Album Review: Michael Millions - Hard to Be King
The beginning of a new year is a difficult time to find new
releases—and that makes the job of being an ‘internet music writer’ a bit of a
tough one. I don’t want to, like, not generate content regularly, but new
albums I am legitimately interested in are few and far between for, at the very
least, the first three months of the year.
I used to have a desk job where it became very easy to fall
into the endless hole that is a site like Bandcamp. I don’t really have the
kind of time to explore the site the way I used to, and truthfully, a lot of what
is on it is absolute shit; however, every once in a while, if you use your most
discerning of palates, you can discover something interesting, and worth
listening to.
The other day, after I realized what a struggle generating
music writing for the month of January was going to be, I started browsing the
newest hip-hop releases on Bandcamp, and I came across one that, by the cover
art alone, caught my attention immediately.
Michael Millions has been at it, professionally speaking, for
nearly a decade. Born Michael Bass—he’s from Richmond, Virginia. “You’ve probably never heard of me,” he
deadpans with his raspy, confident, and slow moving voice on “Sirens,” the
first proper track from Hard to Be King,
his fifth full-length effort.
A sprawling 19 tracks, Bass takes his time throughout the
course of the album painting evocative pictures of his native Richmond—but more
importantly, Hard to Be King winds up,
whether it was intentional or not, being a stark meditation on struggle—the
struggle of poverty, the struggle of wanting more, and the struggle of making
art on your own terms.
Working with a handful of producers—Namebrand is behind the
boards on around seven tracks—another impressive element of Hard to Be King is just how cohesive of
a sound Bass is able to achieve, even with more than eight names associated
with various tracks. Owing a lot to jazz instrumentation, melodious and soulful
R&B, and an atmosphere akin to aesthetic of hip-hop from the early 1990s, Hard to Be King, musically speaking,
juxtaposes the space between being laid back and introspective with a true
urgency.
Among the 19 tracks, “Sirens” is an early standout, creating
a dreamy and hypnotic world that’s just entirely too short, while the titular
track revolves around slow motion and mournful horns; later, songs like “Happy”
and “All Love” boast warm sounding, groove focused keyboards.
As a performer, Bass takes his time. He’s not in any hurry
with his delivery, and since that’s the case, he eases you through each song.
He’s careful as he describes his beloved Richmond—“100 barbershops and everybody’s nice,” he explains, before shouting
out his own barbers and his favorite restaurant. “I’m from where the gas station is ‘the stores,’” he says later on, painting a very tangible image of a community
struggling in spaces between simplicity, contentment, and poverty.
On his Bandcamp page, the banner across the top is a photo
of bass with the words “I will not make
any boring art,” scrawled across it over and over again, like a young child
sent to the blackboard as punishment in school. At the halfway mark on Hard to Be King, on the aforementioned “Happy,”
Bass recounts the of someone with a comfortable (yet possibly soul crushing)
job, not prepared for a life without it, who is suddenly laid off—“If it don’t make you happy, if don’t make
you smile, if it don’t make you proud—then leave that shit behind…stay up on your grind,” he professes in
the song’s refrain, in a surprisingly optimistic and thoughtful moment that
shows how deeply Bass believes himself and his abilities.
Hard to Be King
sidesteps the grim and gritty elements that can weigh down some rap albums,
though it is a very reflective and pensive listen. Bass has created a very real
environment that is comprised of moments of hardship or disappointment, yes,
but there is an impressive sense of hope that runs throughout. Internet rap and
mixtape rap can be an overcrowded market to say least, and it’s tough to find
someone who is really saying
something—actually bringing something of interest to the table. Bass has kept
up his end—Hard to Be King is far
from boring art. It’s a headphone record, the kind of effort you can wind up getting
lost in, seeking solace during these unfathomably cold winter months.
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