that were still in my rotation, as well as coming back to it as a whole really started connecting with and understanding the album for what it was.

i have waited a while to listen to this album, mostly because i knew it would be a more difficult listen and i had forgotten how special mavi's lyricism was. after rediscovering the brilliance of let the sun talk, this album immediately became my main priority. mavi's lyricism is absolutely top notch, and he uses all of his skills to paint powerful emotional pictures through his poetic ass writing. the more lowkey production on let the sun talk really opened the way for mavi's fantastic poetry to shine while still setting a mood and enhancing the potency of his fantastic writing, while the more memorable hard hitting production often drowned his already hard to catch lyrics out for me. that made me worried about what direction he would take, but i was pleasantly surprised to hear he had found the best of both worlds with this new (to me at least) soulful and detailed production that still never stood in the way of his rapping fully getting through to the listener. this is just based off of my first listen and mavi's lyrics are way too layered and his messages are wrapped in somewhat tongue twisted poetry which makes it really hard to fully catch everything but from what i can collect mavi is still just as brilliant at painting pictures and making you feel his words as i remember. even through how complex and difficult to catch his lyrics are, i never caught any sense of pretentiousness or corniness that is common with other small artists trying to pull this style off. every word has lots of intertwining emotions empowering it, and mavi yet again comes in with a lot to say, and his writing always hits super hard. also the piano sounds fucking perfect every time i hear it. drunk prayer is definitely the best mavi song ive ever heard too.

favs: drunk prayer, latch, the giver