I had a conversation with a friend of mine over the summer about what upcoming albums I was most excited about. Obviously, albums from Drake, Kanye West and Frank Ocean—where is it Frank?—were on my list, but so was Raury. Earlier this year, Raury said that he would release his first album as a follow-up to his critically acclaimed mixtape, “Indigo Child.” Raury, a 19-year-old from an Atlanta suburb, made a grand entrance into the music scene when he released the artful and powerful music video to “Indigo Child” singles, “God’s Whisper.” He gained public notoriety, but also from figures inside the industry such as André 3000 and Kanye West.
But the main question I had was if Raury could follow up his critically acclaimed debut with a strong, evolved project, and Raury followed through. All We Need is the sequel to “Indigo Child” that is indeed a bold move, but still works well. Love is the one descriptive word I would use for the album. Almost every song discusses, or at least touches upon, peace, injustice and love, especially the opening titular track. “All We Need” opens the album with an electronic score that sounds like the score for “2001: A Space Odyssey,” but transitions into a more familiar-sounding Raury love song.
The first half of the album detours from the sound that we are used to hearing from Raury. It is more of a traditional hip-hop vibe complete with hard-hitting bars and a fantastic guest verse from Big K.R.I.T. on “Forbidden Knowledge.” There is even auto-tune on “CPU (feat. RZA),” which surprised me. Although parts of the industry look down upon auto-tune, when done correctly it is excellent, which is the case with Raury.
But when the album hits “Devil’s Whisper,” the first single off the project, the album’s vibe switches to the acoustic Raury seen in previous releases. I think “Devil’s Whisper” is Raury’s best song to date. The hypnotic, hand-clap beat and contagious guitar, along with perfect synth spread throughout the track, makes the song a sonic masterpiece. But Raury also sounds extremely confident, especially during his first verse.
There are very few problems I have with the album. The out-of-place chorus on “Trap Tears,” where Raury tries to emulate trap music, doesn’t necessarily not work, though I believe it would have been better to stick with the sound featured on the rest of the song. Also, as a rap fan, I wish I could have seen the madman-style flow that Raury spits on SBTRKT’s “Higher,” but that wouldn’t have really fit in with the rest of the album.
All We Need is the first album that covers love and peace that I can fully listen to all the way through since I first discovered Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On years ago. All We Need is a very good album, one where Raury takes leaps, calculated guesses and ultimately succeeds in presenting his listeners with a fantastic experience.
Grade: A
