IAMNOBODI’s debut album, Elevated, exists in a state of flux. The sound is all at once intensely loyal to its hip-hop roots, and completely at ease with pushing the boundaries of production style and technique. On face, this lack of a firm musical foundation could potentially rob the album of some of the artistic focus necessary for a cohesive body of work, but IAMNOBODI proves once and for all that you can have your cake and eat it too. Rather than allowing the music to get pigeonholed into one particular discipline, he’s opted to let the album draw inspiration from a variety of places. And the result has been a product unique enough to give even the genre killer himself, Ta-Ku, second thoughts about his supremacy as the quintessential “producer sans-category.” Fire up track one, and IAMNOBODI’s rejection of the conventional is made apparent right away. The song opens up with a Kendrick Lamar monologue in which he discusses the corruptive powers of money in the music industry, and it becomes very clear that Elevated is IAMNOBODI’s paralleling sonic rebellion against mainstream sound. The monologue itself does flirt with cliché, but its message rings true, as all of them do, and when paired with the avant-garde flavors found in ensuing tracks, its sincerity isn’t in question. The album as a whole, is, without a doubt, at its best when enjoyed straight through, but there are definitely still a couple of standout tracks, most notable among them, “Temptation” and “Maputo Dance.” “Temptation” slinks through its allotted two minutes and twenty-two seconds with a deftness that belies the production complexity resting just beneath the surface. And it's songs like these that make one recognize the importance of the subtle touches when it comes to sound textures and beat layering. “Maputo Dance” is a little more overt in its delivery, but no less accomplished in its audio anatomy. The blips and chirps carefully folded into the track not only make for a good first impression, but a rewarding second and third listen too. You can stream Elevated in its entirety below, and make the jump to Bandcamp to acquire the rest of the audacious audio excellency.
IAMNOBODI