Mercury - tabula rasa
Image courtesy of fabianamando.
tabula rasa is the forward-thinking, mold-breaking 10-piece album from bustling Atlanta artist Mercury. It is her second project to date, following her incredible 2021 release MERCTAPE. Released on April 20th, 2022, the Southern Hip hop album is packed full of elements and influences from Electronic, Reggae, Rhythm and blues, and many more genres. All of these sounds bring life to the already-vibrant personality and vocal performances of the artist, which shine through in a very fun and colorful way on each track. “Tabula rasa is a Latin phrase often translated as a clean slate in English and originates from the Roman tabula, a wax-covered tablet used for notes, which was blanked (rasa) by heating the wax and then smoothing it (source).” The Google definition of tabula rasa is “an absence of preconceived ideas or predetermined goals; a clean slate (source)” or “the human mind, especially at birth, viewed as having no innate ideas (source).” Why in the hell should I care? You may ask yourself. Well, at least in my interpretation, I believe that these definitions bring everything full circle. The project sees her talking about a range of topics. This includes a toxic relationship, and how it is consuming her time and state of mind. The many traumatic and painful losses that Mercury has taken on her journey to the point she is at now. The animosity that she has encountered along the way. All of these negative things have shaped her into the person that she is today; through the power of discipline, focus, and self-improvement, Mercury has overcome these challenges and gotten to a point in her life where she is at a more peaceful state of mind. She is focused on taking care of herself and the ones that she cares about, building herself and her wealth; self-medicating, spending time and conversing with loved ones, as well as rapping to unpack and cope with her pain and trauma. She has transformed herself and gotten to a point where she has a clean slate; tabula rasa.
RUNNING ROUND [prod. Chicken]
The first track of the project is upbeat and experimental, touching on a moody, even depressing subject—she is talking about the aforementioned toxic relationship. This one also has a very fun music video directed by her, shot by salimgarcia, and animated by harrisonwyrick that features 3 relation/situationships, all of which seem to be quite dysfunctional. This was also released as a single ahead of the album release.
500 DEGREEZ (feat. DavidtheTragic and Jelani Imani) [prod. Mercury and DavidtheTragic]
A nice, off-kilter cut with three distinctive features, two of which are from DavidtheTragic and Jelani Imani. They all have the same confident energy; focused on achieving goals and living their lives.
MATRIX [prod. Mercury and EvilGiane]
The album’s lead single, and the first track that I heard of hers. I was drawn in by the distinctive vocals—both the delivery and flow, as well as the cadence—the subject matter she touches on in this song, amongst many others, also interested me, as it is very introspective and emotional, but still fun. Additionally, the production on this track and her others is very left-field. The track also has a glitchy, The Matrix-esque music video directed by Richard Phillip Smith.
ON MY MIND (feat. Brodie Harvey) [prod. GlentheSaiyan, Bobby Getch, and Nephewhesh]
One of the project’s more smooth cuts, with a fluently-delivered verse from Mercury, and stellar, soothing vocalization from Brodie Harvey.
HEAVY [prod. Ethereal]
With a darker beat and more aggressive bars, this track brings a deeper vibe to the 10-piece which makes for a nice change of pace right in the middle of it.
CHIT CHAT [prod. Mercury and AYOCHILLMANNN]
This track is light and dreamy, with a more psychedelic feeling to it; this is reinforced by the third-eye-open lyrics, as she is talking about seeing past what is in her vision; wanting to achieve more for herself.
AS IT GETS [prod. Mr Weaver]
Positive energy. This track aggressively delivers it in a way that forces you to rejoice and vibe at least a little. This is done via the beat, which is lighthearted and funky. As well as through the grateful self-reflection and optimistic perspective that she displays in the song.
GEEKED UP [prod. Mercury and EvilGiane]
A trippy, spaced-out joint, with a floaty melody, clean vocal chops, a wonky synth, a heavy lead, snapping drums, and a hypnotic vocal delivery.
RUN IT UP [prod. Adafa Williams]
This song is hard and chilled-out. The melody and vocals are very deep and meditative, meanwhile, the bars, samples, and drums are hard-hitting. The topics covered on it are reassuring and uplifting.
RASTA PASTA [prod. Mercury and 454]
Closing up the project, this final song is fun and mellow, with a soundscape that creates a feeling of relaxation and good energy. The music video was directed by her and shot and edited by eoin.tm. Dropped the same day as the project, it is vibrant, seeing Mercury and her friends vibing out through a VCR camera, which is really cool.
All things considered, tabula rasa is a diversified collection of different sounds, which encapsulates many events that she has experienced, shedding light and looking back on them in a way that allows her to process and share the pain and trauma, but also not be held down by it; she uses this project as a vessel to move forward, ultimately cementing and manifesting her mindset and ambitions into a cohesive set of tracks that each has their own function and feeling, together creating a living machine that sees past, but does not overlook, the negative.
