Album Review: Grieves Redefines Anxiety As A Reason For “Running Wild”

The beauty and importance of Hip Hop is that it discusses the dilemmas and discrepancies of society. The greatest Hip Hop Legends from Tupac to Nas, spoke about the pain of feeling worthless to the world and, at times, to your self. Now more than ever, the weight of skin, gender, religion, and class as social chains is dragging people down into depressions. Grimes Running Wild bops and beats between the temporary joys of arrogance and the long, winding attacks of sheer panic.

When it comes to anxiety, there can be a million triggers to how it shoots into your mind and spirit, but, at it core, panic comes from a feeling that you are being less than the most you can be. Whether it is society or your soul and whether it is in or out of your control, feel like proper questions that fail to give comforting answers. “RX”, “No Seep”, and “Faded” feel like sonic and lyrical clips have been placed over your eyes, and are forcing you to SEE. For Grieves, fear is like a brutal, forced awakening: it shows you that you are not being your best while making sure you do not achieves it. Addiction, heartbreak, and poverty are like “The Three Enemies”: an unholy trinity that form to make Grieves spit rhymes of of fired rage, pain, and, at times, apathy. “Levees”, “Gutz”, and “Bonnie And Clyde” are sonic, display cases to Grieves desire to either turn out or turn off, but “Healing?” sounds like something too hard to to turn on. You cannot blame him. The way he describes pain as if it is an unwanted, annoying, and never leaving “house-guest” helps you understand how invasive anxiety is to how we function as human beings and dreamers. It is clear Grieves wants to rise in the world, from “Postcards” to “5000 Miles”, but he his battling between an impulse to self-destruct and a willful desire to be resilient. Yet, as a listener of his and lover of Hip Hop, I have to respect that the Seattle rapper has traveled the world and created 5 studio albums, but still is lyrically relevant to the suffering of others. At times, as rappers grow and become more successful, their initial verses on human struggles transition into human excess. Yet, “Night Shift” and “A-Okay” show that life never gets emotionally easy, but you have to get better at it.

Of course, sonically, I support/ love Running Wild. This unabashed, Hip Hop mixes with electric synths and bludgeoned basslines that show how frenetic and fiery this genre is at its cored. Yet, its sounds of slapping keys. hummed organs, romantic tones, and pounced drums are also symbols of Grieves desire to get mindful and be genuine. From relationships to self-reflection reflection, Grieves wants to feel at peace, and uses Hip Hop as way to find spiritual serenity. Add on that Greives’ flow is always like a gust of breezed charm; billowing through your ears as if the car, known as your mind, is rolling down the windows to feel the wind from its drive. For More Information On Grieves And To Buy Running Wild On August 25 Click Here.