N Talekt - Don't Cry For Me

Hear The Track Here

Although I've known this Richmond, VA rapper since 2006 he hasn't made all that much of an impression on me up until Feeling Good (October 2011) and So Gone (November 2011) both tracks from his recent In My Loving Memory album, Don't Cry For Me is the third. So, as I mentioned in the last review, all musicians who take this stuff seriously (it's NOT a hobby, it's a calling!) go through a long process of learning. It seems like a long time, but it zips by at light speed once you get the basics right. Playing music, when you devote time and energy to it, pays off. Always. N Talekt is now at the sharper point of that than he was a few years ago and the work he has put into upping his game is evident although, it has to be said, there is still a ways to go...

Now read on :)

N Talekt has always been a fairly serious rapper, his lyrical content usually being the main draw for me and its taken him a good while to find what he is comfortable with, but Don't Cry For Me is about as good as it gets to sounding original (not an easy thing in such a genre). Don't Cry For Me isn't much to look at musically, a bare frame to hang the words on, cleverly done sure enough but really window-dressing and you would have heard the like many times. It isn't bad, my words don't mean that. One of the main ways N Talekt has improved is production and overall sounds and this track shows that. It's just a very generic sound, ya know. It's a good job then, that the main action centres on the rap and lyrical content and - thankfully - a decent hook to keep it all straight.

I think this the first track where I have understood perfectly what this rapper is putting across, and that's certainly a first - having the words online tipped the scales there. The rap is in three parts; a son to his father, a brother to a sibling, and a gang member to another - 'a crew on a ship with no captain' as N Talekt tells it. He's got some great lines going on too, although - it has to be said - his work is understated vocally and that takes some getting used to. Mind you, again I think the years have been kind to him because it has given me time to get used to a less bawdy, in-your-face approach to hip hop that is very satisfying indeed. As is this track. If this is the standard, In My Loving Memory promises to be a very nice piece of work indeed.

Highly Recommended serious hip hop.