Hopsin joins NF on “LOST,” the final single before the album dropped, but the first with a feature. This choir sound is featured on each track on the mixtape and thus proves an importance to NF because of the “audience participation.” “See my initial thought was to wait / But what can I say? I had to come visit / Check on you guys, you doin’ alright? / Your year really sucked? Yeah, that’s what I figured.” Crafty verses like these read as an apology for being away, but an award for the audience for waiting.
As the glue that holds the album together, it only made sense for NF to add a choir as he raps, a metaphor insinuating his fans hold his music, and therefore his career, together. The song further develops NF’s newfound confidence while rejecting the idea that he “won’t go Hollywood”-reassuring fans his success hasn’t inflated his ego. Title track, “CLOUDS,” was delivered to fans a less than a month before the album was released. The Search consisted of themes surrounding his battle with imposter syndrome, but “PAID MY DUES” follows NF’s journey with confidence in the music industry and is seated as the last track on the album to leave the impression that this confidence is just beginning.
Lead single “PAID MY DUES” dropped nearly two years prior to the rest of the project, and promised a alternate direction than the one of NF’s fourth studio album The Search. Listening a year later, fans are reminded of what makes NF a timeless rapper and how far he’s come with his sound since the start of his career.
NF’s fifth studio album promotes a different sound without losing authenticity-a feat few can pull off-while still remaining relevant to his fans. After a three year hiatus in the music industry, Michigan rapper Nathan Feuerstein, known by his stage name, NF, released CLOUDS (THE MIXTAPE) early in 2021, a long anticipated album tackling self-doubt and loss.
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