Artist: Shawn Archer
Album: V.Cash Everybody Won’t Make It
Articulation: V.Cash
There have been many great artists to come from the city of brotherly love. Some of my personal faves came from Philly. You"ve got Beans, Freeway, Meek, Uzi Vert, Black Thought, Will Smith, Eve, Cassidy, Left Eye, The list is endless. There is a current new crop of artists coming from that city though, including PnB Rock and Tierra Wack, both are making heavy moves. The question I will pose to you is Shawn Archer destined to follow the same path as some of Philly’s Greats and newcomers?
Shawn Archer is a Philly born artist whose name has been buzzing throughout his city and several other major metro areas. He is signed to SKE records, inspired by the rapper Mase, and doing numbers with latest single ‘Power Couple.’ Shawn’s inspirations can definitely be felt in his music. You can feel a little bit if Ross, of course some Meek, and even a little Yo Gotti. He’s pretty brash and his music can be very braggadocious, yet he balances his topics on the album and can write a really good introspective track. He has that Philly style that you associate with rappers from Philly. It is not so much he sounds like Meek or Beans, but their cadences seem to have some similarities. You will hear it the moment you listen to “Ask Yourself” as he talks about who you want to be as a person. ‘Intro’ channels his inner Meek Mill as he talks about where he is from and drops a nice spoken word piece. Shawn literally speaking his life on “Spread My Wings” and almost in the same breath he talks about hustling to make money on “Hustler’s Prayer” and styling like a dope dealer on “Dope 2.0”. The features on his album "Venomiss" (“Ask Yourself”), D. Jones (“Hustler’s Prayer”), Winston’s Dog (“Kanye’s Ego”), and Mel Alston Jr. (“Spread My Wings”) all do a good job but none of them outshine Archer on his project. The production on the project is nice overall but there isn’t a wow moment, much like Archer’s bars. The productions fits Archer perfectly and overall sonically the album sounds good in any system, including the car. His songs are definitely catchy and you will find yourself singing along...see “Kanye’s Ego”.
All and All, Everybody Won’t Make It is a high quality project. It has ten songs but comes in a little on the short side at a little over 35 minutes. He is a varied artist that can do a plethora of things stylistically. Archer is one who is definitely worth checking out in the future. This release may not quite be the best thing to come out of Philly, as he claims to have the best album, but it’s definitely an great entry. I really do wish there were a few more songs. But in the era of shorter attention spans I can see the strategy here. There are also no skippable tracks, the album has a very attention grabbing quality. Literally, my biggest compliant is I would have loved to hear more introspective songs on his album. Shawn handles introspective very well. I would love to see Archer bar up one time on a track to prove that he is worthy of the best. He has the flow, he has good content, and his bars were cool. He might be a good one from the current class but to be the best coming from the city of Black Thoughts, Schoolly D, Meek Mill, Beans, and Free, Archer is going to have to bar up and challenge himself. Everybody Won’t Make It is definitely worth a listen and probably quite a few songs will be on repeat. He is worth the follow to see how he ends up and if his projections will come true. We're watching Shawn. Prove the doubters wrong.
Dope Tho Rating: 8
Key Dope:
Kanye’s Ego
This Song Is For You
Mad
Spread My Wings
Dope Tho Rating System
1-3 = Nope Tho
4-6 = Solid
7-9 = Heat
10 = Rated Dope Tho