Sophia Michaels
NoCap is defined by melancholy. His AutoTuned warble quivers with regret even amid triumph. The Alabama rapper’s lyrics often mine the nuances of loss, from death to incarceration. His production tends to favor the slow, downbeat, and foreboding. On The Hood Dictionary, NoCap spends the majority of his time trying to explain his present and come to terms with his past. In September, he turned himself into the police for allegedly shooting into an occupied dwelling and was released from jail in November.
During the aptly, if uninspired song, “First Day In” he details how he landed in his current predicament, but more directly underlines the real tragedy of his existence — “In the hood, don’t know how to leave / It’s a crime that nobody seen.” Over 16 songs, NoCap tries to decipher the claustrophobia of his past mistakes as he’s on the precipice of a more promising future. On the album intro, he raps “Got me back and forth to court ’bout somethin’ I want behind me” and three songs later doubles down stating “You tryna change, but they still hold you on your past life.” By the end of the project, NoCap seems no closer to answers. Such is life.
Featured via: Rollingstone
