Hi, everyone. Sothony Vibetano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new xaviersobased record, Xavier.

This is the debut album from xaviersobased, a New York-based rapper, producer, songwriter, a guy who has been on a prolific run since the pandemic, slowly building a buzz for himself off of this flurry a series of under-the-radar projects and tapes, which have been dropping pretty steadily over the last five years and have also been helping him define his own lane in the burgeoning rap underground right now.

Now, what often separates Xavier from a lot of his contemporaries in the underground right now is just how spacious and atmospheric his sound is, which is a hard contrast to guys like OsamaSon, who is featured at one point on this project. You could say what Xave is doing here shares a lot more in common with old-school cloud rap aesthetics or the dreamy, glossy sounds of various projects from artists like Bladee, even some early Yung Lean.

There's, of course, lots of crisp, trap-style percussion, but also many snare patterns and groups that are clearly from plugg music or jerk. But the overall energy is often so comatose. It's rarely something you actually want to get up and move to or really do much of anything to. Now, while this record is far from Xave's first full collection of songs, it is his first full length to get big boy type distribution from Atlantic Records. It's a pretty hefty size at about 50 minutes of run time. However, personally, I found that not every track on this thing is heat.

Now, when this record is at its best, and there are certainly some highlights, is when a given track is loaded with so many entrancing vocal runs and dreamy layers that it creates this transcendental experience. I'm talking about tracks like "Mask On", "Harajuku", "Clorox", "Get Them Racks, Then I Go Pt. 2", and also the especially blissful "100,000". Even "Dat Shit Fr" feels like a slightly more surreal approach to the cycling repetitive synthesizers that we hear in a lot of rage beats these days. But with the production dipping in and out of the mix occasionally, as if it's not even a significant factor to Xave, it's just like this thing coming in and out of another dimension.

But as likable as these tracks are, there are also some shortcomings to be accounted for because not every chill, vibey performance and instrumental is fully intoxicating, like on the intro track or even "iPhone 16", or even "Wheel Man", who's overall mix between the vocals and beats, is just far too thin and quiet. These tracks all account for super tedious listens that I wish either just added more details or more variation across the track just to make it more engaging and less stale and awkward.

Sure, while Xave is not a top-tier lyricist, and I by no means expected him to be so when I decided to put this thing on, sometimes his unfiltered matter-of-fact lyricism does take me out of my zone a little bit, like on "Packs Gone", where he says, "Dude, you a noob, she's showin' me her boobs / Shit, don't make sense like a YouTube Poop". Or, "Fuckin' with the gang a easy way to start something / Dick in her stomach, I could make her heart cum". Which is an insane way to end the song, "Tony Hawk", with the extended instrumental outro, like, we're just going to leave that there?

Now, to Xave's credit, there are some tracks and moments where he pushes outside of his comfort zone a bit, but we get mixed results from that. The punched in vocal lines on "Minute", for example, are a little disorienting and make it difficult to really chill out to what's happening here. Then the super chaotic "Wrk Wrk", I'm not particularly sure what this track is trying to do. Is this an attempt at something lively, a dance track maybe? Either way, the end result is cluttered, annoying, and one of the most unlistenable cuts on this entire record. Rio Da Yung Og also sticks out like a sore thumb on the track, "Heart Felt". Could be the mix, could be his performance, either way, he does not really fit into the smooth, low-key energy of the song.

However, Zaytoven clearly got the memo on the track where some production from him is featured, "Big Ben", which has this hypnotic beat that's just perfect for Xave's style. Then "Skrap" seems like a genuine attempt to try to make a trunk-knocking banger, and it actually goes over really well. It's the perfect balance between Xave's nonchalant energy, but also just a really visceral series of groups coming off the beat, which Xave's flows enhance.

As far as the final moments on this project goes, it really is unceremonious. The track featuring OsamaSon is not really the fireworks I hoped it would be. In fact, I feel like I'm listening to trap music if it could be recorded and played in Animal Crossing or something. The only track that really, truly stuck out to me on the back end of this project is this additional streaming bonus track featuring production from Skrillex and Dylan Brady, "Party At My Place", which is legitimately a party track and something I wouldn't mind hearing more from Xave given just how great it came out.

But yeah, overall with this project, it's okay. I could see some of the hype behind it given a handful of the highlights. As far as the current rap underground goes, Xavier definitely has his own style, his own direction. He definitely sticks out from his contemporaries within that context for sure.

But this album only plays to its strengths some of the time. Beyond that, we have a handful of completely forgettable tracks, some awkward but still listenable attempts, and something else here and there. From a writing standpoint, it really is like style over substance, pretty much, which is why I'm feeling about a strong five to a light six on this thing.

Anthony Fantano, xaviersobased, Forever.