Halfway through As God Intended, on the ominous static-flecked storytelling track “12 Hours,” the Buffalo-area MC Che’ Noir mistakenly winds up murdering a man she suspects of cheating on her with a friend. In reality, the unlucky soul was simply consulting with said friend about buying Che’ a ring, which the Hennessy-fortified Che’ subsequently finds in his pocket after shooting him with a gun she’d taken from his safe. “Fuck, I gotta get the fuck out of here,” she whispers at the end of the track, before hightailing away from the bloody scene. The grisly vignette is an apt summation of the world Che’ depicts in her music, where violence and relationships intermingle with themes of betrayal and loss.
On the surface, there’s often a wild violent streak to Che’s rhymes on As God Intended, which she delivers in a smooth and unhurried monotone over beats by Detroit-based producer Apollo Brown that trade in alluring mid-tempo melancholy. As an MC, Che’ delights in killing her foes without remorse. On the album's opening song “Anti-Social,” which is carried by soothing piano and a classic breakbeat, she comes packing “bullets big as tennis balls” and calmly warns, “I put rappers in cemeteries/Then go to your wake and autograph your obituaries.” Later, on “Worth Gold,” she politely informs us, “I keep a blade that I use just to cut the tongue of a snitch.” But just like last year’s The Thrill Of The Hunt 2 project, which was entirely produced by Rochester’s 38 Spesh, As God Intended has a depth that reveals Che’ as a savvy and earnest lyricist, adept at linking dramatic scenes to the wider socio-political shackles that might prompt them. She's also unafraid to add vulnerable autobiographical flashbacks to her writing, as she delves into her family and upbringing.
“Daddy's Girl” emerges as a key to understanding Che’ as she gazes back on the psychological effects of a childhood without a dependable father figure. “Look, black complexion, bad and reckless in my adolescence/’Cause I was young the first time I seen my dad arrested,” Che’ recalls before reflecting, “Too young to comprehend it at that time but now I’m old enough/To understand the damage from his absent presence growing up.” On “Money Orientated,” she pries further into the effects the criminal justice system can have on the dynamics of a household, musing over a pensive piano loop, “I got family that’s behind walls and they caged down/Went in a Christian, now it’s Allah when he pray now/That’s when I realized jail or death is where this money don’t matter/Can't buy my way into heaven when He judging me after.”
A lot of rappers are skilled at describing the immediate world around them, whether that’s growing up on hardscrabble streets or flaunting the excess of the glamorous life. But on As God Intended, Che’ aims higher, subtly spotlighting how the various factors of her environment and experience—single parenthood, blighted neighborhood blocks, the prison system, religion and family values—all connect and influence each other, for better or worse. It’s an emphasis that turns the album into a persuasive reminder of the rewards that come with striving to paint the bigger picture.
Buy: Rough Trade
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