Beautiful (adj): having beauty; having qualities that give great pleasure or satisfaction to see, hear, think about, etc.; delighting the senses or mind.

 

Rapsody had been spreading her gospel via Jamla and Kooley High for quite some time. Her following has been growing as astronomically as her microphone presence. Many herald her as one of the breakout female artists of this era. Yet, there have been publications that have either doubted or underrated the music. Still, she persevered into demonstrating her evolution on the mic device. Her newest demonstration of mastery, The Idea of Beautiful, is just further proof that Rapsody (and her team as well) shouldn’t be ignored much longer.

 

 

From the beginning of the album to the end, the flows and subject matter come smooth yet sharp and relentless. “Precious Wings” is the typical jam that personifies hip hop. Yet, it gives the music much more emotion than the usual fare. On each track after, be it “Believe Me”, “Nonfiction”, and even further down the line on tracks like “Celebrate” and “The Cards”, Rapsody unleashes her personal thoughts and observations through double entendre, metaphors, and slick talk. If anything, this is one of those albums to convince anybody listening that Rapsody won’t be ignored.

 

Production, as usual, remains diverse and lush. The previous mentioned “The Cards” has Amp brining the piano samples and scratched in sample choruses. Easily attracting the ears of eager hip hop heads, songs like the storytelling “The Town” has 9th Wonder doing what he does best: make great music. Every other song is lushly produced with a notable flair for the atmospheric and highly instrumental. In short, this album has great production.

 

The Idea of Beautiful is a lyrical landmine constructed to blow up people’s assumptions over intricate production. Rapsody leaves no stones unturned as she gets taciturn, autobiographical, or keenly observant over tracts. The Soul Council did her album justice by lacing her with tracks that would make rhymers rhyme their best. Rapsody isn’t an average rhymer over average production. She is a profound poetess relaying her thoughts over plush music selections. This is her “idea of beautiful”. Listen and enjoy.