Nate B. The Recount (2011, Mixtape)
Huntsville’s Nate B. released the follow up to 2010’s uneven, but at times excellent, The Debate Mixtape, last month to (as far as I can tell) zero fanfare.
Unlike The Debate, which was produced entirely by Slowmotion Sounds affiliate, InkPress-Anthem, the production on The Recount features tracks from LDR Music Group, Geek Skwad, Ben Frank and 118 Ent., to diversify the sonic palette beyond the trunk rattling trance rap characteristic of Huntsville’s most visible production duo, the Block Beattaz.
Nate is a competent rapper who tends to sink or swim based on the production he is riding. On standouts like “Rockets 1.0”, Geek Skwad lays a thick low-end beneath crunchy electric guitars — big enough to fill the track’s space, but not so overwhelming as to overpower the mid-range timbre of his delivery, while the 118 Ent.-produced “Hold Me Back” is something out of the Stargate mold, but also features the production team adding soulful, GMane-esque boasts to the chorus, creating something that’s accessible without tipping into saccharine pop rap. Then there’s the unquantized, off-kilter boasts of “We Won’t Stop” that almost (but not quite) sounds like it samples “Blinded By The Light”, and the double-time flow of “Choosing”, which separates Nate from the flood of derivative Dat Piff and Bandcamp rappers in under three minutes.
And sure, there’s an unnecessary freestyle over “Juicy” to close the tape with references to Beats By Dre, and “Dope Boy” is a rather unoriginal take on both the “I’m not a dope boy / but I’m dope boy” lyrical trope, and swag rap generally, but end-to-end, The Recount displays an artist working to find himself, and experimenting across a range of styles, often to exciting results.
-SM
