Music Review: Reflection – Derek Minor

One Man In The Middle brings you regular, unbiased and honest reviews of music albums and EPs from Christian artists and musicians in the UK and worldwide. Here we have Reflection by Derek Minor with an overall review score of 7.8 out of 10.

Album Information:

The appeal of southern Hip Hop has long been country vernacular over crunk beats that keep heads bangin’ and bodies movin’. While the head bangers and dance anthems haven’t ceased, in recent years, authentic Hip Hop and true lyricism have taken a back seat to commercial success. In steps Pro; while not on a mission to resurrect real southern Hip Hop–having been redeemed and commissioned to influence the culture–Pro certainly brings a nostalgia for what was and a hope for what is to come, as part of a greater movement infiltrating Hip Hop with a powerful message.

Review:

This is a 14 track album from Derek Minor and there is no doubting that he’s got a theme running through his 6th studio album. It’s about identity because many young people, particularly Christians are suffering from an identity crisis. In an interview with Rapzilla Minor said “People, they don’t value themselves, they don’t value others, they don’t value family… Everyone has an identity crisis, and I wanted to contribute to that conversation with the record to say, ‘Nah, you were made for greatness. You weren’t made for no reason. You aren’t an accident. You weren’t just an afterthought by God. He made you, crafted you with an amazing purpose,’ and that’s the whole idea of the album — reflect God, reflect greatness”.

“Look At Me Now” is an unapologetic discussion of his life and why he is doing what he is doing, it’s about Jesus, it’s about who we are in our relationship with Him. There are lots of Biblical references he say” I talk about God and how we kings and he live in us”, there are references to the Psalms and amongst these references there are other feats of wordplay referencing in this one track “Everybody Love Raymond”, Avengers, X-Men (and Marvel genius Stan Lee) he also includes social things like violence towards young black males in the US, but also the videos that have been uploaded of the violence just to get webviews. However this is undeniably about faith and that Derek’s life is lived to the glory of God.

There is more social critique that comes along in “Hold Up” where he discusses the emptiness of the music industry and the encouragement he has had to “sell out” and to rap about other things than God. “You Know It” is a really positive message about the newness found in Christ and the encouragement to find it for yourself. This is catchy with one of those beats that gets you nodding in time to the bass drum. “Until I’m Gone” is a bit of a confession that life is difficult, not just for the rapper, but it is seeing people in need and hurting that keeps him going. This track features a nice old-school style hip-hop beat and features BJ the Chicago Kid and works well as a track. There is more of this pain and difficulty in “Things Fall Apart” but this reminds us that these are the times when we call on God, and remember where God has brought us from.

“Believe It” is a challenge to the comfortable middle-class churches and artists that have sold out the message and don’t take Gods love where it’s needed. This is a powerful track to those who are comfortable with their Sunday Christian life. The themes are reinforced time and again in new and different inventive ways. “Judo” does a great job with some clever lyrics, mixing up the pacing and alternatively bringing aggressive style and then aggressive sounding beats. “Change The World” which features the fantastic Hollyn and works really well to reflect glory back to God.

There are some tracks that don’t work so well, “Love Go High” for example doesn’t feel like it fits with this collection, “Real Ones” also didn’t do much for me either.

Overall this is a good solid collection and it just leaves the album to be summed up in “Greatness 2.0” which reminds us to reflect greatness, and we were made for greatness. “The world is broken I know it, I believe God the mechanic / We are tools to change it all, he even uses the ratchet” is a sample of how Derek Minor puts together his lyrics. They are simple but have some great meaning. I love how accessible the language is throughout this album. There are plenty of cultural references that I got and was proud of, but there were plenty more that I am sure that I missed too. However what is important is that this is a challenging release, there’s a lot to unpack here, if you have the time to spend. Each listen uncovers something new and there is an inventiveness to the music that keeps you coming back for more.

For track listing & snippets, ranking breakdown and more, check out onemaninthemiddle.com

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