Scene and Heard – CCCLXVII: Money  –  Risbrand Micheal Bobby (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

Honesty is the best policy and here we have an artist honest enough to admit that his mind is on making money. But unlike many of his fellow rappers who seem to be looking to hustle and hassle their way to an easy payday, the money that RMB is chasing is the money that comes from hard work.

Over a slow R&B groove he reminds us that the money that really makes us feel like a success is the money that we have sweated for, honestly. Skittering, off-beat trap percussion and kick drum drive the song but it is happy to saunter and swagger rather than get too “in your face.” And it is this slow and wonderfully enticing approach, one that is spacious and structurally fluid that makes it stand out from the pack. The fact that it is beguiling rather than bombastic, alluring rather than aggressive, shows that not only is this an artist who thinks differently from those around him but one that also knows that less is more. But only when it comes to music.