North Carolina wordsmith MESSIAH! quietly reinvigorates the Southern hip-hop sound with the convicting and highly confessional album, ‘the villain wins.’

Stream: ‘the villain wins’ – MESSIAH!

How much does a good night’s sleep cost… How much to cure my weed cough and keep my dreams and thoughts from telling me it will be alright.

Storytelling in hip-hop is nothing new.

Decades of hip-hop history feature rappers boasting vivid stories of their personal experiences, but rarely do we hear an artist so adept at detailing the inner workings of their thought bubble.

Enter MESSIAH!, a young, up and coming rapper who wears his heart on his sleeve and excels at finding purpose in his expression. The rapper welcomes you into his soul on his newest album, the villain wins (August 2, 2024 via Noble Music), a dark, thoughtful project which finds MESSIAH! ruminating on religion, masculinity, and identity and the harrowing effects they have on the psyche.

the villain wins - MESSIAH! — the villain wins – MESSIAH!

God got my clock hands handcuffed
One phone call, he ain’t even answer…
No commissary coming
No honor in the judge

With a strong and innovative work ethic, the alternative rapper has spent the past few years garnering a following in the Charlotte, North Carolina underground. Boasting a laid back flow akin to MIKE or Earl Sweatshirt, MESSIAH!’s delivery brims with gruff, poignant conviction amidst well-crafted storytelling and clever wordplay.

Every time I fell on my sword
I cut a layer and grew up some more

the villain wins clocks in at a smooth run time of 30 minutes, none of the album’s 10 tracks overstaying its welcome. While MESSIAH’s lyricism is often on point, the album’s production is also in need of a shoutout.

The series of lush, moody, and washed out hip-hop instrumentals are bittersweet yet immersive, perfectly matching the artist’s darker sentiment while consciously toeing the line between artistic and trendy. While the album sports a somber tone, a bulk of the music is melodic, catchy, and impressively accessible; and rest assured knowing MESSIAH! does not skimp on the bangers.

The bass-heavy lead single “burden of truth” features a bright, smooth-as-hell throwback groove which masks a confessional tale about using drugs to remove oneself from the stresses of reality. The criminally short neo-soul cut “in the mourning” features an anecdote of the rapper “praying for his backbone” as he forces himself to be responsible and work a temp job. Closer track “god’s fav” is a bright, synthy trap cut which taps into the album’s religious sentiment alongside a catchy feature from vocalist Vayda and a fun series of MESSIAH’s most braggadocious bars yet.

I got a dance date with my fears
I got an ashtray for my tears
I got the burden of truth in my hands

Though short and a bit understated, the villain wins does nothing if not leave an impression. Remaining deeply personal, the album succeeds at delivering a message that is complex and honest without sacrificing the music’s relatability. Through stellar production, catchy flows, and top notch lyricism, MESSIAH! has proved his worth to underground hip-hop and carved a patch towards a bright future.

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