Critic's evaluation
After announcing three singles in February, May and August, singer, songwriter and rapper Gustavo Nobio has announced Versocrático, his first EP. The material, which follows A Contundente Arte Das Rimas, his third studio album, presents the artist's impressions of the world, but mainly of the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro.
Taking on the persona of a radio host, Gustavo Nobio welcomes the listener with a melancholy white track. With a deliberately nasal tone, the singer lulls you into an easily digestible rap. Fluid and light, the melody proposed in Dialética Loquaz has an aesthetic that is capable of recalling, in the listener's memory, that provided by Gabriel O Pensador mainly in the songs on his album Quebra-Cabeça. With a good groove coming from the bass brought in by Lucas Victor Pereira do Nascimento's programming, Nobio, with his deep timbre and fiery notes, makes Dialética Loquaz, as rap demands, a song full of rhymes that, here, exalt the function and representativeness of rap as a rhythm that gives voice not only to repressed feelings, but a great means of freedom of expression about everything, about the world. Of course, Dialética Loquaz doesn't just highlight the importance of rap and hip hop culture. It is a work that, above all, condemns and criticizes the massive cultural manipulation of television drama in terms of what should be accepted or denied. The lack of a critical sense is the key point of this song, which has a simple but not subtle rhythm that is opinionated about society and about those who, at least in contract, are responsible for guaranteeing the population's safety and respect.
Sourer and more densely brooding, the new song that begins is brooding and even, in certain respects, tearful. With a more musical structure, it has more malleable verses and is not so absorbed in the aesthetic rigidity of rap. Even so, it remains the guiding principle. With a highly socio-reflexive slant, Mantendo A Firmeza features Nobio venturing into falsetto and dialoguing, or rather thinking out loud, about society as an instrument of hypocrisy and manipulation. Despite having the hook for discussion at that point, Mantendo A Firmeza is a song that motivates focus, persistence, self-confidence and the ability to remain lucid and inviolable in a world governed by interests of the most different kinds.
Beginning with an onomatopoeic refrain suggesting the song is in tune with the audience in the case of its live performance, No Drible Dos Reveses reintroduces that strong presence of groovy bass sonar employed in Dialética Loquaz and is dominated by a striking beat brought by Danilo Minarini. With an infectious chorus, No Drible Dos Reveses is surrounded by overlapping vocals that amplify the harmony while highlighting the dialectic not only about inequality, but about the lack of support and, above all, about simplicity in finding happiness. After all, this is an attribute that, if the individual is adorned with large doses of humanity and humility, can be found, guaranteed and assumed in the most unpredictable moments.
The rhythmic basis is initially provided by a linear and sequential phrase drum by Bruno Brecht. It's interesting to note that, right from the start, Antagônico is the composition with the best aesthetic so far on Versocrático. After all, in it the listener can perceive fusions of already standardized rap with elements of trip hop and chiptune. With moments of sudden stridency due to the sudden increase in Nobio's vocal range, the song presents simple and quick flaws in its equalization, but they don't take away from the merit of being, like Mantendo A Firmeza, an infectious and radio-friendly piece on the EP. Antagônico is a track that, as its name suggests, discusses falsehood and dual personality while trying to find the true essence of the individual.
Beginning alone, highlighting his nasal vocals, Nobio soon transforms Que Horas São? / V.P.R.N. into a track that, more than Dialética Loquaz, generously and comprehensively familiarizes itself with the rhythmic-melodic aesthetic of Gabriel O Pensador's works. With the reproduction of the tinkling sound of the triangle as the main element communicating its movement, the song is also contagious thanks to the velvety keys of the keyboard and the synthetic contribution of the caxixi. Also graced by overlapping vocals that expand the notions of harmony, Que Horas São? / V.P.R.N. presents Carnival as a curious, sudden and necessary respite from the sufferings and difficulties of routine. More than that, the track is an account of the day-to-day life of an ordinary person, who works six days a week to make ends meet and get rid of debts and lawsuits involving a drop in his own monetary chain. And the Rio-Niterói Bridge is the stage for this back and forth between work and home, responsibility and leisure, tension and tranquillity. Need and encouragement.
With a running time of just over 24 minutes, Versocratic manages to expose its socio-reflexive bias full of strong opinions. Opinions not just about life and the bureaucratic regime that surrounds it, but about the hypocrisy spread as something normal and natural in a community that is hostage to its own sense of responsibility.
As rhymed material, the EP easily manages to bring the listener into itself and insert him or her as a participant and active individual in the proposed discussions. It's not hard to see yourself formulating opinions through the monologic dialogues designed by Gustavo Nobio.
As a great achievement by the rapper, Versocrático manages to be emphatic, but not aggressive. Incisive, but not authoritarian. It's a product that, even without exploring extrasensoriality, manages to make the listener feel the burning heat of a summer sun in the middle of the streets of large urban centers in Rio de Janeiro. You can see yourself standing on a bus on your way to work and even feel the responsibility of the bills coming in and the anguish of not being able to pay them.
This is how Gustavo Nobio proposes thinking about routine, about people and about the government that shapes this day-to-day life. For this to work best, the rapper teamed up with Paulo Xytake, Leandro "LD" Souza and Brecht to mix the material. This is how the EP exuded its rap essence with dexterity, but also knew how to tread the terrain of trip hop and chiptune.
The only point to note is that, on Antagônico, there was a sudden imbalance of equalization at a certain moment when Nobio extended his vocal range. Even so, this doesn't detract too much from the EP's aesthetics.
Rounding off the technical scope is the cover artwork. Made by Nobio himself, it exudes simplicity and improvisation by presenting the singer's bust in full evidence. These are factors that permeate each of the five tracks of the material in an attempt to incite fullness in the individual.
Released on 09/18/2023 in an independent way, Versocrático is an EP that reflects on the routine of Brazilians and represents the common individual, their afflictions, anxieties and fears. It is a work that, despite being polite, offers strong opinions about society and its way of life, as well as, with all possible effort, trying to spread the ability to find happiness in the simplest things.
