Rome Fortune has worked alongside Chaz Bundick of Toro y Moi and had a couple of his tracks, from his Small Vvorld EP, produced by the musical demi-god Four Tet. There is the expectation that working alongside these giants of electronic melody-making would send Rome’s name spiralling through the soundwaves.
Starting with the modulation of a sweet organ-sounding chord progression and an auto tuned voice singing ‘I’ve got to take it all the way’, Fortune’s album promises an all-or-nothing sentimentality and candidly confessional, straight from the opener, ‘All The Way.’
This is a roar of a verse from a newcomer, telling the abundance of wannabes and big-timers, in the ever-expanding hip-hop genre, that he is not just a whisper at the shouting contest
Following this theme, ‘Blicka Blicka’ begins with a lo-fi melancholic orchestration before shifting to a menacing arpeggio. Fortune sings ‘They said “this shit would be difficult / To make it I needed a miracle” / But I did it, and did it without you / What d’ya think I’d amount to?’ This is a roar of a verse from a newcomer, telling the abundance of wannabes and big-timers, in the ever-expanding hip-hop genre, that he is not just a whisper at the shouting contest.
‘Dance’ is produced by Haitian-Canadian young DJ KAYTRANADA, a presence which can be heard on this track - it is imbued with synthesized funk. On ‘What Can You Do’ there is a sprinkling of A-Trak’s (owner of Fool’s Gold Records) potential influence on the album. The dense Trap basslines meld beautifully with Rome’s melodic reels of rap.
The final song ‘Find My Way’ leaves nothing left unsaid from the album. A tangy guitar riff is muddled among the heap of drum machine sounds. It frames a proper closure to the album, like the mirror of the album opener.
Rome Fortune is a chameleon rapper; he could blend in to any sound. The production behind Jerome Raheem Fortune ensures he doesn’t falter on the album that will stack his name in the lime-light.
4.5/5
Connor McDonnell