Analytic Dreamz: Notorious Mass Effect - "NF - HOPE REVIEW"

Episode Date: April 22, 2023

One of the biggest rap albums to arrive in the last few weeks was actually NF’s HOPE. HOPE marks the Michigan rapper’s first studio album since 2019’s The Search, although he did release his Clouds mixtape in between, in 2021. The new album features contributions from Cordae and Julia Michaels while rest of the album is all solo work. source: NF 'HOPE' First Week Sales Projections | HipHop-N-MorePrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

The White Hope of Hip Hop has returned. NF has released his fifth studio album called Hope. Now, this may be surprising to some of y'all, because I don't talk about him a lot, and that's for a reason. But let's just say NF is one of my favorite rappers of all time. And as far as favorite rappers of all time, I mean personally, like, I feel like as a creative, sometimes your creative top five and your personal top five is a little different because you may be judged off of who you get inspiration from. So your personal top five may be a little different from your creative top five.

Like imagine you say, oh, little pump had this color contrast in this video. That's why I do this. People are going to be like, oh, you're listening to a little pump. Like, it's just going to get totally lost in translation. So for me, if there was a world on Earth 2 where I was to create music, I would say that my style would be a mix of NF and Drake. Because in general, I love how NF gets his point across without having to cuss and his raps. And you may think that's the most, the most, I don't even know the word,

the corneous way to look at something because, you know, hip-hop is all about being cool and cursing and objectifying women. You know what I'm saying? So for NF to not curse it all in his albums to make it a point to not curse and still rap like he's in the modern generation,

like most people who don't curse into rapes is like Christian rappers. And what that means is they don't, even refer, even if they're not custom, they don't refer to anything that may be going against, you know, um, God's, um, 10 commandments, you know what I'm saying? Like,

they may say something like, the closest thing they'll come to like, going against their religion is, like, I don't even know. Like, I try to think of something like La Cray said or something like that. Like, what's other ones? Other Christian rappers? I forget. Just La Cray. Somebody else. The names are very, um,

different. but basically they don't really go against the grain when it comes to like explicit content but nf he definitely gets into it and he he displays his aggression without having the curse and of course displaying your aggression is technically not a sin i guess but you know nowadays you never know with christianity is very very judgmental religion and that's from somebody in it so uh anyways um nf raps without cursing he has a lot of values that i really appreciate it's kind of like Russ when he wraps. Like he has a lot of gems that you could take forward in life. Like on a song with Corday, if I can pull that up, on the song called Careful with Corday, he literally says at the

end of his second verse. So he saved us for the very second verse, right? Or at the very end of the second verse, he says, got to keep the loved ones close. That's all we know. And it's such a simple bar, but the way he ended off his second verse saying that, it's like, you could take that gym for the rest of your life and that will always be applicable. And I love those type of verses. He also has, in the same verse, too, man, he was killing Corday on this track.

I ain't gonna lie. I don't think no other rappers are gonna try to rap with NF after this. But NF said, talking about risk, I've been taking them. Talking about dreams, I've been chasing them. Talking about lives, I've been changing them. I mean, he's talking that talk in this track.

talking about family don't play with them that's a line that you don't cross no low blows can't respect those got to keep the loved ones close that's all we know like stuff like that is just like poetic like not to get not to uh exaggerate nf is one of those rappers where people will put in a corny box and even him having a feature from corday on this album really doesn't help him out from that perspective. But realistically, corny nowadays is being attached to taking care of your business

and not stepping out of the lines of illegally attaining stuff. Let's just say stuff. But you get what I'm saying. Being cool is more about risk taking, more so in the legal space. And being corny is more about you can still be risk taking, but in the legal space. That's how I put it.

So the legal space, the straight and narrow is corny. The illegal space, attaining things in ways that don't abide by or not law abiding is cool. To break the law is cool. To be straight and narrow and to mind your own business. is corny. So anyways, NF is in that box of corny. And for me, I'm not going to lie to you, the way that NF

raps, I think he is definitely one of the more he's one of the more prominent lyricists that gets skipped over by everybody in the hip-hop space. Like nobody will ever bring up

NF in a conversation simply because he's not in the circles of interviews that you should be doing as a hip hop artist now is that uh partially his fault of course if you if you don't go out and talk to the suways of the world if you don't go to the breakfast clubs of the world if you're going to if you don't like sit down or even have a chat with dj academics it's like you're not in the hip hop space at all like if you just set alone a set a what's the word if you just stay in your own bubble which is um

I forget what the name was, Hopspin. Hopspin had this quote about talking about NF to Adam 2022. And I know he's like, not 2022, Adam 22, which I know him right now. He's like dealing with a whole array of stuff. But let's just stay on topic. Hopspin was telling Adam 22 that NF is really in his own bubble, but he's a really cool guy. Now you can be a really cool guy, but to be in your own bubble is not going to cut it in the hip hop industry. They want you to show your face, come to interviews to be accepted.

Cardi B had to do it. J. Z had to do it. I don't know why I put them in the same. My bad. My fault. Let me use a different example. Kanye had to do it. Jay Z had to do it 50 cent. M&M. Like all of these prominent hip hop iconic legends had to sit down with some of the black media outlets that we have in today. society because to be accepted you have to be in that that space which is nothing wrong with that I don't really mind that like if you're not going to come down sit down with any of the black outlets I really don't think you should be a part of the conversation so I may be contradicted myself well no I didn't say he should be I just say he gets skipped over

so so though so I'm not saying like oh people just hating on them now if NF sat down with more black outlets he would get more looks as far as being accepted in the hip-hop industry Obviously, he has his own fan base as his first week sales are already projected to be around 100,000. So he doesn't really need these outlets, which may be why he's not doing it in the first place. Because best believe me, if NF was flopping album after album, I bet you he would do more interviews. But since his fan base holds him down to the point where I literally had to look him up, I was like, bro, who is his major label? because there's no major label that'll let you keep putting out music

and not go sit down with no popular outlet. So I kept looking at it and every time you go to an NF album in the credits, it says NF real music. And the only time I ever found a glimpse or a hint of help from a major label is in 2017 when he dropped perception

and it said Capital Records, then it said NF real music. So I'm thinking that Capital, helped him out and he just went back to being independent because most of his other projects are just under him like nf real music like i'm pretty sure that's his label like there's no major label that's going to be like oh we'll help you out but we don't want credit like no never that's never going to happen so i'm thinking he's completely independent except for that one time in 2017 when he was under capital so i'm like how is this man selling so many copies not talking to any

black media outlets he's still outselling all the black artists that drive you're not last Thursday at midnight like Ray Shremmered I'm not even gonna lie the first week sales it's not looking good um what's all the girl's name the girl that got co-signed by Beyonce she's like the little mermaid oh Chloe Bailey yeah Chloe Bailey I think she sold like 10,000 first week like 10,000 first week like those are those are not even independent artist sales like those are just those are just like I don't know. That's bad. That's pretty bad. Like 10,000 first week is like people don't respect you as a musician at all. Like nobody's listening to your music. And that's not like, that's respectfully. I'm just putting it in a realistic aspect. 10,000 first week, of course, for somebody who just started music would be good. Like solid, right? Solid numbers. But like, bro, 10,000 first week is not a good number to be starring in a Disney movie, to be co-signed by Beyonce to have a few. from Chris Brown to have a feature from future.

10,000 first week is atrocious. Straight garbage. Anyways. So, and you see, she does all the interviews. You know what I'm saying? She sits now everybody, and she still doesn't, she still doesn't sell well. So it's like, it comes to a point where NF's fan base is just a step above most of the artist fan bases.

And to the point where I think NF as a rapper should get more flowers, but, you know, he will only receive those flowers if he starts going around and doing interviews. So he doesn't have to be like multiple. It could be like two or maybe one a year. But he has to do at least two interviews with black media outlets. I'm telling you, even Eminem sat down with some of the biggest black media outlets even when he didn't need them. So it's like, I don't understand.

I don't understand that whole being in your bubble because it's really counterintuitive if he wants to be an actual hip-hop artist. Because right now, even me, when I put this up, I'm telling me, there's going to be somebody who messes me. They're going to be like, bro, why are you covering white rappers? Like, why are you covering white Christian rappers? Because they think that this man is just like a Christian rapper because he doesn't ever come into the ecosystem of just the hip-hop industry.

So it's a very weird situation that he's in. because obviously he has respect from here. It's like futuristic, who's a rapper. I think hopefully I know who that is. Futuristic talked about him in Hobson, like I just stated previously on the Adam 22 interview, talked about how N-F is just a cool guy, but just him not really, I'm not going to say he has to mingle with the most popular hip-hop artist, but him to not do any interviews with the black outlets is just kind of insane to me.

But anyways, let's get into the album. I'm tripping. let's get into the album. I really want to get into this. Because that's my only, that's a big critique, of course. That's my only critique. Because this album, his top three album of the year, and I'm not even going to be like,

I'm so unapologetic about it because NF has been so consistent over the years. This man makes such content-heavy music in a serviceable way that just blows me away, like how consistent he is. It may sound blaspherson, women's but nf

to I don't even want to say just to white people because I feel like nf is a great rapper but he just feels so out of the circle that I would have to say to nf to like white people and you know I'm sorry I don't know any other way to put it

it's probably like there Kendrick and I'm being so serious because the content is there the lyrics is very heavy he's definitely a lyric rapper the versatility is there i mean if you go from if you go from suffice where he's just rapping over a eight to eight heavy uptempo beat just straight giving bars over like a club beat and then he

goes to a mistake where he's just singing his heart out talking about how um he has characteristics that he's not a proud of or he's ashamed of or something like that like he's just singing like he's second coming. I'm not going to say none, like no iconic singer because then that would be blasphemous. But let's just say he's singing to the point where he's like, bro, this sounds like really good. So the versatility is there and the rapping ability is top tier. Like Kendrick Drake is top tier. Like NF, the way he wraps in his own unique style.

Of course, people could call him an Eminem copycat, which Dave went back and forth. You have to look up another video for that. have enough time for that but um and nf surprisingly they have their beefs like why's em and them beef and war the white rappers like i don't understand machine gun kelly uh nf who's next like logic like he's going to be for like half of logic's like project i don't know anyways um enough he's just one of those rappers where he's really top tier to the point where i feel like if i'm gonna keep coming back to this point. If he was in the hip hop industry more, he would be one of the biggest artists we have. Like, we would be like Drake, Kendrick, then maybe NF. Like, I'm being so serious. Like,

the sales, the first week sales that NF generates is on a level to where if he actually did media and press and had a major label, that's another thing. If he, if he was under UMG, you know how many digital sales or how many copies they would have bought? He was, would have messed around and because i always say major labels they add like at least 60 000 well i don't know cloy bailey flop i have to see what major label she's on because they did not care about her i remember when her and gunna was dating and gunna dropped like drip forever or whatever and then after that they broke up and he got all those sales and now she's selling 10k like she really got messed over but anyways that's besides point um if nf was under a major label usually they add at least 60 000 to your overall first week

so he could have sold 160,000 to 200,000 first week off of just being signed to a major label. Obviously, he could have some distribution, some chance to rapper type deal under the table, but there's no credit of any major label. And to that, I'm crediting him as an independent artist. So that is just insane. 100,000 first week. If, like, I could go track by track, but I know most people don't have time for all that. So if I was to get my top three, I would definitely say careful.

featuring Corday because I think he just completely outwraps Corday. Of course, Corday has a solid verse because, I mean, Corday dropped from a bird's out view, which I had in my top five albums of the year for last year. But careful by NF and Corday, I believe

that's a standout. Suffice, which is the one I brought up earlier, with him just rapping just straight bars over like a club-type beat, which I was so surprised to hear attached to NF lyrics. It was like so crazy. Like the beat was fire. I was like, oh, is this a, is this a 21 Savage?

This is a little Uzi-Vir beat? No, not a little Uzi. Is this a 21 Savage little Dirk type beat? And the NF comes on. I'm like, oh, okay, well, it's a little different. Like the up-tempo club type track, like I like it. And then he slowed it a little bit down at the end because he had, well, not like, in quality. I'm just talking about in pace.

My third favorite would be mistake because I just love how he's just singing throughout the whole track. He's singing and rapping. But the chorus is straight. singing and uh let's just say the the lyrics that he put in his chorus is one of my favorite choruses maybe all time like it's so applicable i think the best choruses in life are the ones that apply to a lot of different scenarios and so for mistake he comes on and he says if time heals tell me why do i kill myself trying to show you i'm not a mistake i've got quality

that I'm not proud of. I've made promises that I walked out on. I've had days. I feel I don't deserve love. So think what you want. Just don't call me a mistake. And that's like so applicable to every like aspect of life because everybody has that imposter syndrome

when you're just going through life. You're trying to achieve something. You're like, bro, I don't even belong here, but somehow I got here, but I still don't feel like I belong here. Like you just go through that back and forth. And I feel like the best choruses of all times, are just applicable to every scenario in your life.

And NF is just one of the more, he's one of the more, I forget the word, like he actually, he goes out his way to make it applicable. Like he goes out his way to make it have substance. He's not just saying, oh, I did this, two foreigns, one baddie. Like he's not, you know,

he's actually talking about stuff that matters in life. And it's, bro, it's honestly like on some Kendrick type level. And, you know, I may get killed for saying that. But NF is probably one of the greatest rappers that I've ever heard, like, in life. That's the highest compliment I could ever give a rapper. So anyways, click my link to your in my bio. Let me know on one of my social medias. What do you think about NF as a rapper?

Do you even know who he is? Is this your first time hearing about him? And also, what do you think about him selling 100 to 110,000 copies first week? And will you be giving his album, titled Hope, a listen.