Mykele Deville
Maintain

3.5
great

Review

by A.R.O. STAFF
March 4th, 2019 | 18 replies

Release Date: 2019 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Deville’s got some muscles

Eschewing the increasingly popular “Chicago sound” of modern hip-hop, Deville endlessly flexes between a confident swagger and flow to match the 90s rap gods, and a warm polish to his beats that breathes natural life into the soundscape very much at odds with the artificially click-clacking beats and overblown production of his peers. The most obvious shred trait with his Chicago scene is his emphasis on community, most evident in highlight “Free Soul,” which makes great use of a bouncy jazz sample and joyous female vocals scatting in the choruses. His aggressive flow dominates this track and album opener “Whispers,” offering a breakneck pace that never distracts from the severity of his words.

It’s when the music and his posse gets stripped down later on in the album that Deville’s weaknesses become the most apparent. After the gorgeous woodsy samples of “Kalief,” “You_re Enough” starts promising enough with a twittering brass backing before descending into the basest of choruses concerning the basest of anthem-rap themes: self-love. The following track doesn’t fare much better either, as “Loosies” plods along to a lethargic beat until it breaks into a strangely affecting slam poetry session, again by a guest artist.

This all isn’t to say that the best moments of the album aren’t owned by Deville, as he acts as gripping persona both on and off the stage. It’s just that once the floor drops out from under his features and leaves him alone in the sound booth, it’s more obvious that Deville lacks the most important aspect of what Chicago has been consistently offering lately; a unique voice. But he isn’t far, mere steps away in fact, and the more he leans on complex themes and complex soundscapes instead of the simpler variety, the more obvious that is. Until then, it’s far easier to sit back and enjoy his eminently evident talent than to sit and stew in gripes that will surely be resolved by the next time he swings around.

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