Castle is refreshingly a bit of an anti-cool. He kind of sounds like a deadbeat sometimes, and while heâs been written up as penning âI donât give a fuck music,â thatâs just his gritty front. Prior to signing with and releasing an album on Mello Music Group last year, he was also relatively quiet. Return of the Gasface is a testament to the label again as well, not only for commissioning some smart internal matchmaking, but also for believing in the rapperâs Gasface to begin with. That album, which appeared on HipHopDXâs The Top Projects We Missed list last year, was his self-produced debut for MMG. The Return is welcome, though it flips the original into much more than a remix, as Castle has pocketed the lyrics and returned to the booth for Has-Loâs production. The effect is that it is a new original, and beyond the prospect of simply promoting a second run, itâs arguably a better introduction to the rapper than the first.
âLighten Upâ is one of the early and better glimpses of Castleâs knack for rattling off somber introspection. Has-Loâs production is mostly anchored in chopped up Soul, but here he builds a horn and piano loop thatâs both smooth and menacing. âThe story of my lifeâs about nothinâ / Love is the red herring / Money is the MacGuffin,â Castle raps in his forward baritone. Itâs references like that film trope, highbrow but left behind with ease, that the rapper himself imitates criticism for on âFindalivinâ (âTrue your shit is hard but itâs way too inaccessibleâ). On that song, a smoother and more characteristic example of the albumâs music, Castle hones in on the feigned criticism. âPop rappers chastising, claim that I donât stack enough / Art rappers chastising, claim that I donât tap enough / Potential,â he raps before alluding to similar industry âback and forthâsâ as âprobably why Jay Electro moved to Bristol.â Obviously itâs hard to believe either Pop rappers or Art rappers are chastising Castle as they arenât aware of him yet. But if they were (and if they cared), that is probably a fair takeaway. Beyond his technical skill, Castle is full of weird personalityââhugging the blockâ and slacker intellectualism at the same time.
Throughout the album Castle jumps from full-out concept songs that suit his awkward obscurityâimagining himself as a Punisher-like figure on a gritty Hip Hop scene on âBallad of Frank Grimesââto broke down relationship woes on âAll That Counts.â Transitioning from the sample fodder to synthy minimalism, the song is a highlight of the rapperâs unexpected openness: âCall herself âboredâ so sheâs packing up and leaving / Never cheated / Always given you respect, and thatâs a weakness?â There are a couple tracks that fall flat in comparison like âWe Here Though,â with both verses and production served up with less character. Still, with the project jumping around, itâs hard to put too much weight on a couple skippable efforts.
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The Return also isnât overly bogged down or ambitious in its scope, even when it gets tense. Castle has a zany irony about himself and the world that allows him to broach bleakness without taking himself too seriously. Itâs a rewarding listen with much of his dark humor and meditation bubbling beneath, quirks and clever turns of phrases always around the corner. Because of the re-approach thereâs an obvious chemistry and versatility to the producer/emcee duo, and the revisit was absolutely worth it. Castle is the good kind of unknown as heâs fully realized as an artist. At least artistically, Mello Musicâs bet has paid off. If either the rapper or the album fail to gain much traction, itâs easy consolation that heâs not fitting in for all the right reasons.