tobi lou’s understanding of game tactics has never been scrutinised, nor has it ever needed to be. An ex pro-football and baseball player, lou’s approach to music is built on the foundation of his prematurely terminated sporting career, striving to become the absolute GOAT in any discipline he approaches. This is bravely evidenced on his chill-hop third album ‘Non-Perishable’, a yellow brick road moment for the Chicago multi-hyphenate, who is inches from achieving rap enlightenment. It’s an album that portrays an artist on the cusp of irreversible stardom.
More succinct than 2019’s 21 song epic ‘Live On Ice’ it appears lou has doubled down on song quality over stretching out album length with loose filler. Arriving first at ‘Hopeless Romantic’, the track breezes with pervading composure, acting as a smorgasbord offering of everything yet to come. lou ambles around topics of rappers' run-ins with the law “Double shotty, I told that bitch I think I'm Bobby [Shmurda]”, unhealthy social media gripes “I broke up with her, but to this day I stalk her Twitter” and “Long ass captions, hopeless romantic” with a loose conviction.
The attraction lies in his carefree bars dealing with heavy subjects, especially on 'The Last Dance' where he points the microscope inwards to address the issues with current rap culture: “Rappers crapping out all that same shit again (And I'm still gon' listen)” – ‘Babycakes’ is a slow dip into more melodic rap, flirting with spacious keys, Khruangbin style psych guitar licks and a Lil Skies flow that drips in steez, whilst ‘Busy’ indulges in an opulent guitar solo coda that wouldn’t be out of place on a Childish Major track. ‘Meaningless’ then switches up the pace to a UK garage flow that slowly bleeds into a vocoder flex from lou, tying each word together with ease and charm.
‘2hrs+’ invites the yearning vocals of T-Pain to great effect, harking back to aughts R&B flow, pairing repetitive sultry-tempo passages with clacking snares and curiously modern cartoon references “Blackout and ball like Bojack”. Lou’s enunciation is faultless, with each bar carrying its weight, careful not to disappear into the heaving production noise.
It would be unforgivable to not cite Ye’s chameleonic production influence, present in the multitude of flourishes that lou personally adds to each track. From DJ scratches to gospel backing vocals, lou is paying homage to the heyday of his anti-hero, filling in a space that Ye himself has left wide open after his half-baked delivery of DONDA in its various incarnations.
This brief 32-minute mixtape is an audio odyssey. Never settling on a beat, cadence or vibe, it is held together by lou’s neo-soul anecdotal divulgences and thrives in doing so. ‘Non-Perishable’ celebrates the connections between humans. Whether that be friendships, relationships, familial ties or the grey areas in between, lou’s veritable flow and grasp of the modern rap scene is noticeable and intimidatingly effortless.
8/10
Words: Alisdair Grice
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