MAVI – “The Pilot” review

Here we have the 4th EP from Charlotte, North Carolina abstract lyricist MAVI. Emerging off his full-length debut Let the Sun Talk a day before his 20th birthday, he would go on to land a verse on “El Toro Combo Meal” off of Earl Sweatshirt’s 2nd EP Feet of Clay a month later as well as preluding the further well received Laughing So Hard It Hurts in the form of his previous EP End of the Earth. His 3rd album Shadowbox celebrated it’s 1-year anniversary this summer & The Pilotlooks to start the final week of November after signing to Loma Vista Recordings.

“Heavy Hand” is a lo-fi boom bap vibe to the beat talking about using his eyes because his heart’s somewhat like a blindfold whereas “Triple Nickel” featuring MIKE finds the 2 jazzily discussing pushing people far back when they see their dreams creeping up closely. “Silent Film” works in a psychedelic guitar riff getting honest regarding him never learning & not needing anyone to worry about him while “G-Annis” produced by Reuben Vincent references the current WWE Intercontinental Champion John Cena.

Kenny Mason joins MAVI on the drumless “Typewriter” warning that anyone comparing them to artists below them will have lost credibility because of it “31 Days” hooks up a vocal sample telling us he’s been sober for over a month now. “Denise Murrell” goes for a jazzier vibe once again with a flute heavy instrumental talking about his grandma calling him asking when he’s gonna stop making sad shit prior to Jay Versace incorporating some bare sampling for “Mender” telling this romantic interest that they’re gonna be together some day.

“Landgrab” featuring Earl Sweatshirt began The Pilot’s rollout with a drumless lead single trading consciously abstract bars back-&-forth with one another while the 2nd & final single “Potluck”featuring Smino blends trap, cloud rap & neo-soul talking about detractors hating all they want. “Jammers Anonymous” featuring Niontaydeserves a mention of it’s own whether it be the plugg/Philly jerk beat or both artists nailing it with the “Landgrab” delivery for a 2nd time.

Taking control of this new sobered up version of himself in a time of constant travel as well as growing exposure to the arts/design & alienation from home, MAVI introduces himself as part of the Loma Vista roster with a 26 & a half minute EP setting the stage of what we can expect out of his 4th album 1st in Flight next year. The production explores old & new sounds for him from boom bap to jazz rap, drumless, lo-fi hop, trap, cloud rap, neo-soul, plugg & Philly jerk bringing a tight list of guests on board for less that half of it to properly celebrate his sobriety.

Score: 4.5/5

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MAVI – “Shadowbox” review

Charlotte, North Carolina underground sensation MAVI returning after a couple years to put out his 3rd album. Emerging off his full-length debut Let the Sun Talk a day before his 20th birthday, he would go on to land a verse on “El Toro Combo Meal” off of Earl Sweatshirt’s 2nd EP Feet of Clay a month later as well as preluding the further well received Laughing So Hard It Hurts in the form of a debut EP of his own End of the Earth. Few singles later, he’s ready to Shadowbox.

“20,000 leagues” goes drumless to start the LP rapping about saving him from himself whereas the 2-part “open waters” takes a cloudier route instrumentally keeping the drums out the picture for both halves explaining that creating art out of suffering is a haunting if not a futile endeavor. “i did” finally puts some drums in the equation keeping it cloudy talking about doing stuff that he promised not to do anymore & “i’m so tired” strips the drums once again abstractly wanting to be washed off so he can can make another song without a crater or a scar.

The beat on “tether” kinda has a glitchier, funkier tone altogether reminding that we’re all gonna die at some point in our lives while “the sky’s quiet” raps about making a bunch of hearts bleed unable to measure a correct amount of soup although he’ll get back on that when he eventually does. “latch” squares up at the score even if he wasn’t sure this is what he meant over Madlib-inspired production, but then the piano/boom bap hybrid “grindstone” addresses a bitch ass dude named Brandon telling him why he’s the greatest.

After the “drown the snake” skit, “drunk prayer” talks drinking until he’s unable to feel shit over a crooning sample wailing behind him leading into “the giver” telling his partner to make it make sense for him over lavish keys dashed with kicks & snares. “too much to zelle” goes for a psychedelic trap approach getting back to his boogie just before the jazzy “testimony” produced by Tom Levesque of Vanguard Music Group refers to himself as a living dream. “my own ways” finishes the album going his own path accompanied by an instrumental that doesn’t add the drums in until near the end.

Feeling a hopelessness towards Laughing So Hard It Hurts, MAVI felt like he had to come back learn & really how to make art all over again centered around visual art, fashion, interior design & design as an artistic framework & as an organizational force in society. The orderliness in the lives of the devoutly religious became an attractive subtext & lot of shadowbox’s backbone comes from his time with The Black Experience in Design, gaining the idea from them that design is power & the ability to determine the order of things & the way things are supposed to be are power.

Score: 4/5

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MAVI – “Laughing So Hard It Hurts” review

This is the sophomore full-length album from Charlotte up-&-comer MAVI. Emerging in the underground off his full-length debut Let the Sun Talk a day before his 20th birthday, he would go on to land a verse on “El Toro Combo Meal” off of Earl Sweatshirt’s last EP Feet of Clay a month later as well as preluding Laughing So Hard It Hurts a year & a half ago at this point in the form of a debut EP of his own End of the Earth. But after entering his Jordan Year last week, MAVI’s celebrating by dropping the long-awaited follow-up to Let the Sun Talk.

High John” is a stripped back opener with MAVI praying they still make love in his size whereas “Spoiled Brat” takes a more cloudier route boasting how much of an original he is. “Baking Soda” has a more conscious approach lyrically with some glitch hop influences to the instrumental just before “Doves” produced by Dylvinci blends jazz rap & neo-soul together vulnerably admitting to the world that those wings of his hurt.

Meanwhile on “Quiet on Set”, we have MAVI confessing that sometimes he feels like the director sometimes & the actor most times over some hi-hats & a calming backdrop prior to the somber yet delicately produced “3 Left Feet” talking about wishing that things didn’t have to end the way they did with an ex. “My Good Ghosts” dives into soulful turf explaining how “it’s getting empty searching the living when needing a friend”, but then “Reason!” weaves some pianos into the fold thanks to ovrkast. talking about how really they just fiending.

“Hemlock” has a more melodic yet acoustic tone to it calling this his sacrifice while “Having My Way” is a cloudy trap banger of course talking about having it his way with this shit. “Known Unknowns” returns to the boom bap calling out someone who was mean to him because she thought he was cute prior to the groovy “Trip” talking about a relationship that’s just is what it is.

Continuing from there, the crooning loop throughout “Opportunity Kids” is a nice touch as MAVI asking why this person left him alone & that they could’ve got the end of time together while the song “The Inconvenient Truth” tries to see what others have been on with the beat having a more lo-fi flare to it. The penultimate track “Chinese Finger Trap” brings the chords back in to address those who say he should be feeling honored to race & “Last Laugh” is a lush boom bap closer talking about getting just that in the end.

Let the Sun Talk showed quite a bit of potential in MAVI & End of the Earth was a short look at the growth within him at that time, but Laughing So Hard It Hurts elaborates on that pretty well in my personal opinion. The production is a refinement of the abstract yet jazzy/boom bap sounds that helped him blow in the underground to begin with by incorporating more elements of neo-soul this time around as his pen-game continues to elevate.

Score: 3.5/5

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MAVI – “End of the Earth” review

MAVI is a 21 year old rapper from Charlotte, North Carolina blowing up a couple years back off his well-received debut album Let the Sun Talk. His profile began to grow the following month after being featured on “El Toro Combo Meal” off of Earl Sweatshirt’s previous EP Feet of Clay & after doing features for a good bulk of 2020, the kid is returning in full effect by dropping a debut EP.

The EP kicks off with “TIME TRAVEL”, where Mavi talks about his spaceship being at full throttle over some keys & a melodic vocal sample. The next song “1,000 MILES” discusses making it this far with his gifts & that his strengths was never an effort flipping “Lady” by Gino Vannelli while the track “METHODS” talks about mulling the ways to master his municipality over some tribal drums that later builds up into a more aggressive beat. The song “LIFE WE LIVE” talks about not feeling alive by a synth-laced instrumental & then the closer “TOWN CRIER” talks about taking this shit to the moon over a saintly beat.

From start to finish, I think this is a pretty good comeback from MAVI. He does a good job detailing his growth & even though the abstract production isn’t the most cutting edge, it’s tolerable. I’m very excited to watch what he does on his upcoming sophomore album Shango.

Score: 3.5/5