Hello, everyone! Welcome to my first individual album review of 2023! Today, I’m reviewing the second studio album from MSN Rafiki, Be Holy.

One question I feel like I’ve been asked pretty often by friends and family is, ‘Simon, how do you discover albums you’re going to review?’ And there are a bunch of ways—sometimes it’s a huge mainstream release that you can’t avoid hearing about, and sometimes I’ll have to look for it by doing searches for new albums online, and I’ll often come across a lot of really obscure albums that most people have probably never heard of. And yes, I do typically lean more toward reviewing albums that are more well known, but I also think it’s good to support smaller artists, and over the last few months I’ve been reviewing a lot more really obscure music.

Where it gets more complicated is when I don’t really like an album by a smaller artist—and that happens a lot. Often when I listen to something less obscure it’s because I’ve seen/heard things about it that make it seem up my alley, and it’s harder to find genre descriptions, popular consensus, etc. when it’s a much more obscure album, which means it’s harder for me to decide which ones to listen to as I’m more likely to listen to albums I actually think I’m going to like.

And when I don’t really like an album by a smaller artist, there is a part of me that feels bad for posting about it online … but at the end of the day I hope my reviews help smaller artists’ music get discovered by more people, regardless of whether or not I personally like the music. At the end of the day I’m just sharing my own personal feelings on the albums I review.

So, there’s a good chance you’re thinking this is another one of those albums I randomly came across online when searching for new albums to review … however, that’s not actually the case. MSN Rafiki is the stage name of Zach Mereigh, who is a friend of mine in real life. And this is his second studio album, following up his 2022 album Reformed, which I listened to a few times before listening to this album, and … well, I especially hate to say this considering a friend of mine made the album, but if I’m being totally honest, I didn’t really like the album all that much; it’s not that I dislike it—I don’t—and he’s definitely got a strong presence behind the mic, but the instrumentals didn’t really do much for me, and some of the production held it back for me as well, with the way the effects on the backing vocals can be kind of distracting, and the percussion often felt clunkier than I would have liked.

Also, lyrically, that album is very, very Christian, and while I’m not here to judge anyone’s religious beliefs, as a non-religious person myself it made it harder for me to connect with, even though I respect the passion in the lyricism, especially with some of the more personal lyrics, including some about his own relationship with god.

Overall, while I don’t really like that album, there are some elements of it that made me excited to listen to his newest album, Be Holy. So, I gave this nearly a dozen listens …

And I think the first thing I should say is … well, considering I’m not religious, I can’t say I fully understand all the lyrics, and I’ll fully acknowledge that’s a me thing. And I will be talking about the lyrics in this review, but like with any album, my interpretations could be way off. And again, as always, these are just my own personal feelings on the album.

But even though I don’t fully understand the album, there is still a lot to like here, and I like it a decent amount more than his debut. That’s not to say I like everything about this album, because I don’t, but overall I mostly enjoyed this!

And the first thing I want to talk about is the production, which is probably the element here that I feel is most improved. It’s got a much tighter sound to it, with the backing vocals feeling less distant from everything else in the production than they did on Reformed, and I think it adds a lot here, helping the mix feel less empty without feeling too forced.

And the percussion sounds a lot better too if you ask me. It feels much more crisp when paired with the rest of the instrumentals, such as with the glossy keyboard on “Act So Bold” or what sounds like a plucked guitar melody on the title track. It really helps keep the stakes of these songs feeling high without feeling forced or anything. I often hear songs that feel like they’re going for a huge, epic sound in this style of music that just end up feeling like they’re trying way too hard, but on this album I don’t think that’s the case—and it’s not just because of the percussion, but also the way the instrumental timbres blend really well together as well as Zach’s great flows, which I’ll come back to later in the review.

And even aside from the production, these instrumentals also feel quite a bit less confined creatively, with some standout moments that I think fit really well within the context of these songs, such as the parts in “Rebels” when the percussion cuts out.

Now, with all that being said, what about the lyrics? Well, again, take what I say here with a grain of salt … but you can tell how much he cares about what he’s rapping/singing about just from listening to the album, and that’s a great thing! But while there are a lot of lyrics here that I really like, I’m going to start by talking about what feels to me like the elephant in the room. And that’s a line in “Bow Down” where he says, ‘They rub on youth’s faces that it’s okay to change gender, but I’m telling them we can’t mix up, we ain’t no blender.’ I’m not really sure what he meant by this line … I know he wasn’t intending to disrespect trans people—I know the guy in real life, and that would be very unlike him, and he even specifically said that wasn’t the intent—but this line does still rub me the wrong way, as it can sound like an anti-trans line regardless of what was intended. Again, I’m not really sure what he was trying to say here.

Now, I will say, though, there is some interesting commentary in “Bow Down” where he seems to be talking about the wrong things being glamourized, but also acknowledging how difficult it is not to be tempted to make decisions you know are bad.

And there are a lot of lyrics here that I really like, a lot of which are about his own relationship with Christianity and how important it is to him.

“Intermission” is a track I kind of can’t believe I like as much as I do, considering it’s not even much of a song. It’s pretty much just an interlude where he reads some quotes from the bible and then shares his own interpretations of them. I mean, it doesn’t sound like something that would appeal to me at all, but there are some really interesting things he says in it.

Now, with all this being said, there are more nitpicks here I could make, and while I do mostly like the production here, it’s also where a lot of those nitpicks are for me. For example, I’m not always a huge fan of the mixing here, and I’m mostly talking about the vocals not being as loud in the mix as I would have liked. A lot of these songs, such as “Act So Bold” or “Save Me”, feel like they’d hit a lot harder if the vocals sounded closer to the front of the mix; it’s something that I’ve noticed throughout a lot of the album that does take away from the anthemic feeling of these songs at least a little bit.

And there’s also “Rebels”, in which the bass sounds annoyingly boosted in the mix, and I don’t really like the stiff percussion on this track, either. And there are more nitpicks I could make about certain elements of the production sounding a little awkward—like a slightly airier sound than I would have liked in “Save Me” or the kind of clunky snare in the opening track—even though I do mostly like the production on this album.

But what about the rapping and singing? Well, I think it’s pretty solid! The flows are really well timed with these instrumentals, which really help with whatever mood the song is going for, whether that be the drama in “Save Me”, the ambition of “Act So Bold”, or the feeling of envy on “(Wanna Be) Just Like You”.

And I also really like a lot of the hooks here. The closing track, “Smoke On the Altar”, has a very moody feeling to it which is amplified by that eerie vocal melody in the chorus, and the synths in the background are a nice touch as well. And the repetition in the chorus of the title track is oddly catchy in a good way.

There’s also “Bow Down”, in which the featured artist, Lei, sings the chorus which sounds very Halsey-esque, and I’m saying that as someone who likes Halsey’s music probably a lot more than the majority of critics.

And I can’t forget to mention probably my favourite track on the album, “Act So Bold”, which has a really strong chorus with the timing of the vocals with the instrumental, and those strings sound really good! It’s got some of the best flows on the album, too!

So, overall … well, again, it’s an album that I don’t relate to nor do I fully understand it, and I could see an argument to be made that it could feel kind of preachy at points, with some specific lines at least … but for the most part, it doesn’t feel that way to me. It feels more like he’s just sharing his strong beliefs, and each listener can find their own meaning in it. I mean, it really depends how you hear it, but at the end of the day it’s a very religious album, and just like if I tell you how ‘good’ or ‘bad’ an album is, at the end of the day there’s no confirmed right or wrong answer.

So, when it comes to a rating … as always, I’m going to rate it based on how much or how little I personally like it, and in this case, I think a 6.5/10 feels fitting. Again, I’m not very religious, which I do think made it harder for me to get into this album, but there’s still a lot about this album that I like.

So, while there are some notable flaws in my opinion, I’d definitely recommend this album. Partially because I think it’s a pretty good album, but also … well, yeah, also because my friend made it, and I’m sure it would mean a lot to him if you take the time to listen to it. Of course, that’s up to you—if you think this doesn’t sound up your alley at all and you don’t feel like taking the time to listen, that’s totally fair—but to me, this opened up my mind a bit more to a kind of music I don’t usually listen to. I don’t think I’ll be going out of my way to listen to a lot of Christian music, but I guess you could say it’s given me more of an appreciation for it.

As always, thanks for reading my review. I’m honestly kind of surprised how much I ended up liking this album considering I wasn’t really a fan of his debut, but I’m glad I did. I mean, of course I especially want to give positive reviews when I know the artist and when the artist is going to read my review, but at the end of the day I’m going to treat it like another review and be honest about my feelings on the album. I don’t think his debut album is bad, but to quote this album, ‘If we didn’t know what was bad, how could we know what is good?’ I mean, I’m not even sure what my feelings on that are, but I wanted to mention it anyway.

I’ve got a couple more individual album reviews I’m planning to post soon, as well as more mini reviews. Feel free to let me know what you thought of this album and/or what you thought of my review, and once again, thanks for reading!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Act So Bold”, “Be Holy”, “(Wanna Be) Just Like You”, “Intermission”
Least Favourite Track: “Rebels”