If there's anything specifically that intrigued me about One Day it would be the musical partnership that this album comes from. Arcitype produces eleven of the twelve songs and was also hands on through mixing and recording. Some of the best albums of the decade have been bred out of this "one rapper and one producer" approach. It's been a winning formula and a lot of cuts I've heard Arcitype produce for Slaine over the past few years have certainly slapped. From every article I read anticipating this album I was confident we'd see a solid release.
Since previous full-length album, Slaine continued through the decade with other releases like, To Thine Own Self Be True with La Coka Nostra in 2016, as well as a solo EP that year. In 2017 he and fellow Boston MC Termanology released the collaborative album Anti-Hero and Slaine spent most of the next year touring. News of Slaine's fourth LP started to surface in early 2019. One Day was officially released on November 22nd while Slaine was touring in Canada with La Coka Nostra.
The album begins with the lead single "Redemption". We're reacquainted with Arcitype's style as the beat floats in on these beautiful opera chops and light percussion until the true drums tackle their way through the speakers giving the song this continuing sense of sonic momentum. Slaine pens fifty bars across this continuously evolving and changing beat. The kick drum picks up and keeps pace with some of his faster flows midway through the track as well giving his verbal assault a more dynamic playground. It's a musical odyssey on the production side that matches Slaine's erratic syllable work and bar structure. Topical focus and meaty production are shown to be priorities for Slaine and Arcitype right away.
"Time Is Now" turned out to be one of my favourite songs on the album and could actually close the year as one of my top songs. The beat is tough and catchy as it evolves from bass playing to chunky snares shuffling through Slaine's verses. Slaine invites listeners to seize the day through fiery quotables like "Fear of the dumb, deaf and blind it can run amok/So you either falling down or you're comin' up". The chorus is fantastic too as Rite Hook bursts into the song with this megaphone sound quality to his voice. Combine that with crowd chants and the brisk beat and you're nodding your head all the way until you restart the song. This drum loop definitely deserved a good fade out I'm glad we got that too.
The guest features on One Day are mostly isolated to hooks save for two songs. "Still Got My Gun" is the first of those two tracks and was also the second single to the album. Woodwind and opera leads combine with keys and string notes for a luscious and cinematic intro. Featuring Ill Bill and Vinnie Paz, it's an acceptable banger that can stand with any number of collaborations between the three of these MCs. They all have such complimentary styles even if they are simply throwing some violent braggadocio around over a eerie and aggressive beat. Arcitypes instrumental swell after each verse brings the song to a fun high point when Rite Hook enters for the chorus. It's the mostly the pace and evolution of the song that keeps me in tune as these four vocalists aren't really challenging themselves in terms of what they do with this type of song. It's a banger but not much else.
"Trick The Trap" is pretty fine by me. Most of the same ingredients from "Time Is Now" return with the track starting from bass plucking to dusty snares. I love how Slaine pens a character piece in each verse to get across themes of inner city life and revenge. Rasheed Chappell handles the chorus with some laid back punchlines such as "One rule to this game the game has no rules". Statik Selektah can be heard winding back little synth note across the beat as well. Despite being sandwiched between two songs I play way more than this one, theres a great narrative and a desolate beat that fits the song. I do wish Statik was utilized a bit more, however.
Another one of my favourite songs from the album is easily "It Catches You". The only track not produced by Arcitype as 9am handles the drums and Samuel Burke rocks the guitar (I think). Muted echoing drums guide us through into Slaine vocals as the beat shifts from the beginning composition to synthesizers and harsher snares. This is one of the best tracks that showcases the sound of the album. "It Catches You" is a constantly evolving emotional journey that showcases Slaine describing his life in drug infested houses while the second verse ventures into the tragedy of the time we lose through escapism. Nico Franc brings incredible vocal harmonies across the chorus as well as the fade out giving us one of the most bombastic and complex scores on the album. I love how this beat incorporates both acoustic and electric guitars as it transforms. I'm not sure what additional instrumentation comes from Arcitype on this one but it still feels like a beat with his touch on it. A true art piece.
Of the two feature heavy tracks, I think "Broken Toys" is the stronger one. Aside from some spare piano keys in the beginning, we mostly have eerie synths weaving through sputtering drums. Slaine, Apathy and Locksmith tackle some very prudent concepts with great syllable schemes. The three of them aim at the shrinking attention span of music fans, to clout chasing to hip-hops original empowering roots being lost to the homogenized sound of mainstream music. There's incredible bar work being done by all three MCs from Apathy's line about construction workers digging up a rappers body months after, to Locksmith's cold as ice finishing couplet. Of all the guest verses on this LP I think Lock goes home with the best entry. I love the current state of hip-hop and the music industry in general being referred to as a bizarro world as well. Topical focus and complexity like I said before. Shit goes in.
We cross over the halfway point of One Day with "Night Will Fall". The drums loop isn't super intricate but I still love the deep rumble of the kick drum. Like most of the albums second act, it's similarly eerie but I think the real reason I replay this song is Slaine's wild vocal performance across the two verses. The second verse really conveys great emotion through the delivery off the lines "You were never born in this world I exist/I have fought I endured I assure you of this". The hook is great too as Slaine combines his gravely delivery with some of the vowels being stretched to their breaking point. Ominous and trunk knocking.
"The Feeling I Get" is definitely on my top three list from this record. Arcitype is so talented when it comes to building up the beat and dropping his drums. I'm restarting this song even before Slaine comes into the song. We begin with synths and sweeping hi hats before these wide, resonating bass hits lead us into the verses. Slaine is just really spitting across this whole track while still giving credence to the tortured themes of this album where he raps "I struggle in violence, search the Earth for purpose/With nothing to find, this fucking design is merciless." There's an angst and struggle but similar to our previous song, he relentlessly fights back. I love the way the percussion gets more and more stripped back in the fade out as well.
Track nine was the song that really motivated me to review this album. "The Day Before I Die' encompasses all the great things about this album. There's fantastic musical momentum as the beat evolves from rumbling bass and synth leads to twittering trap percussion before my absolute favourite musical moment on the record takes this chorus by storm. Slaine wrestles with his up bringing and addictive nature and the haunting possibility of him relapsing and losing the trust of his family again. It's an amazing moment of regret and panic that in his final day he'll have to leave his family behind in the wake of his achievements as well as his failures.
We get into the third act of One Day with "Can't Stay The Same". The rest of the record sees Slaine settling into his present and this song is the start of it. Keys and chunky drums help Slaine gain perspective and pride as he lays down lyrics like "There is no teacher better than pain/The agony of loss and betrayal I consider the same." I'm also a fan of how he references his previous album before the song closes. It's a great reminder that all of his albums have been snapshots of his mental state at the time of their production. His choruses continue to be catchy as well and I especially love his line about changing the weather and being on a new plane. Clever stuff.
"One More Day" is an exciting moment as well. There's no snares to this song at all as Arcitype tasks Slaine with marching drums, synths and lush strings sections. Much like the opening to the album, the song structure is very free as Slaines delivery elevates along with each time the music picks up. Even if I'm not super fond of the double time flow he opens with, he still drops some of his best quotables of the album here. From lines like "My old records have a lots of things I wouldn't say/In my current state and I'm gonna pay." to "I have a chance to raise my son/I've been redeemed in way more ways than one." It's like the flip-side of track nine as Slaine can see what he truly wants to spend the rest of his life doing and he feels secure living it out.
After a long fade out on the previous track the record closes with "Do What You Love". It's a wonderful closer as I can say its probably the only song on here where he sticks to a positive outlook for an entire song. It's a great epilogue to the tortured elements of the albums second act. Snares and tambourines are laced together through strings and keys to bring us one last colourful score. He sets up the hook flipping the song title and Cyrus Deshield inspires on this chorus too. Slaines final verse on this song features some of my favourite writing on the album as well. A poetic ending.
Even though I'm missing a good chunk of Slaine's solo discography, I'm pretty confident this is his most focused album yet. Musically, this record is an absolute feast as Arcitype shines through on the production with layered, complex and lush instrumentation. There's variety in the snares, the beats are constantly evolving to give us amazing swells during each chorus. Slaines pen has always stood out in the context of a group album but his growth through another solo is still incredible. After an album like this it's hard to imagine another Slaine project without Arcitype involved in some capacity as they make an undeniable pair.
Pros: One Day features some of my favourite soundscapes of the year and has Slaine operating at a level of topical focus and storytelling that is nothing short of fantastic. The guests are strategically confined to a handful of tracks as Slaines pens bleeds through each song. There is the absolute minimal filler and in the modern age of twenty song albums and stream trolling I can't complain when an album knows what's essential and what isn't.
Cons: Despite this being a solid and satisfying front to back listen, there's still a handful of punches you can see coming. When the album detracts from its core narrative for a banger it surprisingly slows down. Also from my personal taste I can spot one or two tracks I can get into the habit of skipping.
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