Agnative is an 18 year old rapper from Atlanta. During November he released his debut mixtape entitled “ARCHIVES” which contains 12 tracks and is available on all major digital download stores. The young rapper forms part of the new rap movement who rewrote the rap rule book and placed an emphasis on melodies as the genre’s currency. Their catchy warbles are slimmer on simile and metaphor and grafted with free-thought that rhymes. You can tell a lot about good music by how often you listen to it again, and again. If you’re into the new wave of rap, “ARCHIVES” is a solid mixtape with some standout tracks you won’t be able to stop listening to. Here Agnative proves he has seemingly endless amounts of creativity pulsing through his veins. Beautifully complex and overflowing with ethereal melodies, the project will no doubt impress fans of the genre.
The beats the production cooked up for this mixtape are top notch throughout, adding some refreshing sounds to the current trap landscape. It shows how exactly the production is being used to build a moody, reverberating atmosphere so that Agnative lyrics have more of a place to feel free.
Agnative’s potential to be a successful crossover artist is showcased on joints like “Start Up” and “5 Star” where his ability to creatively implement melodies with relatable content really shines. The tracks exemplify what Agnative can deliver at the peak of his powers, which is a memorizing beat, catchy hook and reality raps.
There’s a tangible quality to Agnative’s music that isn’t only measured by witty bars or dope production. The edge is in his voice, which is cooked up with equal parts storytelling urgency and some mellifluous brooding, making it sound like he’s dying to get his transgressions off his chest one way or the other.
Agnative’s rawness elevates the bars on these tracks, as the reality drips from his voice and sets the tone for a mixtape that succeeds because it tells tales which sound personal and true. The first thing that hits you on the dark cinematic approach of “Start Up”, is how a kid just 18-years-old could have such a powerful grasp of his musical identity and know exactly where he wants to go with his concepts and sounds?
Here Agnative display all his ambition, and the intensity of his grind. Creating a singular artistic vision and sticking to it throughout proves just how genuinely committed to the final product he is. “5 Star” contains a tight, slithering, and booming bass beat, as Agnative leans into the track with a fiery flow, giving the bars weight and forcing the listener to take him at face value.
Agnative is able to match the gravitas and emotionalism of his vocals with affecting and clear-eyed writing, something he manages to consistently do over the length of the entire project. Throughout this mixtape, Agnative finds a way here to highlight every element of his artistry that fans would find compelling.
Not least when he finds ways to twist his voice into different shapes, to match the eclectic production values of each recording. All of this suggests that Agnative is an artist with a long career still ahead of him – one whose bag of tricks may never run out. And at only 18 years old that sounds like a very long time indeed!
OFFICIAL LINKS: SOUNDCLOUD
