Led by its weathered soul and self-aware allure, Mavi’s music is some of the most intriguing stuff out right now, both in a lyrical and a sonic sense. The rising talent has a knack for dancing all over off-kilter samples and industry instrumentals, just as we see in his latest two songs, “alone” and “iwont/elevatorpitch.”
The first, “alone,” is definitely the more abstract of the two, using a feverish, sample-based instrumental to act as a lush, understated backing to Mavi’s dense rhymes and wound-down deliveries. Naturally, he empties a clip of clever lyricism directly into this eccentric instrumentation, and if not anything else, “alone” is the kind of the track that you can revisit 10,000 times and still find a new gem upon each and every listen.
On the other hand, the second of the two, “iwont/elevatorpitch,” actually uses the same sample as both “Demons” by Lil Wayne and “Heavenly Father” by Isaiah Rashad. In general, when I’m already acclimated with a sample and used to hearing it in a song, it becomes difficult to reimagine this sample without losing some of its touch, but “iwont/elevatorpitch” certainly avoids this. Seemingly without breaking a sweet, Mavi’s lyricism hovers right above the soulful sample with packed, introspective rhymes, and although this may be a bold claim, I must say that “iwont/elevatorpitch” is one of my favorite releases from the budding talent to date.
Don’t just take my word for it, though — check out Mavis’ two new songs below and let us know what you think in the comments!