Boasting gritty street bravado married with troubled and brooding musings, Archibald Slim is part of a rare breed of emcees the industry has long thought extinct. Completely unbothered with trends and politics, Fell Asleep Praying is a collection of no-frills bangers that are disarmingly real and sobering. His first full-length project after a nearly 5-year hiatus, the Atlanta rapper's relentless flows and gloomy trap beats elevate him to the forefront of the conversation of the hottest underground emcees in the game.
Slim brings his distinct brand of introspective trap-hop to 11 booming, hi-hat-heavy sermons that narrate where he is now, how he got here, and where he's going. Well-documented struggles with substance abuse and relapse pervade throughout the runtime, as Slim relays his stories with passion and ruthless efficiency. "I done made a few bad decisions, I'm gon' probably make a few more" he raps on the moody and introspective "Honor Amongst Thieves," illustrating his steady but imperfect road to recovery. Never one to mince words, the line between rap braggadocio and legitimate repentance is crossed several times over, to the point where one questions whether to envy or empathize with its narrator. Standout "Debts" (a brilliant flip of "Closed on Sunday") tattoos its 808's onto the listener's brainstem while its lyrics drive home the subtly philosophical themes of the whole project. Collaborators Chester Watson, Father, and Da$h lend their respective flows to support Slim on his quasi-religious odyssey through his past into his future.
Wiser and still unrepentant, Archibald Slim's first full-length project in nearly 5 years finds him sharper than ever. Balancing rhymes on razor wire between stories of faults, losses, and comebacks; Slim keeps a pointed and remarkable fire in his rhymes that make this one of the most engaging gems of underground hip-hop in recent memory.
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