This album was released on March 23rd this year. I think I’ve only ever covered one Navy Blue project before, and I wasn’t crazy about it unfortunately. However, the couple albums that I’ve heard from him since then have been dope. Especially Song of Sage: Post Panic! I kinda regret not covering that one. I think it’s a great album. Navy’s Reprise is good as well, but I didn’t love it as much. It’s still dope though. Anyway, I wasn’t sure how I would feel about this project because I saw some mixed reactions towards it in one of the Discord servers I’m in. I forget exactly what they said they didn’t like about it. They made it sound wack though. Anyway, when Navy Blue is at his best, I think he’s one of the best rappers out right now. I’ve spoken extensively about my adoration for his Higher Self single. That’s one of my favorite songs ever, so I feel like I have to check out everything he drops. I think I saw on Twitter that he has some work with August Fanon in the vault, but that might have just been a rumor. I don’t know. That sounds like it would be fire though. I would love to hear that shit. Hopefully we get that some day. Anyway, I wasn’t sure if I was gonna cover this project at first, but, after giving it a listen, I decided that I needed to tell y’all about it.

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The album starts off with a song called The Medium.

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I really fuck with the soulful, R&B-adjacent production on this track from Budgie. The sample is actually really beautiful, especially when the vocals come in about halfway through the track. The minimalistic approach to the percussion is much appreciated as well. There’s one verse on this track from Navy Blue, followed by a hook before the song ends. The verse isn’t amazing or anything, but it sounds really good. I really love Navy’s flow and delivery. He sounds pretty awesome over this beat honestly. My favorite lines are probably the last few ones in the verse.

Pain weigh about a ton, enough to crush you
Cut the vision, flex your muscle
Pack my clothes inside that duffle
Too many days I wore that goddamn muzzle
Speak truth now as always
I was only 8, caught my brother spirit in the hallway
Light flashing, dancin'
I chased him, bro, I wasn't scared

The hook on this track is pretty cool too. I honestly fuck with this song more sonically than lyrically, but that’s not to say that the lyrics are even remotely bad. There just aren’t really any standout lines to me. I fuck with the song overall though. I think it’s really dope. The following track is called Chosen.

I wasn’t really feelin’ this song on my first listen of the album, but in hindsight I’m not exactly sure why. I think I didn’t care for the production that much. It grew on me though. I like the song now. I actually kinda love this beat. I was trippin’, man. The percussion is really nice. The R&B-adjacent production sounds really good, and Navy Blue’s flow over it is actually pretty catchy. In terms of lyrical content, I don’t really find this song that interesting. However, from a technical perspective, the verse is very good. The flow and rhymes are on point. I actually really liked the way he ended the verse too.

Hooks and them uppercuts
Upper echelon, they knew that something's up
I trust my gut, God utter truth to who gon' use their lungs
Breathin' out this music, breathin' in a ton
I succumb to living how I know the true and righteous done, tears and blood
Build me a lil' ark, I'm ready for the flood whenever it comes

The hook at the end of this song is nice too. This song is pretty much structured the exact same way as the opening song. Again, I kinda don’t know why I wasn’t feelin’ this song on my first listen of the album, but I fuck with it now. It’s far from a highlight for me, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy it to some extent. I think it’s very good. The following track is called The One. This is another one that had to grow on me. It’s still easily my least favorite song on the album, and I honestly don’t see myself returning to it, but I think it’s solid. I definitely don’t mind listening to it. If it comes on I‘ll sit through it. I just don’t have the desire to come back to it, ya know? This is the only track on the album that isn’t produced by Budgie. This one’s handled by Om’Mas Keith, who did a pretty good job. I think the instrumental is pretty nice. I even like the sung hook on this track from Navy Blue. I just really wish he didn’t use the same exact melody and delivery for the majority of the verse on this song. If there was some more variation in his delivery I’d probably dig this track more. Lyrically, this song isn’t really that impressive to me. None of the lines really stand out. Well, that’s not true. I kinda like these lines in the hook.

I knew you was the one
Thinking who I would become
I was praying for the best
Now I'm only on the ups
Depression had me down and out
Had to grab it by the tusks
No, I don't believe in luck
Blessings all around me
And I can't get enough

Nothing about this song really stands out that much to me aside from the production. I don’t think the rapping is bad by any means. It just doesn’t hook me. The song’s fine though. I think it’s decent. Track 4 is a highlight called To Fall in Love. I love this track. I know this is kinda corny, but as soon as I heard this song I had to send it to this one girl because it expresses the exact thoughts that I have towards her. This shit is really relatable. This is the first track that really resonated with me lyrically.

Ready to fall in love, with you again, the truest friend I ever known
It hurt the most for me to let you go and stay in touch
I'm tryna call your phone but I ain't tryna say too much
Like how much I miss that face, how I miss your love
With all the arguing we did, we knew this isn't us
And I'm ready to learn how to be the man you trust
I'm tryna find a way to mend the hurt, the damage done
I seem to keep you on my mind without no plan to run

It’s almost weird to me how relatable this song is. It’s almost as if I wrote it myself.

I been sitting with these feelings for too many months
Thinking 'bout the love we shared when we was twenty one

I was 21 the last time I was in a relationship. There’s not a single line in this song that doesn’t apply to me in some way. I really love this rhyme right here too…

You only get that kind of rush from a special one
Water boiling on the stove until the kettle sung

I really like the lighthearted, groovy production from Budgie as well. Once again, there’s just one verse on this song, followed by a hook. I really don’t have any nitpicks with this track. I mean, maybe an extra verse could’ve pushed this track to the next level, but it’s already dope as hell as it is in my opinion. I love it. The following track is called Life’s Terms, and it features zeroh. It was nice to hear from him again on the opening verse of this track. I feel like it’s been forever since I’ve heard music from him.

C'est la vie, such is life
I want a slice, cutting deep with this butter knife
Leak on the sheets when I bleed, I can't sleep at night
Read what I wrote just to see if I'm perceiving my scene right
Rewrite the script, get the dream tight
Typed up and clean, light beam spot the queen's eye
Thank god for squad then we rise with the team
So fly so it seems, I just love what it means

The production is really soft and melodic. It’s very pretty. I fuck with it. Honestly, this song really grew on me with repeat listens. I think Navy Blue fucking killed his verse on this track. That’s definitely the best verse up to this point on the album. It’s really poetic and emotionally profound to me.

All the worry that my palms bear
I'm turning sorrow into self-care
I hope tomorrow brings me calm, I say a long prayer
I put my all in tryna pick apart these flaws that I wear
Aw yeah, this broken heart that I'm repairing
I declare growth, in my despair I wasn't near hope
Feelings get evoked, I'm going real slow
At the speed of how my tears flow

I really loved that line where he said “the weight of what I don’t say is real heavy.” That was hard. The verse is pretty fantastic. I love it. I also really love the sung hook from zeroh on this track. There’s really nothing I dislike about this song. It’s one of the best tracks on the album, and probably my favorite song on the project up to this point. I think it’s dope as hell. It transitions really smoothly into the following track, Phases. This entire song is just one verse over a really nice, soulful instrumental. The verse is really good.

I'm just a shooting star
Baring this abuse of ours
Stuck, I step my two in tar
Sliding on these loops is like amusement parks
I ain't never knew I could rebuke the harm
I was given proof but chose to turn away
And play the part of someone who ain't wanna live
Simply that's just what it is

This is the shortest song on the album, and since the structure is so simplistic there’s not really much to break down. It’s just a really good verse over a great beat. I fuck with it. I think the song’s dope. It’s followed by Kill Switch. This song has a really nice, calm instrumental, and Navy’s flow over it is fire, especially on the first verse. At first none of the lines really stood out that much to me, but I like the way the verse ends a lot.

Niggas not who they claim they really are
On the block, in between them boulevards
Fuck a cop, but I navy blue the garms
'Bout this bread and cheese like a chicken parm
I got everything I could ever want
I just gotta breathe, feather weigh a heart

The main appeal of this track is just the flow and production for me, but it’s not like the lyricism is wack or anything. It’s just not really something that particularly stood out to me on this track. Out of all the songs on the album up to this point, this one has the most traditional structure. It’s just two verses divided by a nice hook. I fuck with this track. I think it’s dope. It’s followed by another highlight entitled Window to the Soul. This one is fire. The production is really fantastic. It’s soulful and lush. I love it. The opening verse from Navy Blue is really nice too. I love the way he was rhyming during this part…

Limbic, limbo, timbos and blunts
I don't miss those, spliffs rolled, grabba with the runtz
I'm a rich soul, flipmode, I tip toe and stunt
Talkin' egg shells, the path made, my partner didn't run

The second verse is performed by an artist with whom I was previously unfamiliar named Kelly Moonstone. She killed this shit though. I love her calm, soft vocal delivery, and her rhymes were on point. She sounded really good here. In fact, I think I like her verse even more than that of Navy Blue. The hook is pretty solid, but it’s mainly the production and verses that make me love this song so much. This was my favorite track on my first listen of the album. I think it’s dope as hell. The following track is called Freehold. My favorite aspect of this song is honestly just the production. The instrumental is really soft and pretty. I really like it. The first verse is pretty good. None of the lines really jumped out at me, but I really enjoyed Navy’s flow and rhyme schemes, as well as his vocal delivery. The background vocals that come in for the bridge are really nice, and I really enjoy the sung hook on this track. This is far from a highlight for me on the album, but I definitely like it a lot. I think it’s a good song. Same goes for the following track, Embers, which features (Liv).e & Venna. I think I’d consider myself a fan of (Liv).e, even though I didn’t care for her latest album at all. On the other hand, I’m completely unfamiliar with Venna. The vocals from the features in the background sound really nice. The melodic delivery from Navy Blue is kinda weird. I mean, his vocals don’t sound weird at all. I just think the melody is kinda strange. Not in a bad way though. I definitely like this song. I mainly enjoy it for the instrumental, but it’s not like the vocalists here added nothing to it. This kinda feels more like an interlude than a full song, but I still enjoyed it to some extent. Track 11 is called Pillars, and it grew on me a lot after repeat listens. I thought it was good at first, but now I think it’s really amazing. In fact, it’s probably my favorite song on the album. It feels like the most emotional moment on the record to me. I really love the sung hook here from Navy Blue. That’s probably my favorite hook on the album. The lyrical content about Navy’s grandparents had me hooked too. It’s really sweet. Personally, I was never super close with my grandparents, but I still love them, so this track really resonated with me.

Every time I'm home, she my say my name, name, name
Grandma want her earrings, she so vain, vain, vain
With time I'll bring flowers to her grave, grave, grave
Every morning kiss her forehead when I wake, wake, wake

That line about bringing flowers to her grave really hit me in my soul. The verse is really emotional too.

When he passed, I was thinking no way
Could have sworn he'll live forever
Now this shit just ain't the same
I know so many lost they grandfathers but it ain't the same
This the man who taught me how to be a man
This the man that made my Mama
That so graciously birthed me under water

I love this shit. Again, it’s my favorite song on the album. I think it’s dope as fuck. The penultimate track is entitled Look in My Eyes. Navy Blue’s flow on this one is really nice, particularly during the hook. I really love this line…

All of the times I wanted to die, I learned I had to live

I really love themes of perseverance and overcoming adversity, so that’s why I fuck with that line so much. This is another song that grew on me heavily. I think it has another one of the best hooks on the album, and the verses—particularly the second one—are very emotionally impactful.

The presence of my brother soul
I felt as if we knew each other
Then I seen spirit glow
I'm sorry that you had to suffer
We ain't meet in this life
I know that we'll meet in another
Ain't no dimmin' this light
A lot of me left to uncover
I would hold my fist tight
Biting teeth and bloody knuckles
Now that I've reached his height
I hold him close and say I love him

The lyrics about his brother who seems to have passed away are really heart wrenching. I love it. The song’s dope as hell. The closing track is called Shadow’s Shield. It opens with a voicemail from Navy’s mother. It feels kinda strange to me because she’s talking like… I don’t know. It just feels scripted. Maybe it is. It’s not a bad thing though. I don’t mind it at all. I just doubt she really talks like that under normal circumstances. But maybe she does. I don’t know. Anyway, the verse from Navy Blue on this track is pretty good. It’s not one of my favorite performances on the album, but I definitely enjoyed it. I think the production is really pretty too. This was a really nice way to close the album. It ends with a voicemail from Navy Blue’s father, which is cool. The song’s dope to me overall.

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^{This album is great. It kinda reminds me of Mavi’s latest album that came out last year. The main difference is that I actually like this one. The production style feels kinda similar though. I just think the beats on this album are way better. The Mavi album felt like it had a bunch of Cordae type beats, but this one doesn’t feel that way to me. I think Mavi’s a better MC than Navy Blue from a technical perspective, but Navy Blue’s music is a lot more emotionally potent in my opinion. The beats from Budgie here are soulful and R&B-adjacent, but not in a bland, boring way. They don’t feel generic. I actually get some type of enjoyment out of them, which wasn’t the case with the latest Mavi project. Anyway, this album is just really gorgeous to me, both lyrically and sonically. It sounds really pretty, and the poetic lyricism from Navy Blue matches it perfectly. There’s also not a single feature on this album that I didn’t enjoy to some extent. I really don’t have any consistent gripes with this project honestly. Not every song blew me away, and there was one that I don’t see myself returning to, but nothing here is even remotely bad. This is a very sweet album. I think it’s really pretty. It feels like the purple heart emoji in the form of music. I really enjoyed this thing. It grew on me a lot too. I liked it at first, but now I love it. Song of Sage is still my favorite Navy Blue album, but this is a close second. Check it out. It’s really dope.}

Favorite Song: Pillars
Least Favorite Song: The One

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Watch the videos below for more thoughts on this album.