NEWS
EVENTS
Mixtape Review: Raury - Indigo Child
RnB/Hip Hop | Monday 13th October 2014 | Ollie
Raury is an 18 year old instrumentalist, singer, songwriter and MC from Atlanta. His debut album Indigo Child hasn’t quite established his sound yet, but it’s a thrilling experience and he’s getting there. The teenager has connections! As well as signing to Columbia, he’s recorded with Danger Mouse. Yeezus himself flew the 18 year old to meet him face to face. The budding superstar has been compared to contemporaries as diverse as Frank Ocean, Lorde and Janelle Monáe. There was even room for him to contribute to one of the year’s big follow up albums on SBTRKT’s Wonder Where We Land. The comparisons between some of the more prestigious acts of this generation have been thrust upon him, leaving a great deal to live up to.
The buzz forming around Indigo Child has been immense, with the videos for Cigarette Song and Gods Whisper nearly hitting 500,000 views. Indigo Child is a 13 track mix-tape that not only pushes the boundaries of hip-hop, but sometimes breaks them. However, it is too limiting to box Raury into a single pervasive musical genre. To hip-hop you can add soul, gospel, blues, folk and any number of influences. Whilst it is most certainly eclectic, there is also a sense of the wunderkind finding his musical path. What a journey it’s going to be though, showing all the indications of a promising career to come, Indigo Child may not be a career defining album but will undoubtedly be a stepping stone for his inevitable ascent to stardom.
The one shadow cast across the album is the inevitable lack of maturity in the lyrics. “Cigarette Song, a song about infidelity and drugs” is a case in point. The lyrics and overall throw away feel of the song should not be a surprise, he is only 18 years old remember. Lyrics such as ‘But if you walk the line, I'll provide it, I'll supply you, And if you fuck me right, You can say it, I might say it’ merely demonstrate that even as talented as Raury is, there is still room for improvement. The accompanying video shows Raury living a simple life with no responsibilities, smoking, without a care in the world, adding to the already juvenile ambiance of the track. Overall, Indigo Child seems to be only the tip of the iceberg with regards to Raury's musical capability. Succeeding in bringing himself to peoples attentions with this incredibly varied and entertaining mix-tape, Raury is already attracting a lot of attention. With a growing fan base and critical acceptance his musical career will be an interesting one. Whilst still developing a definitive sound, the 18 year old artist has a long way to go but has certainly made an astonishing start.
Listen to the videos of Cigarette Song and Gods Whisper below
Check out Raury's Soundcloud and Twitter here:
Soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/raury
Twitter - https://twitter.com/Raury
