In order for an album like NO THANKS to happen you'd have to say "yes" to a lot of things. Yes, to your own ability. Yes, to your own drive. Yes, to collaboration and teamwork. And yes, to your own vision. But Supa Bwe is only a "yes man" where it counts ie when it comes to himself.
The Westside Chicago MC and producer has crowned his latest LP with his guiding mantra. A simple but resounding phrase, "No Thanks." A defiant coda- one that he proudly displays over his shoulder so that he can see it as he's exiting the room and out of your life.
Supa Bwe's is not one to suffer fools lightly and that's why local luminaries like Chance the Rapper and Mick Jenkins want to appear on his tracks- they know that the environment he creates is a sucker-free zone, one where good creative impulses will be nurtured and the lackluster and derivative one will be shown the door.
Supa Bwe's 2017 full-length album Finally Dead was the last gasp of the sound he had previously become known for- an incisive variety of autotune turnt, effects-laden Soundcloud trap, somewhat in the vein of XXXTentacion and other artists popular in the mid-to-late 2010s. NO THANKS is less fractious than his previous efforts in many ways and it's this cohesion and consistency that gives Supa Bwe the breathing room he requires to fully embrace his talents as a singer.
He takes advantage of the affordances offered by the mixing and beat selection as early as the first and title track, where we find him belting out his lungs in front of a shadowy curtain of ghostly hums. The melodies and atmospherics of this first track tumble into the following "HELLCAT" like a landslide busting through the windows of a condo perched on the side of a mountain, with Supa Bwe riding the cascade of tumultuous melody and energy like a maudlin surfer, unwinding ribbons of dark text depicting his soiree with demons (both internal and external) in his gloomy, fateful wake.
Supa Bwe has an excellent singing voice and it never gets stale listening to him line up a phrase in one key only to witness him jumping several octaves in a single slicing motion before the line reaches its end. He's like a samurai- arching his blade up in a devastating skyward swipe.
While Supa Bwe's singing forms the core driver of NO THANKS, he does manage to explore other sides of his abilities in interesting ways. Chicago is an apartheid state in a lot of ways and the misery of this ongoing segregation is examined on the blasting punk-rap track "SERENGETI," wherein Supa Bwe channels the righteous anger and bombast of acts like Ho99o9 with the aid of the ever collected Mick Jenkins.
And in case you find yourself missing some of the Soundcloud era flows of his previous albums, you can find Supa Bwe unloading ripping triplets on the fly to eviscerate clout chasers and gold-diggers on tracks like "HOLLYWOOD," while elsewhere, autotuned and marble-mouthed vocal patterns make a triumphant appearance on the second to last track "YOU DON'T LISTEN."
Supa Bwe might have named this album NO THANKS, not just because it is an important phrase to his philosophy as an artist, but also as a way of keeping out the people who can't be real and aren't capable of appreciating what he is laying down. For everyone else, the title should be read as an enormous welcome mat. Come on in and sit down- Supa Bwe has something to show you and some stuff you're going to want to hear. Welcome to the club!
