LOYLE CARNER - HUGO
Since his last album Not Waving, But Drowning which was released three years ago, Loyle Carner has experienced great changes in his life that shows throughout his new masterpiece.
Like everyone else, he was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but has also had positive experiences such as the birth of his first-born son and a rekindled relationship with his father before his passing.
Carner’s artistry has always revolved around vulnerability and transparency but with this new album, it seems like he is treading into deeper waters.
The production on this album is a mixture of lo-fi hip hop and avant-garde jazz. hugo’s sonic minimalism could be an intentional play by Carner to make the listener pay attention to the stories he is trying to tell to the world. It adds to the pensive mood that Carner creates from beginning to end. Without a doubt, one can hear old-school underground, boom bap influences in the music too, yet this does not strip the album of its modern sonic aesthetics.
In hugo, the listener finds Carner in a deep state of self-reflection. The album is heavily impacted by social matters such as race which he adds nuance to with his personal experiences as a mixed race man in Britain. In the opener ‘Hate,’ the rage and frustration that Carner has toward the world’s treatment of black people is powerful in a way that makes you stop whatever you’re doing and pay close attention to the point he’s trying to get across. This song feels like a stream-of-consciousness, free written poem or freestyle from someone who had been holding these emotions in for so long, a strong storm gradually brewing into a hurricane. “Yeah, they said it was all that you could be if you were black / Playing ball or maybe rap / and they would say it like a fact.”
The subjects of race and identity flow into Nobody Knows (Ladas Road)’ and ‘Georgetown.’ Both songs explore the dualities of Carner’s mixed heritage. However, ‘Nobody Knows’ feels more anxious while ‘Georgetown’ is filled with a small, yet mighty pride. ‘Nobody Knows’ samples a gospel choir’s rendition of ‘Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Seen,’ an old African-American spiritual. As with other singles on hugo, careful crate-digging plays a huge role in painting the bigger picture of the album. Georgetown is perhaps one of the album's most vital songs. With the help of organ-infused production curated by Madlib and a sample of John Agard’s seminal poem ‘Half Caste,’ he begins to reclaim his identity (“I’m black like the key on the piano / white like the key on the piano”). He also says that no one introduced him to the realm of rap, but it was his own doing which ended up giving him the wisdom he needed to navigate a difficult world.
‘Speed of Light’ shows Carner trying to find the good in the bad, and claim victory over pain and grief. It’s somewhat existentialist in theme (“The world moving fast for you as well? / I can’t tell if it be only me) as he questions what he truly wants out of life and if he can accept the bad with the good, especially if there is more bad than good.
‘Homerton’ is one of those tracks on the album that you can tell Carner was sitting with his emotions in a late night studio session that forced him to vent to his journal. It has a melancholic, rainy day in the big city atmosphere created by a simple piano melody, throbbing drum patterns, and a faint trumpet solo in the middle of the song. In ‘Homerton,’ the rapper concentrates on fatherhood, understanding that being a parent does not mean being perfect. Carner accepts that being a parent is one of the greatest practices of patience and love, which gives him some idea of his own father’s dilemma. It ends with a powerful statement by Carner, “My dad told me this one thing and he said… / Sometimes… The parents need their kids more than the kids need their parents.”
Carner then begins to contemplate the world his son will have to deal with in ‘Blood on My Nikes’ and ‘Plastic’ expressing his fears as well as his acceptance of the world as it is. ‘Blood on My Nikes’ gives vivid, striking accounts of his childhood being surrounded by violence and the normalization of death. The trauma that he has from witnessing these acts translates to his emotions as an adult. He is paranoid about having a son who has to grow up in a similar predicament. ‘Plastic’ examines the superficiality of the social-media oriented 2020s society that we live in while also looking at his own participation in it.
‘A Lasting Place’ deals with the same topics of fatherhood as the songs that precede it and shows Carner coming to terms with the mistakes he will possibly make as a father. He acknowledges how hard it was for his own mother to raise a son who reminded her of the father who abandoned them (“Yeah, mother's love / I know it isn't what it is / I wished it was / The love is great / Yeah, to raise the man that you hate / Growing in the man that you make”). Even though the relationship between them may have been strained, the love was always there. Polyfilla’ finds Carner grappling with the highs and lows of life, essentially wondering if he is enough as a father, artist, and a human being. He strives to be this ideal person who always does right and has everything figure out, but realizes that the ideal is make believe.
In the album’s closing ‘HGU’, Carner seemingly forgives his father for leaving him, recognizing that his dad was caught up in the endless cycle of “hurt people end up hurting people.” This forgiveness is more so for himself than his dad, so that he can let go of the pain and end the generational trauma that has plagued his family.
Loyle Carner is one of those rappers who isn’t concerned with the braggadocious nature of his respective genre, but his ability to let us into his personal life without risking his privacy. Delivering introspective lyrics is his niche, and with this album he continues to find his place in the rap world. It might be too soon to say this, but hugo could be Carner’s To Pimp a Butterfly. Both albums confront the world and themselves in a way that a lot of artists struggle to do. With this being his third release, it might be safe to say that this is his magnum opus. However, hugo is simply a taste of what’s in store. Only Carner knows what other magic he has to let us in on.
Alana Brown-Davis
★★★★★