Mt Vernon’s Aaqil Ali is making a name for himself amongst the industries new pool of Mcs. Writing rhymes since the age of 12 he’s been showcasing his lyricism, diversity, and consistency. Ali touches on a range of topics in his music, from his childhood, parenting, and social commentary. He’s now adding to his already impressive catalog as he returns with “Pastel Blues” produced by PA. Dre. The producer also has an impressive resume.
Aaqil brings synergy with the Memphis born Northwest, PA raised producer who has worked with the likes of Inspectah Deck, RJ Payne, Rome Streetz, and more. PA sites this album as a passion project that he’s had in the works. An interesting detail is the album was created using all Nina Simone samples. PA picked the perfect artist to bring this project to life as Ali is very skilled, authentic and is open to different sounds.
Aaqil and PA collaborated to make an exceptional album with variety in the production and songs. The album opens up with “Young Gifted Black” ft Bojustice where they speak on dealing with hardships, losses and prevailing. On “Plain Gold” ft The Son of Tony they talk about what freedom means to them and PA brought a change of pace on the track. “Just Human” ft Rome Mallory is a track many can relate to, which focuses on being imperfect humans. The chorus is very fitting.
“Spell On You” PA does another great job flipping the sample. Ali lived in the beat delivering a captivating chorus and charismatic delivery with his verses. The duo pushed the boundaries with “Feeling Good” PA managing to make a drill sound with the sample is incredible. Aaqil displaying he can rap on this type of beat without speaking on the usual controversies such as “opps” or making death threats, all while using the same cadence.
It’s clear Aaqil Ali & PA. Dre curated this album with passion, no microwave music; it’s well thought out and executed flawlessly. The album covers different topics, moods and the mesh with the vocals adds another element to the songs. The Mc & Producer collectively brought their A game.