Duality is a quality that seems to plague the entirety of humanity. In a reality constructed on subjective truths, an immeasurable amount of perspectives and an incalculable abundance of contexts, perceiving with consistency has been an ageless challenge to our species. That challenge is clearly amplified for people like Steve Lacy.

The Compton native has returned from a two-year hiatus, bringing with him his second studio album Gemini Rights. Lacy isn’t embracing the role of an activist for a specific astrological sign on this record, as the title may suggest. In fact, he’s precisely and loudly presenting the stereotypical, infamous vice of a Gemini: indecision.

We’ve seen rap megastars (and fellow Gemini) Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar illustrate their own internal strife as it relates to social issues, their world views and ego’s. However, Lacy’s chronic issue with irresolution has put him in an unfavorable spot on Gemini Rights.

From track-to-track, Lacy is decidedly over his ex-lover. Then, in a whiplash of an instant, he’s head-over-heels for them. Because of Lacy’s flawless and skilled songwriting, Gemini Rights conveys a flurry of romantic feelings. With regret, sorrow, passion, lust and anger snapping into focus across the record, Lacy gives listener’s emotional motion sickness in a way only a bonafide poet could. While Lacy has never struggled to touch on romantic subjects throughout his discography, Gemini Rights approaches the subject with unprecedented nuance and thoroughness.

“Static,” the opening track, sets the table for Gemini Rights, as Lacy serenades his ex with such elegance that it’s almost as if he isn’t vilifying them and their transgressions against their shared love. “If you ever had to stunt your shining for your lover, dump that fucker” is sung with a particularly intense vitriol that makes it seem that Lacy is finally over them.

The funky distraction from post breakup depression that is “Helmet” sews the seeds of doubt in the listeners head that Lacy may be an unreliable narrator. Although trying his best to seem unphased and unbothered by their split, when Lacy feels down, his instinctual reaction is still to lean on this person. The cheery guitar plucks paired with cleverly foreboding writing makes “Helmet” a clear standout of the tracklist of Gemini Rights.

Both “Mercury” and “Bad Habit” stand to support the thesis of Lacy’s lingering love for his ex. As he stares blankly at his ceiling while “writing an ‘i’m sorry’ text” and asks his ex-lover “you think i’m two-faced? I can name 23,” Gemini Rights exudes the crushing anxiety that comes with feeling stuck, inactionable and alone.

The record culminates with its penultimate track “Sunshine,” featuring the silky-smooth Foushee who plays the part of Steve’s ex in a conversation between the two. Steve let’s us know that it’s been a couple months since their split. Hastily engaging a defense mechanism, Lacy becomes combative, adding “safe to say after me you peaked.” Foushee enters on a high-horse, telling Lacy that she’s taken the highroad despite his criticisms, imploring him to stop attempting to fabricate the intensity of their love with other people. Mutually agreeing to drop the hostility, Foushee asks “why can’t we just get along? Or at least get it on?”

Ending with the two harmonizing in unity “I still love you,” “Sunshine” is just one of many backtracks, reconsiderations and flip-flops on Gemini Rights. Although presenting the complication with this breakup through the lens of the ever-conflicted Gemini mind, Lacy knows his listeners are empathetic to the struggle.

If you were to reorder the tracklist of Gemini Rights, you would likely be able to formulate what a traditional grieving process of a romantic split is supposed to look like. But what Gemini Rights presents is a more authentic illustration of the unpredictability of human emotion, especially an emotion as potent as love. Feelings aren’t linear and they’re fickle. While Steve may not think so, the Gemini’s uncertainty isn’t to blame here.

Sonically, Gemini Rights is a soulful blend of the experimentation of Lacy’s 2020 effort The Lo-Fis, the groovy chord progressions of Apollo XXI and the early knack for engaging songwriting displayed on Steve Lacy’s Demo. In other words, Lacy brings together the whole of his assets as an artist to deliver his highest quality production on Gemini Rights. Additionally, Lacy’s pen is on an entirely different level here. Crafting hooks, progressions and vocal harmonies that stick in your brain like plaster (“Bad Habit,” “Mercury,” “Helmet”), Gemini Rights is the best R&B record to release this year.

In a year filled with smash records like Dawn FM and WASTELAND by The Weeknd and Brent Faiyaz respectively, Gemini Rights simply outclasses it’s R&B contemporaries. Despite the conflicted nature of man, the superbness of Gemini Rights will ensure discussion of this record and its deserved inclusion in the album of the year conversation.

Favorite tracks:

Helmet

Bad Habit

Sunshine (feat. Foushee)

Luke Modugno is the editor-in-chief.

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Thanks for making the last six years a little easier 💎

By Luke Modugno

If a human being were to be the direct personification of the word “duality,” it would most certainly be Stephen Bruner, aka Thundercat. From harmonizing over soulful instrumentation about wishing he could be a cat, to gripping with loss of a friend, to aging and socioeconomic disadvantage, Thundercat’s juxtaposition of painfully human emotions and scenarios can truly make you laugh and cry all at once. But his fourth studio album It Is What It Is is perhaps Bruner’s greatest display of his artistic versatility.

Building off of the genre-melding sounds established by his 2017 project Drunk, Thundercats signature velvety melodies and funky production allow him to really come into his own sonically on this album. While Thundercat seems to pin down his soundscape on this LP, It Is What It Is is far from predictable. Alternating between toned down, nearly lofi production (“Lost in Space / Great Scott / 22-26”) and upbeat, jazzy tracks, (“Black Qualls,” “Dragonball Durag”) the project ticks all the boxes of a typical Thundercat release without sounding musically complacent. With help from friend and co-producer Flying Lotus, Thundercat takes considerably more sonic risks on It Is What It Is, allowing the album to be far more experimental than prior projects. But each risk pay off, creating standouts like “Innerstellar Love” and “Existential Dread.” The result is a cacophonic ride through Thundercats various emotional states, pushed along with inherently intriguing instrumentation and production.

Mood and sound are ever changing on It Is What It Is, as Thundercat attempts to come to terms with the death of his close friend Mac Miller. The title itself is a reflection of the lessons learned from the Pittsburgh musicians passing, “It’s just part of it, part of the story,” said Bruner in an interview with Apple Music. “That’s why the name of the album is what it is -- [Mac’s death] made me put my life in perspective. I’m happy I’m still here.” His happiness is reflected through his utilization of humor throughout the record, as it extenuates his grieving. No matter how good, bad, happy or sad the situation, Bruner always seems to find room for comedy. His lighthearted approach to misfortune saves the project from focusing too hard on philosophical reflection of the morality and fragility of life, something Thundercat is far too hilarious for. Instead, It Is What It Is exists somewhere else; somewhere between grieving and happiness, laughter and tears, the meaningful and the meaningless, life and death. Duality takes center stage in It Is What It Is, as Bruner must begrudgingly accept the highs and the lows of life because, quite simply put, it is what it is.

In addition to humor, good company seems to uplift Thundercat during the rough patches in life, and they also happen to make this guest list on this record star-studded. Steve Lacy, Louis Cole, Pedro Martins and Flying Lotus add to the already soulful aesthetics of a Thundercat record, while Ty Dolla $ign and Childish Gambino put in valuable vocal performances on notable cuts “Black Qualls” and “Fair Chance.” The tracklist is full of melodic, atmospheric songs that inspire a wealth of emotions. From floating through space on “Lost in Space / Great Scott / 22-26” to being thrust into the saturated uptempo “Innerstellar Love,” the album is a bumpy, yet endearing musical ride. The funky guitar gracing “Black Qualls” make for a truly soulful track, with a valuable and thought-provoking emphasis on black education and confidence. “Fair Chance” is spacey, glossy, beautiful goodbye to Mac from two of his closest friends (Cat and Ty Dolla $ign). “Dragonball Durag” is hilariously catchy and provides an exuberant counterpart to Bruners introspection. But the crown jewel of the tracklist comes last, in It Is What It Is’ title track, as Thundercat succumbs to his pure devastation in the wake of the death of Mac Miller. “My best just wasn’t enough/ It couldn’t be helped, the end/ The things I would do for you/ So many things I wanna say/ This is the end,” sings Thundercat over a melancholy guitar solo. The song acts as Bruners final goodbyes to Mac, as he grips with the apex of guilt, pain and mourning he’s felt in the two years following Miller’s death. The unbridled despair in Thundercats voice is raw, endearing and heartbreaking. Combined with the intimate, somber production, “It Is What It Is” is a tear-jerking, brilliant memorial to Miller. About halfway through, the track fades and is followed by Thundercat and Pedro Martins trading bass solos. Interweaving with Martins, Thundercat spends the closing moments of It Is What It Is playing the same instrument that sparked his friendship with Miller, which clearly blossomed into something incredibly dear to Bruner.

It Is What It Isis, through and through, a fantastic record. Its irresistibly funky, genre-fusing instrumentation combined with its playful, yet devastating subject matter make for a truly intriguing project.

Favorite Songs

Lost in Space / Great Scott / 22-26

Black Qualls (feat. Steve Lacy, Steve Arrington & Childish Gambino)

It Is What It Is (feat. Pedro Martins)

Rating: 9

Listen to It Is What It Is here:

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