Steve 'Flash' Juon“Nothingness was once my everything.”
In this world we all deserve the chance to express ourselves. Lil Sac has gotten his on “Psychopath Returns” and that’s entirely fair. Deserving the chance to say what you feel is not the same as deserving to be appreciated as a good artist though. Listening to “Ashes” I was overwhelmed with sorrow for myself and anybody else unfortunate to stumble across it. The beat is acceptable enough — a nice clapping set of claves sets off a quiet melody well. Unfortunately the lethargic way Sac speak-raps his lyrics completely ruins it. Even sorrowful words like “drowning in the undertow of my grief” fail to make an impact, not simply because he didn’t give a shit about his delivery, but because he didn’t give a shit about how cleanly his vocals were recorded. The singing at the end doesn’t help.
This is exactly the type of thing that makes it difficult to write critical reviews. I sense that Lil Sac is a genuinely depressed individual by the title and presentation of tracks like “anguish,” and as someone who has been down in a dark place myself, I certainly don’t want to say something that would push a struggling individual over the edge. I also owe it to the audience though to be honest about what I’m hearing here though, and the simplistic guitar chords combined with the God awful crooning are not a pleasant experience. I’m pleased Lil Sac got to say what was on his mind but I don’t enjoy hearing it.
The most positive experience I had here was “Needles” and that owes entirely to whatever jazz break he and/or his team looped the saxophone from. I have a soft spot for that sound that dates all the way back to 1980’s pop music, so while the morose and downtrodden bars of this sad Sac are absolute drivel, they’re at least listenable in this case.
“Psychopath Returns” is a cry in the darkness, the yowl of a wolf yearning to be heard. Unfortunately at the end of the day it’s just a loud noise of sound and fury that really signifies nothing, but at least for Lil Sac’s sake he got to express himself to an audience of more than himself. I hope it was enough.