Anybody that’s spent more than 10-minutes conversing with me in the last 365 days, understands just how much I believe that meaningful lyrics are coming back to the mainstream. Now, this doesn’t mean that your favorite boom-bap rapper is on their way back to resurgence, as a lot of that shit is stale and boring. Instead, it speaks to how listeners are placing a higher value on penmanship, which has lead to even the most scrutinized of artists like Lil’ Uzi Vert to pay as much attention to what they’re saying as they do to how they’re saying it. Proving my thesis earlier in the year than expected, Brockton, Massachusetts artist Luke Bar$ doubles down on this notion and gives us a brilliant album in the form of, GoodEvil.
Having been previously unaware of Luke and his eccentric style, the first thing that caught my eye and forced me to listen was his intriguing cover art, as well as the accompanying promotion surrounding it. Utilizing his beautiful family dressed in their Sunday Best, Luke stands in the back donning a ski mask, seemingly acknowledging himself as the black sheep, setting the tone for the rest of the project.
At 8-tracks, the project is at a perfect length. Instead of giving us 12-songs, or 6, the 8 fit seamlessly, never making you feel like he was giving you too much or not enough. Conceptualized from a conversation he had with super-producer, Terrace Martin about how ego can get in the way of releasing music–something EVERY artist can relate too–GoodEvil is an authentic and creative journey of a young artist finding himself as man, professional and everything in between.
Executive produced by Dreamville savant, Jermaine “Maine” Maxwell, the crowning jewel of this project is how pristine the production is. Featuring beats from producers like, Latrell James (“Die With Pride,”) Kiron Akil (“Reflections,”) Rilla Force (“Grew Up”) and more, the All-Star cast of beat-makers set the stage perfectly for Luke to spazz… and that he does. Sounding like a creative mixture of Playboi Carti and Smino, he utilizes his ridiculous flow to bend his vocals and cadences to get off some of the craziest melodic progressions I’ve heard in a while. Doing all of that while still placing a high value on his pen, it should be sooner rather than later that Luke starts to break through to the masses.
Take a listen to GoodEvil below and get familiar with Brockton’s newest star.
