Diving Deeper Into Raul’s Words I Manifest | Review
I met Raul during a drop the mic session we hosted with Gerald Swain. The Lawton, Oklahoma rapper came through and performed “Feel This Way,” a song off the EP we’re reviewing today. Off the jump, Words I Manifest gave me a 90s feel so I knew it’d be something I really had to listen to as far as lyrics go. Let’s dive in.
Lyricism- 88
I’m a punchline superfan, and while the metaphors aren’t a gleaming factor throughout the EP, the way he drags certain syllables and puts words together to rhyme so seamlessly stands out. He’s not just throwing out random words either– he’s really spitting every verse.
Storytelling- 94
Words I Manifest had multiple stories that don’t stray off subject, add value to the topics of the songs at hand, and sound sonically pleasing. “Feel This Way” and “Impressions: Act I” specifically stand out here.
Flow- 83
His flow fits Raul well and seems effortless but I definitely would’ve loved to hear him change it up a little more. Nonetheless, he executed. At times, the flow is reminiscent of Big Pun.
Versatility- 78
Don’t get me wrong, maybe a C is a little low but I feel this way it’s because it’s an EP with only 6 songs. Still, he does find ways to make different sounding songs, but everything still has a similar vibration throughout. Whether this is a good quality or not is 100% up to the fan, but as far as this review goes, I’ll give it a 78 for versatility.
Production- 83
The mixing and production was clean and simple. The “Mic Bivins” and “Impressions: Act I” are easily my favorite and had me hooked. I wasn’t the biggest fan of “End of An Error” or “What It Look Like” instrumentals but I can still appreciate what was created.
Creativity- 80
It’s always hard to rate the creativity and even harder to explain the rating, especially when you’re not in an artist's presence while they’re in their creation process. It just feels like Raul played it safe creatively on Words I Manifest.
Hit Potential- 67
A “hit” can be many things, but relative to the things we usually see become big in today’s hip hop world, there’s no hits on this album. That being said, it’s easy to see that making a “hit” was not Raul’s goal, he just wanted to make music that sticks to his roots. Not having a “hit” does NOT mean the songs weren’t good. Please don’t get the two confused.
Vibe- 85
The production and features on the last three songs of the EP are a vibe. The Lawton artist also has a flow that’s just easy to close your eyes and rock your head with.
Features- 85
I enjoyed the features. Nothing that absolutely stood out but they meshed well and fulfilled their purpose.
Cover Art- 90
A simple, vintage-esque design that matches the vibes in the music.
Tracklist- 75
The tracklist is graded by taking the songs, excluding intros & outros (unless they are songs) and skits and assigning points– 1 point for songs I enjoyed, .5 for songs that are solid, and 0 for songs I didn’t like too much– then totaling up the points and dividing by the total number of songs. For Words I Manifest I scored it 4.5/6 with 3 songs earning 1 point and 3 songs earning .5 points.