Patreon supporters received access to this review on December 2nd, 2024.

The Fortunate Ones are a duo comprised of Anwar HighSign and Dr. Quandary. Anwar’s preceding album, Whatever the Case May Be with Giallo Point, was one of my favorite projects of 2023. It was also the first time I’d listened to a full length LP from him, so I recently went back and checked out a couple Has-Lo projects—namely Fuck Has Day & In Case I Don’t Make It. I loved both of them, and both of them have been discussed in my Patreon-exclusive “Listening Log” series. I have to say, it’s really awesome to see the evolution. He had his current style even back then, but these days it’s just filled to the brim with even more wisdom and understanding of reality. I had a very spiritual and philosophical experience with this latest record, which was released on Halloween this year. I guess it was a fitting release day because my friend described the album as “scary.” I probably felt an ominous vibe from it on my first listen as well, but I’ve been playing it over and over for days at this point, so I feel a bit differently now. I would personally use the word “awesome” to describe it, rather than “scary.” I loved this project.

The opening track is called GLUE (THREAD), and it’s about how every single human being in this world is connected in some way. This song kinda tripped me out when I first listened to the album. The lyrical concept had me philosophizing and thinking in a spiritual context. I was recently hospitalized at a mental health facility because I was in a manic state, and any time that happens I find myself considering the purpose of religion. When I heard this track, I was just thinking a lot about my own ancestry and what my predecessors had to go through in order for me to be here. My dad is a black guy from North Carolina who was born in 1958, so I know that man has seen some messed up stuff. On the other hand, my mother moved to the United States by herself from Trinidad when she was only 20 years old. The metaphorical threads and glue are what created me. Anyway, as far as the production from Dr. Quandary goes on this track, it’s actually relatively hard-hitting. This album is generally very mellow, but this song feels slightly more energetic than some of the others. I need to get better at describing production because I’m more of a lyrics-focused writer. I do really love the beats on this project though. This was my introduction to Dr. Quandary, and I’m sold. Anwar’s performance over it sounds phenomenal. I absolutely adore the hook; because I had such a spiritual experience with this record and song in particular, it almost sounded like the voice of a deity.

Bound to you, from the first how do you
Before I even uttered a sound from mouth to you
Begin to end from William Penn to Zulu
Generational kin, roots or foul juju
Thread…

I feel like the first verse is rapped from the perspective of Adam, and he’s describing his feelings for Eve. That makes the song even cooler for me.

I knew she was mine, she was a blind beautiful bride
Pried from a hole in my side, divine triangular pie
Shaped outline reside on the inside of her inner thigh
When her mind and mine relate we make Milky Way lakes
Once ethereal space, now a celestial plate
Delicate chaise designed to create pi
Wholly a holy sign, fuckin' with me is suicide
Thread…

The final verse in which he recaps the experiences of black people throughout the millennia is awesome as well. This was an amazing way to start the album, and one of my favorite songs of the year. I think it’s fire.

The title track, RESIN (STAY WARM), is another highlight for me. It’s very aptly titled because the beat has a super wintery vibe in my opinion. It kinda has the same essence as Nas’ Represent, albeit in a slower, more low-key form. The piano-driven instrumental with minimal percussion sounds fantastic. I actually think I like this one more than the opening song. Anwar’s soft background vocals around the 1:46 mark sound really calming. I really love that part. The actual rapping itself is excellent as well.

Night's brick year round, sun down, full moon
High noon, the mind's eye monsoon
I'm like a song outta tune
Rose bloom, a ronin with no platoon
Fully consumed, the four horse doom
With the feather plume, pseudonym: Blown Fuse

This song grew on me a lot honestly. I always loved it, but it kinda blended in with the rest of the tracklist for me until I forwent GLUE and started the album here. I actually think it’s one of the very best tracks on the project now. It’s amazing.

Track 3 is called LACQUER (HUSK), and it has a glorious uncredited feature from a really smooth vocalist. I’m 99% sure it’s Donovan Days, also known as ialive, but I could be wrong. I’m fairly certain it’s him though. He gives this song a really nice Trip Hop kinda vibe. I say that as someone who has never really listened to Tricky or Portishead. I should probably change that soon. Anyway, the vocals on the intro make it sound like this should be the soundtrack that plays as you cross the River Styx. Anwar HighSign’s performance here feels relatively fiery.

Funny, what you hate mimic all of your traits
All the greats die young while the prisoners age
If I had met wide eyed you, wet behind the ears
The spirit of a tie dyed youth with no fear
And no grays in your beard
Before the punch knocked air from your ideas
The tears of my brother, I see you right here
I hung from your words, your face is my mirror

The vocals on the outro are fantastic as well. I also really related to the audio clip of whoever that was speaking at the very end of the track. It sounds like it’s from an old film or television program.

Ever since I was a kid, my folks fed me bigotry for breakfast. Bigotry supper. Never, not once did it ever make me feel proud of where I was born.

I think it’s maybe too extreme of a statement for me to say I fully relate, but I definitely felt mental discomfort from the judgmental nature of my parents’ rhetoric when I was a child. Anyway, the song is super well crafted overall. I love it.

The following song is called VARNISH (CARCASS). This one’s also really awesome. It doesn’t have one of my favorite beats, but the instrumental is still very great. Anwar’s rapping performance itself is what sells me on this one though. I know I keep saying something along the lines of “he sounds relatively energetic here,” but this is another track where that’s the case in my opinion. The writing is pretty incredible too. I was hooked listening to him spit these lines.

Formerly conscious, hardened with layers of varnish
I played the fortress, foreign to feelin’ important
Dormant, paint my coffin with the eye of Horus
Royals, we praise Allah with visions of carnage
Carbon only in name, I’m unexplained
Feel like my brain’s OS change every lunar phase
Losin’ days while my boosters fade
The reins on my black cloud yank me down like Luke Cage

My favorite part is the ending though. The closing lines are really chilling, especially because of the way they’re delivered.

I exist in a state of stress
They reject, can't deflate my chest
Pride won't allow me to be pressed
Depressed friend gets a wellness check
'Til they affect your rest
How quickly we forget…

The song is excellent, and it segues into the following track, ENAMEL (INTRO), really well. This one’s a 46-second interlude in which a man asks a woman if she likes music, and then invites her to put a record on. The instrumental from Dr. Quandary is kind of dreamy and floaty sounding. It doesn’t necessarily sound cheerful, but it feels slightly less brooding than most of the others. I really like this one. It’s dope.

Track 6 is called SEALANT (SHIELD). This one didn’t blow me away quite as much as the others, but I still love it. The instrumental feels like a very natural follow-up to the preceding intro. I really love how resonant the bass sounds. The words at the beginning and end of this track remind me of the Limbo interlude from In Case I Don’t Make It. I love when he does that. It’s like he’s somehow able to convey exactly what it’s like to have intrusive thoughts. It sounds really haunting, especially at the end.

Why didn’t you protect me? I can’t sleep. I don’t know what you want me to do. I should go to sleep, but I can’t. I don’t like what I see when I close my eyes.

This is arguably the most unsettling track on the whole record. I really love Anwar’s flow here, and the lyricism is pretty awesome too. It kinda made me feel like this album was conceived while Anwar HighSign was in a very dark place. Not necessarily mentally, but socially. I get the impression that he was in an environment full of negativity, distrust, and general toxicity. It’s unfortunate that this was ostensibly crafted under such harsh conditions, but the music is fire. I think the song’s really great.

Track 7 is called EPOXY (SAFE), and it’s another one of my favorite songs on the project. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that it’s one of my favorite songs of the year. The beat sounds kinda like a rainforest in the form of music, especially at the beginning of the track. It sounds like something I’d hear in a really cool, artsy PS3-exclusive video game. I mean that in the best way possible. It makes me picture Shadow of the Colossus in my head. I know that was originally a PS2 game, but I didn’t play it until it was remastered for the PS3. Anyway, I really love the lyrical content of this one. Anwar HighSign kinda reflects on the demise of a super close relationship.

If we don’t speak, then be safe
If we don’t link, we had memories
Too much pride to keep bein’ a afterthought to you and lose my identity
You were more my blood than my own blood
Paper free pedigree, we both mutts
We got tricked, bruh

I’ve been in kind of a weird mindset for the past couple weeks since I’ve been in this partial hospitalization program. I’ve been reflecting on life a ton, and thinking about stuff like this has been scaring me. Maybe it’s just because I’ve been home and away from friends, but I feel like my social connections are decaying. I don’t know why I’m talking about this right now. Anyway, I think this song is superb, and one of the best on the album.

It’s followed by WAX (NAKED). Just like with track 6, this is not a favorite of mine on the project. However, I still thoroughly enjoyed it, and think it fits in with the rest of the record really well. I just didn’t love this one as much sonically as the others. The beat is very good, and I love the lyricism. However, I didn’t love the refrain as much as I wanted to, and same goes for the flow. The writing here is excellent though. This one seems to be about another withering relationship, although this one seems more explicitly romantic.

Fight more and we fuck less, folklore for a Cold War
A big mess in a love nest, a bit more than a rough stretch
This is an overture, omen of us bein’ over
You was the one in my corner, you said that I had a baby’s aroma
I wanna cry on your shoulder, tied up inside of your aura
Die on the porch when we‘re older

The vocals on the hook sound pretty good. This is definitely a great song. It’s just not better than the others to me. It’s certainly my least favorite on the project, but the writing is too good for me to not praise. This is another really dope song.

The penultimate track is called LAMINATE (CAN’T KILL), and it’s another one of my favorites on the album. The production from Dr. Quandary is really cool—I particularly appreciated the light, yet diverse percussion. However, the lyricism from Anwar HighSign is what really pushes this track to the next level for me. The writing here is so awesome to me.

I’m dead and alive at the same time
Along a split line until my polarity switch sides
Hereditary, I’m slim size
I’m not a threat, your eye is reck
I’m sayin’ less, I level up, my data hex is deus ex
Machiavelli, a Pac kind of a plot and a belly of depth
Accept what you accept
Your best bet as you go, know what you know

The kind of religious undertones here make for a really interesting listening experience. I couldn’t tell you exactly what the meaning of this song is or what inspired him to make it, so I look forward to speaking with him about it in our upcoming interview.

Bitch, I’m tight
Look at my skin in this light
Nigga, I’m Christ, study my life
I’m a threat
I’m a threat, I’m a threat
I’m a threat, I’m a threat
Sever my head

Another thing I should mention is that I think the intro in which the word “BRACE!” is repeated was inspired by Outkast’s Stankonia skits. I could be wrong, but that’s what it makes me think of every time I hear it. Anyway, the song’s boiling hot fire overall. Not only is the production and lyricism great, but I also love Anwar’s flow and vocal delivery.

The closing track is called GOLD LEAF (ENTROPY), and to be honest it’s probably my number one favorite song on the album. I think this one’s incredible, and easily one of the best songs of the year. Again, the lowkey production is stellar. Anwar’s writing had me hooked though. The rapping here is outstanding. This is one of the longest tracks on the project, and it’s worth every second.

Scuzzy fog, the money is God
This the pathway to Eden, we‘re here for a season
I’ve never known luck, I’ve never seen magic
I‘ve never met karma, the good die paupers
Chuck you in a coffin and bury you deep
By the time the grass thaw won’t remember where you sleep
Pay your tithes, and pray to peco for lights
I was starvin’, that’s how I cut my tongue on this knife

Another big part of what makes this song so cool to me is Anwar’s voice. He just sounds so good spitting with his signature reserved, calm flow and vocal delivery. It fits over this production style beautifully.

The verseman deferred at the terminus
A juggler in this circus while my mother worked in earnest
Tossin’ coals in this fuckin’ furnace
Maybe if my talent gross then this curse’ll lift
Cuff my wrist, I don’t feel it through this tourniquet
Wasn’t kind to myself, I was merciless
We belong to our poverty
The rich fear is wakin’ up without a pot to eat
The poor live the rich fear as though it’s prophesy
Same oppressor who infected our autonomy is put in place to judge it
The only metric is my toughness when my rib is touchin’
It’s a failure to justice

I really love the closing lines for this track too. Everything about this song is right up my alley. The production, flows, vocal delivery, and especially the lyricism had me hooked. I live for music like this. This is a perfect song to me.

This album is amazing. I think this is the best release I’ve ever heard from Anwar HighSign. He’s really not the type of artist that’s gonna bombard you with multiple undercooked projects every year. He takes more of a traditional approach in which he takes his time to perfect a record before presenting it to the general public. This album does not sound like it was made quickly. It sounds like they really put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into it, so it’s no wonder that this resonated with me. This is easily one of my favorite albums of the year. The production from Dr. Quandary has me sold. I look forward to familiarizing myself with more of his work. I think Anwar HighSign fits over it perfectly too. I’ve always liked Anwar HighSign as a producer, but it has been cool to hear him working with other artists for full albums. Anyway, there’s really no consistent gripe that I have with this record. It is absolutely an acquired taste—it’s not the type of thing you’re gonna find yourself dancing to or snorting coke with. I wouldn’t even smoke weed to this record. It’s the type of project that I’d want to be fully sober for just so I could process it properly. I feel like if I was stoned while listening to this record I would get very scared. I’d rather hear this in an “Art Rap” museum than in any type of club. Anyway, it was really hard for me to choose a favorite song from this album between the title track and the closer, but I ended up going with the latter. I’ve noticed that the closing songs on albums I love tend to be my favorites. I love when amazing records finish strong, and this is a perfect example. This album is a must-listen for fans of “drumless” Hip Hop in 2024. I mean, I personally wouldn’t refer to this as a drumless album because there’s plenty of percussion throughout it. It just isn’t as prominent as one might expect from a Hip Hop release. It’s fire though. This is one of the coolest albums I’ve heard in a long time. Don’t sleep on this one. ✌🏽

Favorite Song: GOLD LEAF (ENTROPY)
Least Favorite Song: WAX (NAKED)

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