Pharaoh and T Fest have diagnosed rap

Last week, picky rap fans got a reason to complain that everything is changing, and not for the better. And the rockers are the hope for a full return of the legendary band. New releases from Pharaoh and T-Fest gave a clear idea of ​​the form of popular rappers, the single from Gun’n’Roses sounded like the first good news from this group in many years.

The author himself refers to Phrequency as a mixtape with tracks not included in other releases. This is probably why the release turned out to be very colorful, although Pharaoh adheres to the strategy outlined back in 2017 on the Pink Phloyd mixtape. Like many harsh rappers, Gleb actually dreams of creating pop music. This, of course, does not mean that the musician is ready to switch to tracks a la Niletto or someone like that. As a poet, Pharaoh is clearly far from pop music and diligently gives out his signature reflection on real feelings, passing difficult tests of fame, money and heavy luxury.

Music is another matter. Pharaoh clearly likes the classic song form with verses and choruses, and in writing the latter, he and his team generally excel. And in the arrangements, some heights are even taken. Eleven tracks fit house, dubstep, synth-pop and even a very daring disco. And the artist himself in the midst of this burlesque, in general, does not look like an alien, because he likes it all. Some time ago, at one of the festivals, he performed “Castle from the Rain” by Vladimir Presnyakov. The retro hit sounded so-so, but the vector of movement was marked quite clearly. It remains only to choose a repertoire according to one’s strength, which is what Gleb does.

True, the Pharaoh congregation often perceives such flirting with pop music without enthusiasm. There are a lot of conclusions in the spirit that, they say, Pharaoh was and swam away, there are a lot of walks on the Web, and the musician himself, probably, should make an important choice: not to deceive the expectations of the public or to do as he sees fit. Most of Phrequency most likely reflects the views of the artist himself on the music. Fans, however, have hope. The joint track with Loc-Doc reminds me of the same trushny rap. And it gets tricky.

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T Fest sits imposingly against the backdrop of Repin’s painting “Cossacks” and feels quite good in the interior of an old-fashioned candlelit feast. Kirill Nezboretsky was born in Chernivtsi, made a career in Russia with the help of Basta and his label “Gazgolder”, and now, as they say, he lives in Poland and records as an independent artist.

The Geek album is monumentally large – twenty-seven tracks and almost an hour and a half of music. During this time, T Fest talks in great detail about childhood, adolescence, career, neglect of success, in general, reports everything that many rappers have downright in the mandatory program. To be honest, the musician does not have a lot of topics for almost three dozen tracks, so he says about the same thing several times. The situation is slightly aggravated by an unimpressive vocabulary, but the energy of a person who is not even thirty helps to get out of the water dry.

There are other assistants, and in this workshop, many can only dream of them. There is no mention of feats (joint tracks) in the streaming version, but as you dive into the album, it becomes clear that Erika Lundmoen, Scryptonite, Aljay, Friendly Thug 52 Ngg were in T Fest this time, and such guests are not only a manifestation of rapper solidarity, but also evidence of Kirill’s good reputation.

The previous full album T Fest is dated 2020. However, the eight tracks that were presented on the release of “Come Out and Come in Normally” look more than modest against the background of the current abundance. Perhaps Geek is the most significant album in the musician’s discography so far. However, significance in this case does not mean unconditional success.

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In this concert season the members of Guns’n’Roses could read and hear a lot of caustic irony about themselves. The performance at Glastonbury turned out to be rather pale, and Axl’s voice became the object of not the kindest ridicule. Instead of proud silence, rock veterans issued an angry statement to the Air Force engineers, accusing them of the terrible sound quality in the broadcast. From the outside, it looked like some kind of kindergarten riot performed by adult uncles. In such a situation, the best medicine is a new material, and now it finally appeared.

We are talking about only one song called Perhaps, but there was some excitement around it. A week before the release, the track was leaked to the Internet, and the illegal novelty became available in the jukeboxes of American bars. The official edition accompanied the concert video, and the song itself seems to be included in the band’s new album.

The little thing came out very even. Moreover, there were no loud manifestos and social content, which is now so expected from musicians. In the verses, Axl asks for forgiveness from the girl who gave him a turn, but it seems that he himself is not very sorry that everything turned out that way. A little less than four minutes is not the hardest sound by Guns’n’Roses standards, but at the end of the song, for some reason, I want to listen to this playful keyboard part again and feel its very relaxed mood.

Seasoned fans, of course, immediately began to compare Perhaps with the gold standards of the group and, naturally, conclude that there were times before. At the same time, even skeptics are ready to admit the obvious: for the first time in many years, Guns’n’Roses have become similar to themselves. It is noteworthy that the song was written at a time when Axl Rose, having got rid of all his old associates, sculpted the Chinese Democracy album, treating it as a personal rock and roll mission. Perhaps remained in the form of a demo for a long time and in its current form became, as the musicians themselves noted, the first track that Axl Rose, guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan recorded together in the last thirty years.

Chinese Democracy came out fifteen years ago and, to put it mildly, did not live up to years of expectation. In 2021, the group released the tracks Absurd and Hard Skool as an EP, which were not included in Chinese Democracy. Perhaps, in fact, also old leftovers, but the final version turned out to be almost the perfect song to end the summer. Rumors about new material that Axl seems to be writing, according to tradition, without any particular hurry, have been circulating since 2019. Duff McKagan even called the new songs amazing. The forecasts from Guns’n’Roses, of course, should be treated with caution, if not suspicious. But Perhaps, perhaps, the first encouraging statement from rock veterans. Suddenly they’re still sleeping.