With his first release after changing his artist name from Suur Papa, emcee Arop reinvents himself by exchanging tougher, boom-bap tinged beats for more contemporary soundscapes.
Those range from both ad-lib heavy trap tracks filled with triplet-laden rhythmic cadences commonly associated with music from Atlanta, as well as lusher backgrounds furnished with vocal samples and occasional traces of dancehall of the OVO Sound variety.
These thoroughly metropolitan sonic elements are countered with a decidedly localist set of topics. Arop uses his versatile flow in quite a few different approaches, aggressively lambasting critics and backstabbers, turning to balladry on “Täna”, and touching on subjects such as religion and his family. Most notable is “Kiki Miki”, named after a cat of his, essentially a children’s song both wistful and victorious in spirit – one embracing childhood nostalgia and ending with him reclaiming his childhood home, which had been sold.
“Kiki Miki” was named Song of the Year at the 2018 Estonian Music Awards.
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Stream “P.O.E.G.” on Spotify.
Arop on Facebook.