EP Review | T.R.3 – BLACK NIRVANA

This extended play was uploaded exclusively to Soundcloud on March 27th this year. Along with Thurz and maybe someone else who I’m forgetting, I feel like T.R.3 is one of the artists whom I’ve written about the most this year. Did I use the word “whom” properly there? I think I did, but I still haven’t mastered that term. Whatever. It don’t matter. Anyway, he dropped an EP called ANGELES in January, which was a pretty good, albeit conventional Soundcloud Trap project. He followed it up with GRIEF in February, which is one of the better mournful lofi projects I’ve heard. They’re two very different projects, so I’m assuming this latest EP is gonna be very different as well. If I had to guess I’d say it might have some Alternative Rock influence. I don’t know. We’ll see.


1. Coulda Woulda produced by ∆NGST

This track has an acoustic guitar driven beat, so my prediction about this project being Rock influenced was accurate. I would brag about this if I was a more arrogant person, but I’m not. I’m just pointing it out so that you can say “wow, good call with that prediction” in the comments below. Anyway, the production is great, and I think T.R.3’s singing sounds really awesome over it. This song is fantastic honestly. I feel like people might compare this to XXXTENTACION. I guess that would kinda make sense. The main difference is that this is actually enjoyable, and it isn’t performed by a fake deep woman beating edgelord. This is the shortest song on the project, and there’s no rapping here; he’s just singing the whole time. This is really goddamn great though. I love this song. I think it’s dope as hell.

2. Play Catch produced by hvlx

I really fucking love the production on this track. I like the singing from T.R.3 a lot too. His singing voice here isn’t particularly good, but the melody is great. It’s a lot like Kid Cudi. This is what I imagine Kid Cudi would sound like if he decided to go for a super DIY, underground sound. Once again, T.R.3 doesn’t really rap here at all. He pretty much sings throughout the whole song. A lot of the lyrics are incredibly dramatic and borderline pathetic to be honest.

Leanin’ on the wall like, how do I stand?
Finally feelin’ free and worthy again
Kiss my cheek and love me again

I still really like this shit though. This is even more enjoyable than the opening track to me. I think it’s dope as hell.

3. Hands Off produced by hiitek

This track is a somewhat unexpected change of pace. T.R.3’s performance isn’t that different from what he was doing on the first couple songs, but the beat is a lot more Trap influenced. It sounds like something Lil Uzi Vert would use. This song is the first track that could actually be considered a Hip Hop song. I don’t think it’s a bad song, but it’s just a little flat to me. The production is kinda cool, but it gets old very quickly and doesn’t really go anywhere. The sung hook from T.R.3 is pretty thin sounding too. Everything about this track just feels very flat. Nothing about it is actually bad to me, but it’s just not very entertaining. It’s mediocre in my opinion.

4. Mellow Moshpit produced by T.R.3 & Naomi the Goddess

This is the most Hip Hop aligned song on the project. I feel like it’s kind of ironic that the two Hip Hop songs are the only ones that I don’t care for. I’m just really not into this Emo Rap style to be honest. I really dislike XXXTENTACION’s music, and Juice WRLD’s stuff was even worse to me, so I’m honestly surprised that I liked the first couple tracks of this project as much as I did. This shit is really not good to me at all though. Honestly, there’s not a single aspect of it that I like. I think the lifeless acoustic guitar driven production is very uninteresting, and T.R.3’s shouty delivery here is frankly just irritating. I guess the sound really matches the title of the song. The production is mellow, and T.R.3 is yelling like someone in a moshpit. I personally never understood the appeal of moshing, so this is just not for me at all. I honestly think this is wack personally.


This is an okay project. I really loved the first half, so I think it’s unfortunate that I kinda flipped on the second half, but it is what it is. I just feel like the final two songs were pretty dull. I liked the first half because they had really somber, emotive instrumentals, and the vocals from T.R.3 had a lot of passion behind them even though he’s not the best singer. The other two songs were just bland to me because instead of impassioned he sounded more melodramatic, particularly on the closing song. Hearing someone yell over an insipid beat like that is just annoying. The penultimate song just felt too minimalistic for me. So yeah, this is really a mixed bag for me. I’m glad I checked it out though because there’s some material here that I really love. Overall, it’s just decent to me, but I think it’s worth giving a shot, especially if you’re into that “Emo Rap” subgenre unlike me.

Favorite Song: Play Catch
Least Favorite Song: Mellow Moshpit

67

C+
Grade: C+
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