R.A.P Ferreira — Purple Moonlight Pages: Review
R.A.P. Ferreira (f.k.a. Milo) goes down the jazz-rap rabbit hole and produces one of the purest collaborations of jazz and rap since Guru made Jazzmatazz in 1993.
With help from the Jefferson Park Boys, made up of Carmack, Mike Parvizi & frequent Ferreira collaborator Kenny Segal, R.A.P. Ferreira uses his verbose, eccentric vocabulary to immerse the listener into his new album, Purple Moonlight Pages. His often interaction with the beautiful and natural jazzy production such as in the outro of the second track “Greens,” where Ferreira uses the grand accompaniment to set a scene of a lush field filled with greens, flowers to its periphery, sets an outstanding precedent that sets the tone for the rest of the project.
Initial Thoughts
On this project, Ferreira trades most of the philosophical rapping of his prior projects with more traditional rapping about very personal topics, such as family building and raising a child. He also trades the electronic, sampled basslines that were scattered about his most popular project, “who told you to think??!!?!?!?!,” with absolute, unedited jazz. This is a natural transformation for Ferreira, however, whose last project “Budding Ornithologists Are Weary of Tired Analogies” (I know… his album titles are annoying), took Ferreira back to the purest roots of boom-bap hip-hop. In my opinion, Purple Moonlight Pages is an evolved form of Budding Ornithologists. It takes all of the quality features that made Budding Ornithologists great, tracks like Stet and Nominy, and extended them to 53 minutes of high-quality, uniquely underground, lyrically-dense, art rap.
After the first single, Doldrums, was released, I was honestly worried about this project. This still remains my least favorite track. The beat is beautiful, but I feel as if Ferreira’s performance drags on. He quotes the first track he released under the R.A.P. Ferreira moniker “Respectdue” with the “can you find the level of…” motif. For some that might be an amusing callback, but I just feel like he ran out of ideas for that track halfway through it, but in all honesty, that is really my only “harsh” criticism of this project, and the second single for this project, Leaving Hell, is one of my outright favorites on this project. Besides the slight falter, Ferreira proves that he is one of the underground’s all-time greats, no matter what alias he raps as.
Speaking of all-time greats in underground rap, the features from Mike Ladd and Open Mike Eagle, people Ferreira often cites as major inspirations, fit perfectly and contribute greatly to the tone, flow, and lyricism of the tracks they were on and make this album much more filling and diverse. For someone who has been called one-dimensional by most critics on previous projects, Ferreira seems more loose and comfortable on this project, and this really benefits the project. Ferreira stays on his feet rather than staying complacent with one flow and one monotone mood throughout. The diversity of the mood on this project also relates back to the fantastic work on the production by the Jefferson Park Boys on this project that completes and maximizes the lyrical capabilities of Ferreira. The production ranges from relaxing, orderly jazz production, to upbeat freeform jazz comparable to Kendrick Lamar’s iconic interlude “For Free?”. Ferreira and the Jefferson Park Boys are a perfect match, no better way to put it.
Final Verdict — 8.6/10
When it comes to favorite tracks, I love most everyone, but “Laundry” is a major standout on this project. The off-kilter bassline mixed with the lo-fi boom-bap drums creates an awkward scene where Ferriera often feels most comfortable. The usage of sampling on this track, and this project, was absolutely phenomenal and truly is at the peak of where this “art rap” genre presides. Ferriera’s humorous yet introspective bars about doing the laundry for him and his son are engaging, relaxing, and gratifying. This track is a microcosm for the album as a whole, fulfilled potential.
It’s this mindset that sets the bar for this project, and throughout the project, Ferreira never stoops beneath this high-set bar.
This is Ferreira’s tour de force performance, but unlike his other projects, he was rapping to perform and prove himself to the listener as one of the best rappers of our generation. This is his proof of his talent, and it doesn’t come off as egotistical or selfish, it comes off as overall talent. He refined his bars to a new level unseen on previous projects, and that means a lot when looking back at how remarkable Ferreira is as a so-called “wordsmith” as he puts it, and that’s a good way to describe his style of rapping. He truly does smith his words together with great precision and care, and it is very evident throughout this project, more so than his previous ones.
Article Written by Ari Partrich | @ariprtrch
