Album Review: Bob’s Son: R.A.P. Ferreira in the Garden Level Cafe of the Scallops Hotel by R.A.P. Ferreira
Rory Allen Philip Ferreira, or better known by his stage name, R.A.P. Ferreira, is a rapper and producer currently based out of Maine. While taking on other personas such as Milo and Scallops Hotel, he finally settled on R.A.P. Ferreira in 2019 which is basically an abbreviation of his real name. R.A.P. Ferreira starts out the new year on the right foot with a new album titled Bob’s Son: R.A.P. Ferreira in the Garden Level Cafe of the Scallops Hotel, or just Bob’s Son.
The first track from the album is battle report. You’re greeted with a distorted piano sample that loops through the track. It definitely sounds like a beat from one of those lo-fi playlists or radio channels you find on YouTube. It’s a pretty chill beat that sets the tone for the rest of the album. Other than the beat, there isn’t really too much going on lyrically. You have the narrator talking about playing or activating ‘Bob’s Son’.
Finally, we arrive to the cough bomber’s return. The instrumental is another lo-fi beat, except this time you have some sort of distorted string instrument. I don’t like this instrumental as much, but it keeps the same style at least. You have R.A.P. Ferreira coming in with a few name drops, but out of nowhere, you have a quick interlude in the middle of the track from Pink Navel. After the quick interlude, the beat does change up a bit for R.A.P. Ferreira.
yamships, flaxseed comes in with a light and playful beat. It almost sounds like an old pan flute since it’s very distorted in sound. However, the beat changes consistently since you get a quick saxophone section, and then a slowed down piano and drum kit. During the second verse of the track, R.A.P. Ferreira talks about how he still experiences pain in his dreams, and then goes into a weird direction with some odd and different ‘ooh’ sounds.
diogenes on the auction block marks the shortest track on the album, just a minute and half in length. There isn’t really much going on instrumentally on the first half of the track. Halfway through, the piano part definitely seems more prominent and exciting compared to the first half. Besides the awkward low voice that comes in at the beginning and middle, R.A.P. Ferreira does have some clever lines and wordplay on this track. I just wish there was more instrumentally going for this track.
redguard snipers is the longest track on the album, just a little over five minutes in length. The beat sounds like an old video game type beat, especially with the regal horn sections that you can hear in the background. Halfway through, we have a quick interlude where he talks about his numbers, which could have to do with how many people listen to or buy his music. Then we just go back into a dark and minimalistic beat. While I haven’t listened to any of SB The Moor’s music, they do seem to have some good chemistry on this track together.
sips of ripple wine opens up with some high pitched triplet notes repeating at the beginning. After that quick introduction, it cuts out and we just get a minimal bass line that seems to run through R.A.P. Ferreira’s verses. This also seems to be jazz influenced at several times during the track, despite the constant beat changes. While he does have some okay lines in here, he’s kind of been delivering the same flow throughout the entire album by now.
skrenth opens up with a spoken line part from Amiri Baraka. During his spoken line part, you slowly get some more jazz instruments thrown in there, like the piano line and the bass lines. You also have a guitar part thrown in there at different times. The different spoken parts throughout the track seem to be talking about being a poet, which also goes off from the end of the previous track about not being afraid of the poet.
bobby digital’s little wings comes with some high pitched and short string instruments. You also have R.A.P. Ferreira talking in the background a bit, but that doesn’t have much significance. Finally, once the introduction is over, the string notes become a little longer, but it’s played as a descending line. As for the rapping, he really takes his rapping to the next level with some of the rhymes he was able to come up with during the first and second verse.
listening has an interesting electronic ‘swoosh’ sound as the backing beat. It sounds like it could be some type of synth. Besides that, I enjoy the change up a bit from the normal instrumentation that has been going on for the past few tracks. The beat does change up with a sort of piano solo during the chorus. The point of the track seems to focus on the concept of listening and how sometimes people aren’t always listening, even when you have something important to say.
high rise in newark is another short, just over two minutes in length track. Instead of instruments, you have voices and hums doing the main backing of the track for the first half of the track. Then the beat changes up and you get something a little more psychedelic with the wavy lines after the normal piano notes. However, he seems to be talking about spirits during the second half of the track which explains the psychedelic aspects.
rejoice was a favorite of mine from the track, and it’s also the second longest track, just four and a half minutes in length. It opens up with some light bells and a spoken part. We eventually get some more reverbed and psychedelic synths that come out once the introduction is just about over. Again, this track embraces the lo-fi sound we have heard throughout the majority of the album. Other than that, this is mostly just a free-flowing verse from R.A.P. Ferreira.
The last track from the album is abomunist manifesto. This track definitely seems more stripped back than some of the other ones considering it’s just the bass line in the background. It also isn’t the most clean bass line I have heard before. It does eventually open up to a more guitar eccentric tune about halfway through. R.A.P. Ferreira talks about what an abomunist is, and the Abomunist Manifesto by Bob Kaufman, which could be an inspiration to the album title.
Overall Rating: 6/10
Favorite Tracks: yamships, flaxseed, redguard snipers, rejoice
Originally published at https://www.lazymusicguru.com
