the triumphant highs and lows of rapper curty's debut ep 'transyldelphia'
By Grace Niemiec
In his newest release, rapper-producer Curty brings the listener on a tour of his dark mental state. It’s filled with doubt, worry, angst, and, much like the debut EP itself, highs and lows.
The Philadelphia musician, whose real name is Curtis McDevitt, kicks off his project leading with his most unique asset: his creative production. The title track (which also acts as the first) is by far the highest point of the EP, with its witty use of production to portray the complexities of McDevitt’s emotions. The song features the emotive plucking of a dulcimer, a four-stringed guitar-like instrument. The dulcimer and its respective production work very well with the raw feeling of McDevitt’s lyrics. Just as McDevitt reflects on his innermost insecurities in a relationship, he covers the expression of it with fog-like production. Eventually, the tension built up is released and the production shines through with crisp and clear vocals, reminiscent of groups like BROCKHAMPTON. This is just in time for McDevitt to hit us with the song’s hook: “Every time I touch you fall away / Don’t forget about me now.” This track is short, sweet, and honest without being brutally specific. It’s just what an intro track should be: an introduction to the project’s tone.
However, McDevitt fails to follow this track up effectively for much of the project. While his creative production style follows into tracks such as “Worry”— a gritty song filled with thrashing guitars and clanging metal— the remainder seem to fall short. The production of tracks such as “Magic” and “Sixtythree” feel starved of the creativity that McDevitt has clearly demonstrated he possesses earlier in the project. The instrumentals feel like a tedious loop of progressing chords, causing the listening experience to lose entertainment and, more importantly, replay value. The lyrics do little to reel the listener back in. “Magic”, specifically, brings little to the table, with McDevitt seemingly repeating the same generic bars about how his girl is ‘magic’ far too many times. What’s frustrating is that he’s shown that he can express unique emotions on the title-track, but it seems that his lyrics fizzle throughout the body of the EP.
Be that as it may, the final track, “Newnightmare”, somewhat redeems a bit of McDevitt’s earlier flaws in terms of lyrics. In the eleventh hour, he digs deep into personal experiences, citing his childhood and relating it to his current issues. In terms of production, the track acts as almost a part two of the title track (including that unique dulcimer sound once more). Despite McDevitt’s talent for creating an excellent intro and outro to his project, this concluding song does have one flaw. On a personal basis, this short-running track feels as though McDevitt has let his artistic inspiration get the best of him, being significantly similar to BROCKHAMPTON member Dom McLennon’s delivery on his popular verse on the group’s song “MILK.” McDevitt cites BROCKHAMPTON as one of his core production influences and he pays homage to the group’s production style in the opening track respectfully, mixing it with his own talent for production to make a product that is influenced by the group, but not crossing into the derivative. “Newnightmare,” however, was a hard track for me to get past, as it took the influence a bit too far.
Despite this hiccup, it goes without saying that Curty is someone to watch going into 2020. This is only his debut, and while his production influences may lean a bit towards derivative at times, in songs such as “Transyldelpia” and “Worry”, he proves that this is not the common case. I look forward to keeping an eye on his development and it’s most definitely worth it to continue following his future projects because, by what he’s delivered in just this debut EP, he has a lot of emotions to share and a creative way of doing it.