Manhattan’s latest project Road To FADER takes on “covers” as a theme and that alone makes this an unusual rap project. It’s not that he’s covering songs in a traditional music sense, but on his road to the cover of popular music and lifestyle magazine the FADER, he “covers” already existing instrumentals by various producers who are all credited.

Manhattan employs a few vocal devices here, reminiscent of the late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. At times he’s all slurred words and energy drained delivery. Other times he’s all life force in, modulating his flow’s intensity to match a beat’s changes. I can appreciate daring to be emo, without the reigning king of emorap Drake’s samey, devoid of emotion cyborg delivery.

On RTF Manhattan makes the effort to mine his feelings, depression, insecurities and even his penchant for alcohol for his art. They are his muse and he respects their place in his life as opposed to employing them as devices or cheap tricks, to get you to think he’s human when he actually turns into a robot in the studio upon taking a swig of Sprite.

“More” (Originally Produced by Christoffer Berg) proves this, but was a bit dark and moody for an opener for me.

Clocking in at a whopping 30 minutes the well paced Road To FADER digs into a range of emotions while avoiding getting emotionally unbearable for the listener. (Fellas: Don’t be put off by “emo”. We all know you have feelings. We see you. That is all.)

If you like rap, Nirvana’s more mellow tracks, some indie rock or alternative rock (back when it was an alternative to something) you’ll appreciate the marriages Manhattan made with his unusual for a rap project instrumental selections give this a listen. If you like rap and can appreciate genuine sentiments, introspective, downright naked lyrics, a string section and some singing give this a listen.

This ain’t the usual free rap album. Not only are there statements here about rap music’s current state and its lack of creativity, there are statements about masculinity and adulthood. The sonic choices and matching content/lyrics are fitting because after all Manhattan is on the Road To FADER, not the already well-worn Road To The Source or the Road To VIBE.

Standouts for me include: “Blurry Lines” featuring the strong, wailing vocals and post recording commentary of Sosa (Original Prodution by Air), “Don’t Cut the Rope” (Original Production by Tincan Folklore) discusses a vulnerability and fear of rejection we can all relate to. Manhattan’s got a great ear for chosing and placing clever movie or cartoon snippets for interludes.

“Soldier” (Original Production by Emay) uses friend to the blog rapper/producer Emay’s song “Hideaway” off of his Karen O and the Kids project insipired by the “Where The Wild Things Are” soundtrack.
Sonically this works well and I enjoy the relationship between Emay’s original “Hideaway” then flipped to a song called “Soldier”. You decode this one for yourself.

“Changing Lanes” (Original Production by Nick Littlemore) in the beginning had me waiting for someone to sing “Hey There Delilah” by Plain White Tees which didn’t happen and we’re all better off for it. It actually lifts the melody from Janis Ian’s “I Learned The Truth At Seventeen”. Nice closer.

Well, standouts for me include most of the album apparently friends. Take a listen.