![]() Likewise, it’s satisfying, if not always delightful, to see that those rap nerd tendencies haven’t left him. And in the lead-up to the album’s release, he was forthcoming about his recent suicide attempt, in which he jumped from a freeway overpass seeking a permanent solution to dark thoughts tormenting him through the recent pandemic. On the motivational “ Do Better,” he wrestles with survivor’s remorse while detailing his own efforts to follow the title’s advice. On the title track, he addresses addiction, depression, losing his father, and even his ongoing ordeal with Steven-Johnson Syndrome, which affects his vision. So it’s a relief to hear him shake loose some of the muck that bogged down those projects, endeavoring to discuss more earthbound subjects on Herbert - even when those topics get dark. On his first two projects, Longterm Mentality and Control System, these tendencies made him seem quirky and idiosyncratic on These Days… and Do What Thou Wilt., though, he sounded out-of-touch and borderline delusional. It showed in not just the music he made, but in the reception to it, as well. ![]() He was the one who deeply cared about the mechanical intricacies of rhyme work, the sort of blog commenter who probably threw the term “multi” into at least a few of his online missives. He was also - and I say this lovingly, as a fellow former denizen of the rap battle forums he frequented in the early days of the internet - a rap nerd beyond the like of his Black Hippy brethren. While Jay Rock and Q reeled off morbid street stories and Kendrick offered intellectual observations on LA gang culture from the perspective of the hood-adjacent everyman, Ab-Soul was that stoner roommate everyone remembers from university who was really into metaphysical philosophy. Influenced as much by underground mainstays like Canibus and Ras Kass as he was by Tupac, his bars have always been the densest, the most metaphorical, and the most abstract of the Black Hippy collective. Of all the first-wave TDE artists, Soul has probably been the hardest sell to the mainstream hip-hop fan. It also means that 2023 might be totally clear for Top Dawg to truly move into its next wave of artists, many of whom seem poised to bridge the gap between the backpack rap-influenced releases of the label’s past and the more sonically malleable styles of contemporary hip-hop - which makes Herbert the perfect project to close that chapter of Top Dawg’s history. That means that for the first time, TDE is probably facing a new year with the prospect of no releases from its first and second-wave rappers and singers. Jay Rock, who may as well be the label’s vanguard artist, hasn’t been heard from since 2018, although he typically takes long breaks between albums too. Schoolboy Q, who’s always kind of hovered in their periphery, last released an album, Crash Talk, in 2019, which could potentially have also completed his own obligation to Top Dawg, if Kendrick’s five-album deal structure is any guideline. For all purposes, it looks very much like the most commercially successful acts on the label are pretty much done. Dot’s commitment to the label and SOS potentially constituting SZA’s swan song (although the jury remains out in that regard she seems to change her mind every other week and could be announcing five more EPs by the time you read this), TDE finds itself in an interesting place. This is because of the content of Herbert, yes, but it’s also because of Soul’s seeming place in the unofficial hierarchy of TDE’s fluctuating roster of artists. Given that it’s the end of the year - traditionally, a time for looking back on the year in review and looking forward to the possibilities of the blank calendar ahead - it’s kind of fitting that Top Dawg Entertainment released Ab-Soul’s reflective Herbert now rather than somewhere in the furor of attention swirling around Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s comeback albums.
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