Atlanta rapper Rome Fortune is a working-class MC, an independent artist who has paid his dues on the mixtape circuit, even if he’s still not a member of rap’s functional middle class. In an age of viral rap stars thriving on the Instagram snippet economy, Fortune has taken a more methodical approach, building a cult following over several years with his two-part Beautiful Pimp mixtape series and a host of collaborative projects, among them YEP with rapper OG Maco and EPs/tapes with local producers Dun Deal, Childish Major, and CeeJ (from the rap collective Two-9). You can hear the labor in his method, in the mechanics of how he puts his words together.
It’s fitting, then, that the self-titled Jerome Raheem Fortune focuses on his toils, from living in a motel with his single mother to paying back loans to missing the birthdays of loved ones due to the punishing schedule of life as an aspiring rapper. Fortune seeks to humanize and not deify, and this is the most personal he has ever been in his writing, with lyrics that are closer to journal entries than rap verses. The songs are at times almost uncomfortably autobiographical, a look behind the veil of moderate Internet-based fame: Fortune talks openly about family dynamics, being broke, and his entire life outside rap, everything from how he ended up with two baby mamas to how he plans to pay for his kids’ pull-ups. On "Still I Fight On," he establishes his priorities, summarizing with "Fuck an album placement/ I fought for survival." For him, rap is a means to an end; he believes himself to be a dynamic artist, yes, but he’s constantly got his eye on the bottom line.
This desire for financial stability and proud DIY mentality fuels everything Fortune does, and here he attempts to earn his keep narrating his life. Jerome Raheem Fortune builds on the sound of 2013’s Beautiful Pimp—quick-splitting, electronic-leaning productions with snug verses that lean heavily on charismatic vocal performances, songs actively seeking to buck Atlanta trap trends—but he’s never gone this far out. The dark, coke-powered "Heavy as Feathers," which whirrs like a UFO desperately trying to stay afloat, clicking and clanging and breaking apart, is the centerpiece for his sound-warping escapades. When the experimentation works, there are songs like "Past Future," a collapsing multi-tone palace that pairs his best writing ("The writing on the wall was a movie script") with his most captivating rapping.
Rome Fortune’s strongest attribute is his comfort with virtually any production, and that serves him well on the constantly-shifting Jerome Raheem Fortune. There are lush, blooming tracks scattered thought ("Alone Tonight" builds slowly and woozily before switching dramatically into a strutting riff; "Find My Way" false starts into trickling synths), and he’s good at finding the open space despite all the continuous movement, sliding in and out of the grooves with intimate admissions. But while Fortune bares his soul, he isn’t a particularly gifted wordsmith and some of the storytelling gets muddled a bit because of it. Still, he’s an exceptional performer and overcomes his limitations with sheer energy. Jerome Raheem Fortune is the work of an artist who is still figuring it all out, a flawed but ambitious art piece that’s the culmination of several years of growth.
