Picture this: a dimly lit rural suburb street and a gold, early 2000s Ford Taurus hotboxed to hell. We are in Westwood, Kentucky. For those who don’t know, Westwood is a rural suburb of Ashland, Kentucky. Located just southwest of the city, Westwood is the home to Fairview Independent Schools, the alma mater of the artists featured in this article today.
Back to the scene. We see a few teenagers, spitting funny raps over silly beats they found on YouTube. The name was CakeGang. Two of these teenagers would become dedicated to perfecting the art of rap music. One of these teenagers, plagued by the addiction that has torn our region apart, left this world in his mid-20s and left a long-lasting impact on the other.
Blending cloud rap with introspective lyrics about life as a 20-something black father in Westwood, David LaReau has hit the ground running with his debut album 44’s and Sad Songs, named after and dedicated to his late best friend, Chris Brewer, also known as VISION. In this expressive and creative album, we heavily explore themes of death, loss, longing, and nostalgia.
The first track on the album is “TIME” and comes in with a heavy boom-bap beat and a killer bassline. In this song, LaReau discusses his encounters as a teenager experimenting with drugs and teenage hedonism, and the different choices that led to different outcomes for him and his friends.
Over a wavy beat, in the second track “Euphoric”, LaReau explores themes of feeling isolated and yet content as a young father and husband after having eliminated the drug-fueled lifestyle from his life.
Tracks three and four feature recordings from the late VISION. “Flashy” is a hype song, boasting braggadocio over a modern beat. “Speedin’” comes in with a dark industrial-style beat, and we hear more stories of a wild lifestyle and a sense of personal power.
VISION’s rapping is very reminiscent of SUICIDEBOYS and I liked his addition to these songs. His existential lyrics are chilling in retrospect and contribute to the entire vibe of the album.
After a brief interlude featuring a recreation of the phone call in which he received the news, we go into “out of my mind”, a highlight of the album featuring a psychedelic beat and a dense lyrical display. LaReau reflects on his emotional wellbeing and the ways in which he manages to stay strong in hard times. He also ponders on the passage of time, contributing to the overall feel of an anxiety that he is trying to convey. LaReau asks a question that we’ve all asked at some point: Why can’t I just get outta my mind?
The seventh track, “Drink?”, is a piano beat resembling a Late Registration-era Kanye West. In this song LaReau expresses feelings of regret and sadness over his withdrawal from a lifestyle with drugs, and the culmination of that being not calling his best friend enough while he had the opportunity to. LaReau raps about the passage of time healing his wounds, and at the same time questions what his life would’ve been like had he stayed in that lifestyle.
With a really catchy rapped hook, “Drink?” is another high point on the album. LaReau tells of the CakeGang days and the blissful ignorance of being a teenager, and the longing for those days. He questions whether or not he should drink for his late friend, when drugs are what took his friend in the first place. These types of meaningful, existential questions really drive home the album for me. It’s impossible to know what could’ve happened in any given scenario, and the only thing we can do is move forward.
The eighth track, “Back & Forth”, features a verse from fellow Ashland rapper Taj Jamal, and the ninth track “No More” explores feelings of disassociation and dissatisfaction with the quality of his current life. LaReau discusses feelings of pressure and the weight of the world on his shoulders.
The tenth track “Make A Toast” is dedicated to friends that are no longer here. In this track, LaReau again expresses regret about his decisions and the feeling that he could’ve done more, but he ultimately decides to have a toast with the friends he still has in memory of those he has lost.
In the last track “Hope”, LaReau expresses his concerns about his ability to grow as a person and as an artist. On a jazzy beat, LaReau’s short verse packs a hard punch and ends with a saxophone sample and an anime sample about the power of overcoming struggle and the power of giving yourself hope. Ending on a positive note, 44’s and Sad Songs shows us that there can be beauty found in the darkest of situations.
Overall, I really enjoyed this album and the themes it explores. The album is very existential and lyrical, and that makes for a really emotional experience. There is a certain sense of emotion that you can feel in every word LaReau raps, and he does an excellent job of conveying his feelings on various subject matters.
Production-wise, the beats all sound very modern, and I can hear a lot of jazz influence, as well as some trap influence. Certain beats reminded me of Faces by Mac Miller. It’s almost like the inverse of that album; the experience of someone who made it out of the lifestyle rather than one who is trapped inside of it.
It’s a relatively short album, clocking in at just shy of 30 minutes, and because of this it flows very well. There is no filler on this album, it’s just straight bars, and that’s one thing I liked about it.
My personal favorite songs on the album are “out of my mind” and “Drink?”, and I would highly recommend this album for anyone who wants to get into their feels for a while.
You can listen to 44’s and Sad Songs on Spotify, Apple Music, and iTunes. What did you think of this album? Let me know in the comments!