Bonsound Canada Vinyl & CDs

Review: On her newest album, Montreal rapper Naya Ali proves herself not entirely production-shy, delivering an LP’s onslaught of glossy and maximised pop rap, and of dam-busting proportions at that. Celebrated as a “deeply introspective record and wide-eyed embrace of the world” by the label Bonsound, the album’s title reflects what sounds to be the sheer voracious passion gone in, which bottles a prodigious explosion of cathartic energy expressed in electropunk and blowout rap, in a single 14-track statement. Based in Montreal, Canada, Ali lives on fecund soils for such wild collisions as this. Slitty 808-driven trap will dominate for three tunes straight, before dropping anchor on multilayered gospel sands (‘Life’), after which an ultra-slick, general about-face ensues: no track is the same after the midpoint. The best experiment is ‘Stunt Like An Immigrant’, taking the bopping tempo and feel of crunk and wringing it out to an alien, nasally pulp.