D. Cure + The Marine Rapper | Box Fort

Family Average: 3.6/7

Hello all you readers of the blog! Grab your crayons, cardboard, and Capri Suns, 'cause we've got a goodie for you today. Meghan busts a move, the rest of the fam gets nostalgic, and our very special guest DJ likens it to a Broadway musical. 

Listen along on Spotify as you check out what we had to say:

I applaud artists that do something off kilter. Whether it comes from the use of unorthodox sounds, or compositions, I need to see an attempt of trying to bring something new to the table. For me this album does just that, with it’s wordplay and sticking with this weird kids playing in a backyard theme. I was absolutely blindsided by the title track of this album. While I can’t say it breaks much new ground in the production. I have never heard someone take a song so seriously when singing about decorating cardboard with glitter and crayons. Gotta say I was also happy to hear a reference to Capri Sun dropped in there (just a subtle tugging at my nostalgia). After the title track, the EP had my attention, and looking closer I was pleased by how tight the album sounded throughout. The stand out track was for sure "Lifeless." Give me a fuzzy groovy drum beat any day of the week. Way to go boys, stay weird!

5/7

The conceit of this album seems to hinge on childhood escapism and dark nostalgia. The lyrics come fast and hard, but a lot of the introspective and profound statements he seems to be reaching for fall a bit flat. At times I felt like he was just tripping over his tongue to get the words out fast enough. That being said, his ability to speed talk is impressive. Long story short, we got a talker here, people, and some of the tracks drag on. I genuinely admire the ambition and appreciate the immense effort that went into the writing and production -- I would be hard pressed to do it -- I just think he needs an editor. Someone to cut the excess fat and make it as clean as possible. The overall production itself is pretty tight, and there's some really good backing tracks. It just didn’t feel particularly groundbreaking. But there's something there! It’s weird, it’s wavy, and will resonate with some people. So ramble on, man, ramble on.

3/7

The title track relies on the metaphor of the makeshift shelters we all made as kids. Sounds corny, and it is, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I heard this banging in a club this weekend. The box fort becomes a little universe that’s used to house the other tracks. The box becomes a city, a coffin, and a metaphor for a state of mind. Overall, the music is okay but also sounded like a less impressive version of Hamilton.

2/7  

Weird cus this is a rap album in which the rapping isn’t what stood out to me. What stood out to me were the beats. Right off the bat with “Box Fort” that beat just had me feeling it, I was dancing right away. Simple yet infectious and with those computer noises just the perfect amount of yes. Pretty much all the songs I really was feeling the beat, and was uncontrollably dancing, but still still not focused on the words.  I dunno the words didn’t really stick out to me. Yet, I did get a bit of a late 90s early 2000s feel to their delivery and lyrics, kind of like a little hint of an Outkast flavor to it. Liked how that box fort metaphor kinda carried throughout, I didn’t realize what the album name meant originally until they started rapping about a literal fort made out of a cardboard box (but more in a metaphorical sense), I dig it. There was a bit of a was childhood theme I picked up on. I appreciated the line “big league chew, lookin’ real tough.”
Groovable beats, forgettable rhymes, but not a bad time.

4/7

I appreciate when people stray from average song topics for music, like relationships or “this town is too small for us.” Right off the bat the album name got my attention, and the music successfully kept it for the most part. The songs followed a theme, leading into one another, not really as a narrative but I guess like, an analyzation?
Box Fort uses the theme of childhood games as a surface level topic. As the songs go on the allegory is pulled back to reveal darker subject matter, their juxtaposition making for an unsettling (but in a good way) mood. Like a music box that’s distorted. In fact, I think the song “Building” actually utilizes a distorted music box track which plays up this angle. Speaking of musical elements, each song had its own collection of sorts, so they all had their own distinct sounds. As the album progresses the beats actually come out of the background, culminating in “Under Attack” where they’re even vying for attention against the lyrics. But that’s not a bad thing I liked the music tracks.
The speaker had a great cadence and flow to his voice. For all the talking he did, a good amount of it was clearly articulated. That said, there were times where it got hard to follow. The words themselves kinda varied in quality. Some parts had me really tuned in, with some creative wordplay and lines that really hit the mark. But there were also parts that felt a bit bland or generic, like rhymes that were too easy.
It’s a good album. It’s short and sweet so if rap’s even a bit your thing I’d def give it at least one listen.

4.5/7

Luckily I did not stop listening after the first three songs. I was getting tired of the "BOX" Theme running through the album. I grew bored not really with the theme but rather with the monotomy of the Lyrics. I thought I would scream if I heard "box fort" or "box" one more time.  But I give them credit, they were creating something here and went ahead with their concept. The last two tracks, "Under Attack" and "Lifeless" were totally worth waiting for. Both had great melodies and Rap combinations. "Under Attack" should be a movie theme song because it is just so engaging and would draw you right into the movie. I give this a
 

3.5/7