RandiVision is the San Bernardino-bred, now L.A. based Rapper who takes the foundations of West Coast trap and interfuses the new-age sounds of West Coast Hip-hop into productions that traverse over the boundaries of the monotonous sounds of Contemporary Radio.
Naturally, it wasn't uncommon to see the Cali rapper dabbling in the salacious stylistic territory of R&B with cuts like, "Balloon," from 2018, which sounded like a ghost-like rendition of Contemporary R&B from someone like The Weeknd.
With his confidence in identity and aesthetics, he still manages to develop his south-western Ingle Emcee-inspired potency on tracks like, "Call Me," from the same year. But his next steps in the music industry would reach more adjoining modern sonic lines that draw reminiscent to some of the South-West Trap sounds, with the single "AFAR," from May of this year.
Those sounds haven't wandered far from the amalgamating alternative-trap and hip-hop sonics of his latest anticipated record, "909," which is about to take the music industry by storm.
On this latest cut from the Victorville-raised rhymester stands cohesive in his recent trap aesthetic with a song like "Neva Be Owned," opening up the concentrated journey through RandiVision's spear-head record. Here, RandiVision takes the hard-pressed words, "I ain't no fuckin' slave," and "I will never be owned," as the hooking lines of his liberated boast about keeping his independence as his most valuable medium. There's booming 808 subs that act as the adhesive to this freedom escapade, with riffling hi-hats that pay homage to the trap aesthetic with a lump sum of 32nd note scatterings that indulges our tastes for all things drippy and find their way on almost every cut from this record. His voice warbles with a vocal effect that draws reminiscence to Travis Scott's 'ASTROWORLD' and the vocal processings that highlighted that album as groundbreaking.
Over the buoyant cadence of his lyrics, he describes his escape from the underworld and his rise over rap's dominions with a hammer over the chains of his authoritarian enemy's grasps.
The next track utilizes a similar influence from the previous, as "Airborn" comes swooping in with vacillating samples that cascade over the lively edges of this buzzing mix. Through uncanny airborne echos that shoot off the last words of RandiVision's stanzas with a kaleidoscope beam of sound that punctuates each of his adlibs with a Sci-Fi hue.
The production here is ornamented with a punchy backbeat that utilizes the oozing saturated crispiness of a sub-synth to affect our deepest core. It's another track that highlights this West-coaster's ability to sit comfortably amongst the kaleidoscope mixes he produces so effortlessly.
After this nostalgic detour settles, "The End" comes tip-toeing in and renders like the downshift in our flying saucer of mid-tempo singles. Here, earthy drums come festooned with a vintage muddiness that unmistakably mirrors some of the best hip-hop samplings of the Golden Era's past.
With a smooth swaggering narrative, RandiVision raps with a salacious flow that plunges into distorting transitional adlib digressions that punctuate his own fathomless introspections about our nation's state, giving us a moment to take in the sentiments he is expressing about the injustice befalling minorities in this country. He's asserted his distress with the status of the government before saying, "this country still has a lot of shit that needs to be corrected before it's too late," and "all I want from the gov is to keep it real with its people." So it's no surprise that RandiVision would touch base with the subject throughout "909."
"Options" comes next and as though it's playing straight off the demo-tapes of a Daniel Alan Maman—The Alchemist—produced track. RandiVision incorporates timeless samples here that sound like they were torn off of the vintage record we found at the local mom and pop record store down the road. A reoccurring pad plays the same monotonous drones, but somehow, it perfectly fits the rest of the saturated and antique-sounding sonics that RandiVison is swimming in like a veteran.
It's impossible not to get absorbed in the sense of wow and flutter as he buzzes over a mantra-like hook that renders up a classic call-back incantation from hip-hop's golden era; standing as a highlight in the variety of this young rapper's influence and style.
"Down the Road" uses oscillating and muted vocal samples as the booming primary engine behind that croons of our Cali-native's magnetizing hook, "you never really know, what's down the road, you just keep pushing for sure." It's an uplifting cut that takes source from the talents of the Illinois notoriety Producer performing on this track under the moniker "Aleks James," for a verse that devastates with its adhesive impact.
The album feels cohesive with most songs sailing on a bouncy trap-reminiscent beat production with an eclectic but well-fitting source of samplings. RandiVision reaches out and grabs at everything between hooking R&B inspired choruses and the West-Coast bellicose attitudes of urban hip-hop on this playback, and it's addicting, to say the least.
There are minimal missteps with "909," with "Flip," coming in as the highlighting single on this album. It's a production that adopts an infatuating horn sample's neo-jazz sound and incorporates a timeless saturation over the new-age lyrical slicing that RandiVision performs like a sushi-chef over the hook.
His manta here is garnished with muted adlibs that feel nostalgic about Isaiah Rashad's softened call-backs off of The Sun Triade's best moments. Even his aesthetic is more oozy and industrial with no modesty in distortion or ominous resoundings of, "I got money on my mind," that he incorporates around the corner of each hook. It's a vestment that suits him well and is already stuck in our heads as we pass along to the final cut, "Bravo."
RandiVision hasn't been precisely enthusiastic with utilitarianism throughout "909," with cuts at his competitors and naysayers festooning several verses in this album's playback. Still, this final cut proves that was never his prerogative; he has his own influence and sound in mind, and it's gotten him this far already, so he's not about to the change his views and style for the common-mass listener.
Here, on "Bravo," RandiVision teams up with his stage-sharing companion, KingShawn. The two rappers have been tight since their days of sharing the same stage at fashion pop-up shows on Melrose Avenue back in 2017, and we can feel the cohesion between the two influential rapper's minds between verse and hook. It's a thuggish escapade that spits out riffling stanzas about underground cashflow and crushing hooks that meander over ominous-sounding samples with wreath the enigmatic backgrounds of this cut with an individualistic sound. Lorde Sanctus adorns a hot-blooded verse on this track as a bonus, leaving us with an aftertaste that we are simmering over even as the final resoundings of RandiVision's magnetic top-line marks the exit sign to the prismatic sonics found within "909."
When we think back, this record stands as a clear sign of the trajectory RandiVision's career is about to take. He borrows with a connoisseur's ear from the alternative sounds of hip-hop and interlocks them together with the new-age vibe of the West-Coast trap. It's an exciting move forward for RandiVision, and we simply can't stop obsessing over the direction he's taking as an artist in L.A. right now.
Can you walk us through your mindset going into this record, and how you felt coming up to the final moments of its release?
My mindset was pretty simple going into this project. I wanted to release a quality project that would really set me apart from who I was before. I want to be sonically untouchable. I want to live where the greats are. To do so it takes time, practice, rest, and faith. I still have a long way to go but I’m headed in the right direction.
Do you think "909" paints a cohesive picture of who you are as an artist?
Honestly, I don’t like the word or use of “Urban Artist.” Theoretically, what does that even mean? And why is that acceptable? That’s just my opinion, I could take you down a rabbit hole but why? The greatest “ARTIST/MUSICIANS” have always been able to adapt to any sound, or genre and still make a significant impact. With the right combination of focus, practice, rest, and faith anything can happen. I feel I pushed myself in the right direction.