Review Summary: Excellent hip hop with superbly chosen samples and serious lyric about mental health.
Hip hop has seen quite a number of interesting and intriguing musical/lyrical combinations. Sometimes, these combination do not work, a strong lyrical content lags behind good beats and samples and vice versa. Still, when these combination truly complement each other, things can really click.
With “Hard Pill to Swallow,” the new EP by Minneapolis artist, rapper, activist and community leader*Farr Well (aka Farrington Llewellyn) we have a case in point. Farr Well was able to pack a lyrical punch dealing with the serious issue of mental health into some exquisite samples (mostly, good true soul) and beats.
Actually, the album’s title is exactly what it says. Back in 2018 Farr was diagnosed as bipolar and through his music, but also a blog, podcast and a discussion series he is attempting to come to terms with his diagnosis, but also to help people that are confronted with the same or similar problems.
Listening to the six tracks he presents on “Hard Pill to Swallow,” he is certainly on a road to success through some brilliant hip hop combinations that also include live instruments. The tracks are immaculately constructed and Farr’s raps are full of personal emotions and experiences that can make any listener gather their thougths about what he is talking about.
What we get on “Hard Pill to Swallow” is not some excellent hip hop but a lot of material to think about our and everybody else’s mental health.
