redveil – “Sankofa” review

Largo, Maryland emcee & producer redveil starting the final month of 2025 with a brand new mixtape. Emerging at the tail-end of 2019 off his debut EP Bittersweet Cry, I wouldn’t get introduced to his music until 8 months after when a short-lived Twitter beef between him & the internet’s busiest music nerd himself Anthony Fantano broke out merely days after dropping his following EP Niagara. His debut mixtape learn 2 swim celebrated his 18th birthday elevating himself artistically, coming off playing with fire to put out Sankofa.

“Time (A Dream Deferred)” breaks the door down with soulful background vocals & a passionate verse about his feet telling him to call his roots whereas “Lone Star” takes a more conscious approach lyrically over an organ-based instrumental. “History” gives off a jazzier vibe talking about being historic from the get go while “Brown Sugar” featuring Smino pulls from neo-soul to show off a flirtatious side of themselves.

Meanwhile on “Or So I”, we have redveil leaning heavier towards the jazz rap side of things talking about how he’d rather die right here instead of being surveilled just before “Pray 4 Me” chops up a soul sample cutting off his phone for the last 18 hours he has in the west coast. “Mini Me” returns to a neo-soul direction singing about not wanting to hide his true self anymore leading into the drumless chipmunk soul track “Save” desiring to preserve himself.

“Stay the Night” begins the last leg of Sankofa with a drumless neo-soul track singing for the woman he’s in love with to spend the evening by his side while “Buzzerbeater / Black Christmas” starts off with a majestic trap instrumental prior to shifting towards jazzier territory during the last minute & a half talking about planning to take his own life since he was 13. “Glimpse of You” finishes with a tribute to his schizophrenic brother wanting to visit him for his birthday due to it being forever since they last saw each other.

Honoring his inner child as a beatsmith more so than anything else he’s ever made, Sankofacontextualizes a lot of the same feelings of anxiety & depression that’ve been interconnected between all of the projects redveil’s dropped for almost 7 years. He eventually hit a ceiling creatively by executing the styles of jazz rap, conscious hip hop, neo-soul, boom bap, drumless, trap & chipmunk soul a lot bigger than he has over the course of the decade promising a lot more exciting things in 2026.

Score: 4.5/5

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redveil – “playing w/ fire” review

This is the 3rd EP from Maryland emcee & producer redveil. Emerging up at the tail-end of 2019 off his debut EP Bittersweet Cry, I wouldn’t get introduced to his music until 8 months after when a short-lived Twitter beef between him & the internet’s busiest music nerd himself Anthony Fantano broke out merely days after dropping his following EP Niagara. He then celebrated his 18th birthday last year in the form of his debut mixtape learn 2 swim & is returning by dropping playing w/ fire in the midst of the most recent tour that he’s currently on promoting it.

“stuck” is a triumphantly drumless way to kick the whole thing off talking about running it back whereas “giftbag” experiments fusing pop rap with jazz rap & chipmunk soul telling motherfuckers to get off his dick as well as how they be hoes by switching up on you. JPEGMAFIA slides through for the politically charged “black enuff” fusing trap metal with highlife & industrial music just before “f2g (fucks 2 give)” with Mekdelawit has a bit of an EDM groove to it talking about running out of exactly just that. “captain” makes it clear that it be known who’s frontin’ & that redveil is the man in charge over a soulful trap beat until the title track ends it all by blending synths, pianos & hi-hats declaring it to be done on everyone/everything he loves.

For those’ve you who started tuning into this guy off. His remarkable guest verse on Danny Brown & JPEGMAFIA’s latest collab effort Scaring the Hoes, then I’d tell you off the bat that this & learn 2 swim are the strongest offerings in his catalogue thus far. The production is a bit more experimental this time around in comparison to his older stuff & the performances are incredibly captivating.

Score: 4/5

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redveil – “learn 2 swim” review

redveil is an 18 year old MC/producer from PG County, Maryland who came up at the tail-end of 2019 off his debut mixtape Bittersweet Cry. But I wouldn’t get introduced to his music until 8 months after when a short-lived Twitter beef between him & the internet’s busiest music nerd himself Anthony Fantano broke out merely days after dropping Niagara. It prompted me to check the tape out & I was actually pretty impressed with the amount of potential he was showing as an artist. So for his 18th birthday, he’s celebrating by dropping his debut mixtape.

“together” opens up the tape with some keys & saxes talking about running it whereas “diving board” takes a jazzier route addressing his come up. “pg baby” works in a soul sample talking about what growing up in Maryland was like for him just before “new info” incorporates a crooning vocal loop declaring his energy as his biggest weapon.

Meanwhile on “shoulder”, we have Mekdelawit & Renaissance Mic accompanying redveil on top of a euphoric boom bap instrumental talking about watching their youth wash away leading into Sam Truth tagging along for the melodic “better” advising that shit gets better when you give it time. “sky” lusciously talks about being a star, but then “morphine (da ways)” returns to soulful territory expressing his desire to win.

Fly Anakin & ovrkast. come into the picture for the trap-tinged “automatic” talking about how you can’t break them while the song “home” vents everything that’s been on his mind these days. The penultimate track “mars” mixes some background vocals, pianos & even a guitar solo talking about seeing the light a mile away & “working on it” ends the tape with a powerful ballad confessing that he doesn’t wanna run anymore.

If anyone liked Niagara as much as I did, then you’re gonna love learn 2 swim just as much if not more & I recommend all of those who’re still not up in redveil to check this tape out because it’s just most mature body of work thus far. On top of that, I admire how much he demonstrates his artistic growth with his refined lyrics & production game.

Score: 4/5