Review Summary: Big tent activism that thrills and hints at great things to come.
Over the decades, popular music has had a complex relationship with social awareness. Superstar artists like U2 and John Lennon built reputations for taking seemingly massive and distant causes like world hunger and anti-war activism, and bringing them down to a human level - and it resonated with millions of fans, bringing these issues to previously untuned ears. Yet the high-profile activism of pop music’s previous decades has largely given way to major artists paying lip service to "safe" causes that already have broad support, while leaving hot-button topics to the wayside for risk of alienating fans.
Perhaps no genre has had a more back-and-forth relationship with activism than hip hop. For every N.W.A., Nas or Lupe Fiasco that has spoken against injustice and inequality, it seems like there has been an equal number of artists throughout the genre’s history that have simply wanted to make fun party anthems. And don’t even get me started on Kanye’s inscrutable balancing act of social awareness and egotism. One could certainly make the argument that a genre founded on standing up to oppression has largely pushed its contemporary activist voices away from the mainstream, for better or worse.
Enter Raury Alexander Tullis, better known simply as Raury, an artist that seemingly came out of nowhere to take up a rising position on the fringes of hip hop. He blends socially aware rhymes with stunningly beautiful soul and folk rock to create a sound uniquely his own. He makes a serious case for bringing activism back to the forefront of rap, while also pushing the boundaries of the genre in directions that haven’t been traveled in some time. Oh, and he’s also 19 years old.
Raury’s major-label debut
All We Need opens in dramatic fashion on the title track, with the young songwriter crooning “Who can save the world, my friend?” over soothing acoustic strumming. Yes,
crooning… this guy is the rare hip hop artist who sings arguably as well as or better than he raps. With a soothing, warm tone and a rock singer’s range, Raury consistently brings beautiful melodies to the album’s alternative-leaning passages. However, these do not dilute the intensity of his conviction, or his ability as a rapper. In fact, one of the main elements that ties the broad and seemingly disparate influences on All We Need together is Raury’s consistent focus on looking beyond himself to larger societal issues. On “Forbidden Knowledge”, one of the album’s most straightforward hip hop tracks, he tackles the costs of rampant consumerism:
“Forbidden knowledge can destroy mankind
We can grow out of control like cancer under the skin of Mother Nature
Busy cities much alike to a tumor
Too many cells, the residents, the body's polluter”
While Raury’s straightforward earnestness may be a detriment in some aspects of his songwriting, sometimes preventing the rap passages from living up to the potential of the rest of the album, it is refreshing to see an up-and-coming hip hop artist tackling such huge issues head-on. It is clear throughout the album’s runtime that Raury is an old soul in more ways than one, determined to give humanity’s most pressing issues more than lip service, while also embracing a “big tent” philosophy that has largely fallen to the wayside in a musical climate that has become strictly divided (some would say defined) by subgenre tags. In a world where the goal of most new artists is to find their own particular sonic niche and stay in it, Raury dares to blend a smorgasbord of styles and eras into one cohesive whole, coming up with something that feels distinctly timeless. It is clear that the young prodigy aims to become a sort of U2 for the rap generation, someone who can pull in casual listeners and diehards alike while spreading a message of positivity and awareness. In this endeavor, he is assisted greatly by an excellent production job, largely by Frank Ocean producer Malay. Similarly to Ocean’s
Channel Orange, the huge amount of sonic diversity on
All We Need is fused into an alternative-leaning package that is still firmly a product of hip hop’s ethos and mindset. Nowhere is this balancing act executed better than on closing track “Friends”, a haunting alternative folk singalong featuring guitars and production from none other than Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello. The track is a call for unity in the face of adversity that actually sounds like U2, and it succeeds in effectively establishing what makes Raury unique. While he occasionally stumbles elsewhere on the album in the execution of his ambitious ideas, “Friends” shows what happens when Raury is firing on all cylinders, with a stuttering sung delivery and uplifting atmosphere showcasing all of the man’s strengths as a folk/soul singer while retaining a sort of hip hop swagger.
“And we, and we, belong
Together
At peace, at peace, we are
Forever”
A natural talent who’s only beginning to tap into his potential, Raury’s evolution and growth in the public light is sure to be a thrilling ride. Take note world. Change is coming, and Raury just might be the hip hop artist to spread the message.
