Following two acclaimed, gold-certified albums and a Mercury Prize nomination, British rapper
Loyle Carner levels up with his third LP,
Hugo. The album's lyrics reflect his newfound sobriety and fatherhood, and focus deeply on his struggles with identity, both as a Black man in the United Kingdom as well as his upbringing as a mixed-race person in a white family.
Carner has always been known for his introspective lyrics and conversational tone, but here he writes with greater clarity as he opens up about his fears and conflicting emotions. On the brisk, well-paced opener "Hate," he's grateful for his success but disgusted at the system he's trapped in, and elsewhere he's concerned that his own mixed-race child will have to face the same struggles as him. Apart from the
Madlib-produced highlight "Georgetown," most of the tracks were produced or co-written by regular collaborators like
Kwes.,
Jordan Rakei, and
Alfa Mist, who provide warm, occasionally jazzy backdrops for
Carner's pointed observations and soul-searching ruminations. The haunting "Blood on My Nikes" discusses living in fear and paranoia due to violence so constant that it's become normalized, and "Plastic," which makes reference to The Guardian mistakenly publishing a photo of
Kano in an article about fellow rapper
Wiley, describes living in a society shaped by the artificiality of popular media. The album's final three tracks are some of its most confessional, as
Carner recognizes the troubles he's had with his family, and doesn't want to be a poor father figure and continue a cycle of abuse and neglect. He forgives his biological father, whom he recently reconnected with, on the emotionally gripping finale "HGU." A concise, direct statement about how the world has shaped him,
Hugo is
Loyle Carner's most accomplished work to date. ~ Paul Simpson
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