We certainly live in a post-genre age, one where the old rules and demarcations have been swept away by the more adventurous minds of today’s music makers. And nowhere is this more true than in the rap and hip-hop genres. Once, they proudly conformed to signature sounds and stayed, for the most part, well inside their sonic lane. But that can only get you so far.
We should now look to boundary-pushing and genre-hopping artists such as NatStar to write the next chapters of the music story, not just for those urban-infused sounds but for the future of the music industry in general. And Mamba, his latest album, is the sound of him doing just that.
Taking an understated hip-hop core, it is what he blends through these deft vocal salvos, what he adds to the sonic backdrop, that keeps him ahead of the pack. The spoken word opener, “Bean,” sets a tone for a sort of hazy, soul-infused soundscape. From here, he explores trappy-trippy grooves via “Hiss,” emotive neo-soul with “Favour,” and even more pop-rap infectiousness with tracks like “A Minute.”
And always, as you would expect from someone coming from a hip-hop-centric place, the rhymes and rhythms of the words, the ebb and flow, the purpose and precision, and the impact and inflection of the words remain front and center.
All music needs to evolve; this is the sound of hip-hop doing precisely that.