The tear-jerking and emotional album, shadowbox, is a great piece of work all around, made for those dealing with addiction and healing from trauma.
Releasing on August 9th, this new melancholy studio album from MAVI mainly discusses healing from trauma and dealing with our flaws.
MAVI, or Omavi Ammu Minder, is a Stanford neuroscience dropout hailing from Charlotte, North Carolina. He decided to focus on his music after his music started catching steam, establishing his name in the underground rap scene.
MAVI explores the idea of inner demons, more specifically our shadows. These shadows exemplify the bad parts of ourselves, the effects of trauma, and our flaws.
In the album art, the concept is further explored. Mavi’s dark “shadow” stares directly at the listener, only recognizable by its silhouette.
The album has a slow start, in the first track “20,000 leagues” is a melancholic and orchestral piece as Mavi poetically raps about a relationship as he did everything he could to uplift them through their troubles.
However, on the second track, clear rock influences can be heard in the electric guitar that takes up the main presence of the instrumental.
A bassline and Malaya’s background vocals support MAVI’s guttural and monotone vocals, all contextualized by organ-sustaining dramatic yet soft chords.
MAVI discusses a drug addiction caused by trauma, hoping a baptism would cleanse him of his pains, a common theme throughout the album.
After a sharp transition into the second part of the song aided by the help of Malaya’s stellar vocals, the instrumental becomes smooth and more experimental.
It’s as if the beat is trying to stay afloat as it gets drowned out to the point where it becomes inaudible. In the outro of the track, after MAVI stops rapping, a heavily reverberated vocal sample is played.
“Creating art out of suffering is a haunting, if not a futile endeavor. Deep down we must know that we can’t be saved by columns on a canvas or words on a page.” Sampled on the outro of “open waters,” this is an introduction to a video essay about the work of MAVI, summarizing the futile endeavor of the creation of art.
Listening to the whole song and sample is crucial as it serves as the thesis of the rest of the album.
Also, thematically, religious topics are painted across this dark canvas, songs like “i’m so tired” and “drunk prayer,” are songs that the whole album is based around, as he pleads to God for salvation from drug and alcohol addictions as he deals with trauma.
In the chorus of “i’m so tired,” MAVI heartbreakingly pleads to be washed of his flaws and sins so that he can create music without using his pain as a source of inspiration.
Despite this, the album also has many high points. Songs like “Latch” and “Tether,” have very upbeat instrumentals. However, he still discusses drug and alcohol addictions and leaving a broken relationship.
This is done in a different light, however, as he floats on the wobbly and bright yet experimental melody, contextualized by swinging lofi mixed drums on “tether.”
On “latch,” Mavi discusses developing a drug addict before or during touring, and he also discusses how his addiction has affected him and those around him.
The beat on “Latch” is smooth and jazz-inspired, as soft melodic bells ring over MAVI’s vocals and soft chords and a guitar plays the main and catchy melody present in the background.
This album is definitely not for mainstream audiences, however, fans of his previous work and fans of the underground hip-hop scene will enjoy this project.
Despite being similar to his stylistic contemporaries, like Earl Sweatshirt, MIKE, and Maxo, his vocal delivery, wordplay, and flows make him stand out as an incredible lyricist and rapper. Also, the unique soundscape of this album makes it a standout in the rap industry
