Tag: Vanguard Music Group

Nosaint – “The Truth” review

Maryland recording artist & producer Nosaint dropping his debut solo mixtape. A member of the Vanguard Music Group in-house production team, he also has 4 extended plays under his belt with 3 of them showing off his abilities as a rapper & the Saint Tape taking a backseat vocally to let some of his most notable collaborators rock his beats from Hardrock to Sk8star. For the past year however, he’s been preparing to reveal The Truth to the world & time has finally come.

“Weary Souljah” opens with a majestic 3 minute intro produced by his manager Zodiac reminiscent to some of Ye & Travis Scott’s material whereas “Absolutely Fucking Brazy” instrumentally gives off a delicate trap vibe so he can talk about his glow up. “Ruger” discusses treating life like it’s a scrimmage since it’s often compared to a game within itself leading into “2Bool” let’s it known to the haters that they better start worrying about themselves.

406ahmad gets behind the boards for the 2-parter “No Dubs / Dealing with Loneliness” laying out anyone who tries him over some hi-hats & synths that later get swapped out in favor of a vocal sample to describe feeling alone just before “See What I See” ends the 1st leg of The Truth talking about putting in worn to better his life. The self-produced “Q.2.H.” (Quarter 2 a Half)” boasts of him flipping the product & making it whole until the pluggy “Pharmacy” courtesy of his Vanguard brethren R8 dismisses those riding his wave.

“Chocolate Rain” spends 90 seconds talking about a person who never had it figured Lucy over a piano-inflicted trap beat while “Toosie” after the compositional “Palmy” interlude admits to hiding his heart behind his jewelry. “Youngest O.G.” nears closer towards the conclusion of the tape talking about sticking to the code since everyone else ain’t shit compared to him & following the “Masaka Choirs” intermission, “Psalm 13” wraps things up shrugging off muhfuckas who’re all bark with no bite.

Becoming a fan of his production work after hearing “slatty” off the Mogul EP near the end of 2022, I truthfully haven’t heard much of Nosaint as a rapper up until this point & was surprised at how much I enjoyed a good chunk of The Truth. I understand why he only self-produced a couple tracks, but I’d be interested if he continues to spit over his own instrumentals going forward even if the tracks R8 as well as 406ahmad & the mixtape’s engineer Zodiac all cooked up stood out to me the most.

Score: 3.5/5

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R8 – “Dawn Chorus” review

United Kingdom trap producer R8 curating his 3rd solo EP of rappers performing over his beats. For a few years already, he’s gotten a chance to work with some of the increasingly popular trap artists in recent memory from 9 Vicious to untiljapan & tana in addition to becoming a member of the Vanguard Music Group production team. However, seeing that he’s continuing to drop stuff under his own name with Dawn Chorus peaked my interest even if he was only able to get 4 guests on it & has been getting quite the attention.

“Grand Risings” by Nosaint begins with a trap intro where the latter’s rapping about some of these dudes out here being full-blown hoes whereas “Need Don’t Want” by Santova gives off a cloudier vibe instrumentally even if the repetitive songwriting does nothing for me. “Sak Pasé” by Nosaint co-produced by Patrick Garza boasts that his racks will do the speaking for him & after the compositional title track Tom Levesque co-produced, “Treat You Right” by Nosaint talks about treating his girl properly.

Deathtoricky gets his own moment to shine in the spotlight with “Holiday” even if it another track that I’m not head over heels for, but then “Unfortunate” by 9 Vicious samples the Tems song of the same name airing out someone who did them dirty. “Margiela Coat” by Nosaint talks about finding a woman who’s different from these other hoes until Dawn Chorus finishes up with 2 more 9 Vicious songs: “Free Mind” sampling another Tems joint & “Patience”.

Both of R8’s previous extended plays 8 & 8² have their individual selection of highlights such as “Farewell” or “Whole Story”, but Dawn Chorus brings more consistency to the table than it’s predecessors & think this is his finest solo offering yet. His cloudy trap production remains opulent start to finish & out of the small handful of guests, Nosaint taking up almost half of it was fun since he’s been getting a lot of recognition for his rapping abilities recently & the 9 Vicious fans will eat his contributions up.

Score: 3.5/5

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