A-Reece bares his soul
In Today’s Tragedy, Tomorrow’s Memory, what’s his most personal project to date, A-Reece proficiently raps about loss, death and his eventful journey over soulful beats.
Today’s Tragedy, Tomorrow’s Memory showcases A-Reece’s range; he goes from being a sentimental diarist to a compelling storyteller and a rapper who’s not afraid of competition and reminding you how great he is.
By not stating if it’s referring to a bad or good memory, the title of A-Reece’s new mixtape is subtly ambiguous — it could be either rooted in optimism or be a note to self that tragedies can stay with us for a long time. A-Reece recently shared that he went through two titles — Man In The Sky and Inside A Troubled Mind — for the mixtape which reveal an existential dichotomy in A-Reece’s life; he’s as a content young man who’s also, well, troubled.
One swipe of Today’s Tragedy, Tomorrow’s Memory reveals an indifferent A-Reece. In some songs, he raps for sport, asserting his position in the SA hip-hop scene pointing to a rapper whose future excites him in songs such as “5 YEAR PLAN”, “RESIDUAL SELF IMAGE” and “OVER ME”, while in others, he is mourning those who have passed and reflecting on his surroundings.
The opening song “MARK 15:35” finds a bereaved A-Reece asking questions that seem to have arisen from past events in his life especially death: “I know better than to question God/ I know everybody gotta die, but if I’m losing everyone I’m living for, then dear lord, why the f**k a n*gga still alive?” On “THE SAME THING”, A-Reece teams up with his rapper brother Jay Jody as they ask more questions — “Tell me, can I call on you even though you’re on the other side? Can you hear me call on you? If you there, give me another sign. Should I give it time?” croons on the song’s refrain. JayJody mourns alongside his brother, rapping, “Hate the fact that losing you became the glue.”
In a 2016 interview, A-Reece briefly explained his family dynamic: “My mom raised me well, and my pops, here and there.” In the song “Family” from his debut album Paradise released in the same year, the rapper and his brother broke down the story of their family. Their father was not the most reliable parent, they revealed, in what is considered one of A-Reece’s best songs and, prior, to Today’s Tragedy, Tomorrow’s Memory, one of the few in which he tells extremely personal stories.
The underlying somberness on the project makes sense when one considers the passing of A-Reece’s father in July 2020.
In the song “DICHOTOMY” from Today’s Tragedy, Tomorrow’s Memory, A-Reece recounts a story of an abusive man whose wife ends up leaving him. The song doesn’t specify what relationship A-Reece has with the subject, a trait that’s on-brand for the mysterious rapper and his elusive mixtape, but connecting the dots as a listener is part of the exercise of listening to Today’s Tragedy, Tomorrow’s Memory.
Each song on Today’s Tragedy, Tomorrow’s Memory is a sketch of what’s on A-Reece’s mind. Songs in the project are sequenced with the kind of thematic and sonic cohesiveness that has grown to not only define albums, but retail mixtapes. Today’s Tragedy, Tomorrow’s Memory was released to keep fans occupied as they wait for A-Reece’s highly anticipated Paradise II, a sequel to his 2016 debut album.
Social commentary
On Today’s Tragedy, Tomorrow’s Memory, A-Reece appears as a person who’s had epiphanies in his life. While the 23-year-old lyricist’s music has always explored interpersonal issues based on egomania and relations with women, friends and adversaries, on Today’s Tragedy, Tomorrow’s Memory, he casts his gaze further into society. The song “NO MAN’S LAND”, which features fellow rapper Wordz, is uncharted territory for A-Reece.
In the song, he raps about returning home for Christmas after a long absence. “I feel like I should cherish these moments before they’re gone. So here I am, on my way back to where I belong,” he raps.
Both emcees recount societal ills they observe in their neighbourhood (both of them are from Pretoria). “And here I was thinking beefing with these rappers was a serious problem. N*ggas in the hood got bigger problems,” he raps as he zooms out of the story of his friend who is stuck in a life of capitalistic drudgery and personal issues. Wordz further darkens the picture with such grim recollections as: “Now it’s back to black slaughter/ And back-to-back trauma, the streets is out of order, nigga/ Heard ’em say, ‘With the gun, money come quick’/ Same gun they gon’ try and take your life with.”
Their approach may not be the most nuanced and may lack the specificity required to craft compelling socially conscious raps, but
A rapper’s rapper
Elsewhere on the album, the rapper is musing on the hip-hop scene. He talks his shit on the closing track “DOTTED LINEZ”, touching on his dominance while recalling his escape from the mainstream industry. “I cannot go out a slave, that ain’t who my mama raised/ I was just a dotted line away from being trapped inside the cage,” he raps over lazy horns and a subtle sample.
Ever since leaving Ambitiouz Entertainment in 2016, the 23-year-old rapper has maintained his stature and grew his fanbase and profile while remaining independent and running his own show.
His annual concert The Reece Effect which has become an important event in the SA hip-hop calendar and continues to further solidify A-Reece’s place as the frontman of Pretoria’s hip-hop scene and one of the most notable countrywide. Ever since leaving Ambitiouz Entertainment, A-Reece has been regressing from the spotlight, doing little to no interviews and not much promotion for his projects outside of social media.
Similarly, his music has been drifting away from trap towards a soulful boom-bap soundscape which he crafted with his longtime producer MashBeatz (as heard on projects such as And I’m Only 21, The Reece Effect and L3 (Long Lost Letters) — the latter, a joint project with Wordz and Ecco). His surefooted rhymes levitate over sample loops and key progressions, which on many parts of Today’s Tragedy, are free of kicks and snares. The mixtape’s lead single “RESIDUAL SELF IMAGE”, released towards the end of 2020, prepared fans for the rapper’s direction which is a departure from the trap-leanings of the mainstream scene.
His direction, owing to its rarity in the mainstream, is refreshing, nostalgic, unexpected and appeasing to both purists and A-Reece’s young core fanbase. Today’s Tragedy, Tomorrow’s Memory is not the type of project to rely on popular accessible singles. True to the culture of mixtapes and A-Reece’s projects in general, it’s designed to be consumed wholesomely. It’s a boutique project for core A-Reece fans (new ones will definitely be recruited).
He displays his rap skills which are substantially getting better. After a silent 2019, A-Reece kicked off 2020 with a series of songs “EXP 1” to “4”, all released on SoundCloud. Reacting to “In His Image [EXP 1]”, veteran South African lyricist Stogie T, on his Slikour on Life YouTube show Verse of the Month, said:
“If A-Reece raps like this five more times, he’s gonna be the best rapper in South Africa, present company not included. He is so fire. He is so f**kin fire on this joint, he sounds mature, he sounds confident, he sounds absolutely like he is owning his space, he sounds so grown.”
A-Reece does rap like he did on “EXP 1”, more than five times on Today’s Tragedy, Tomorrow’s Memory. His final test is the song “BRAVO” in which he pairs up with Stogie T himself. While his verse pales in comparison to the veteran emcee’s verse which is replete with double entendres and imagery, A-Reece doesn’t walk out empty-handed. The song is a well-crafted collaboration decorated by a hook from newcomer Belosalo, and A-Reece raps with proficiency and flair. Stogie T does indeed feel A-Reece is one of the best rappers out at the moment as he raps, “It’s the goat and the aries (A-Reece) ram locking horns.”
Today’s Tragedy, Tomorrow’s Memory doesn’t only raise the bar for rappers with upcoming releases, it also raises the expectations for Paradise II which A-Reece has been working on since 2020.
Stream Today’s Tragedy, Tomorrow’s Memory on Apple Music and Spotify.
