ROADMAN Sincere Hunte
Unexpected. There’s a huge number of underground and independent artists from out the South and higher concentrations as you move from state to state and city to city. From Fayetteville, NC, yet based in Nashville, TN, Sincere Hunte delivers his project, ROADMAN. The project follows the story of a young rolling stone and how he traverses love, family and life at large through forward movement. Some hooks resound like mantras.
Life don’t got no brakes, we keep pushin’ / I don’t waste time, I take what they couldn’t / Pray before I sleep, we keep pushin’.
There’s a grainy, basement aspect to his delivery that is represented on “EXOSHAPER” with a feature from Ronin Black where they take turns flipping words similar to a cypher. Remnants of what we used to get from Tyler, The Creator, Earl Sweatshirt back in the early/mid 2010s. A distortion in production and voice allures the listener to get a deeper glimpse. It’s not a lazy delivery but a nonchalance that comes off as a, “this is just what I do and I do it well.”
It’s an interesting album that caught my attention because there are so many aspects of it that were like charting uncharted waters. It was illuminating in the sense that it goes from an underground/punk feel that meets Hip Hop in the south to moments of dance like, “CARRIED AWAY (4U).” It works well for Sincere Hunte because the various and fusion of sounds absolves any soundscape expectations. Even with “DJ GIRL” it starts off sounding like a song that is almost a modern Beach Boys track with a feature from $avy. There’s a lot sonically to keep the listener entertained and wanting to know more about the artistry and the mind that created this body of work. When more ears hear this I can’t imagine them not wanting to elevate this artist and sound further. Future is very bright for Sincere Hunte.
“TIL THE END” featuring Mike Floss is another standout track - the lyrical content and pace of the production coupled with one of Nashville’s finest. A journey with flavor, fly and not too much flash. “SUN RUNNER” is a beautiful track. devin. has a great feature but it’s in the soul of the production and content of lyrics. “ANYTHING I CAN GIVE” another notable track purely off the production and the manner he raps over / with the track. There’s also a switchup mid-song that is brilliant because of the interlude before the production morphs. It works so well that you think that the song changes but it’s all the same track. Made me reminisce about the 2000s where artists would put 2 tracks as 1 song or just create a drastic change up.
“I have found both freedom and safety in my madness; the freedom of loneliness and the safety from being understood, for those who understand us enslave something in us.” - Kahlil Gibran, The Madman Sincere Hunte reads / recites at the end of “ROCHAMBEAU”
Words can only convey so much. In order to get the full essence spin it a few times. True diamond in the rough.
Words by Jameka Released: February 17, 2023 Region / City: Fayetteville, NC / Nashville, TN