The Manuel punctuates his blunted flights of lyrical fancy with sobering, personal reflections that give his new record its weight. His main weapon is mixing around phonemically similar words like a pavement hustler’s ball-and-cup trick and this overall shift in tone befits a record on which Hennessy and Lean is mentioned.
On “Enemy” the rapper-singer addresses the circumstances of his life, accusing both his haters and enemies of bad behavior towards him. The Manuel strikes an effective balance between the belligerent, the comic and the confessional. Throughout the song, he remains deadpan even as he threatens his enemies, makes jokes and dusts every corner of his “psyche.”
This relaxed approach has, from the beginning of the track, been his greatest strength. It’s a very hard thing for rappers nowadays to deliver an impression of effortlessness, which is heightened here by the artist, as he allows his musical actions to intensify.
The sound palette is similar to that of certain mumble rap releases. This is not to say the beat isn’t inventive. There are parts which feature quite some unique work; But it sticks largely to synth-based, dissonant guitar string washes peppered with light drums and several reverb-treated sample effects. But for those who hope that the artist’s ambition might extend to heavy experimentation with production style will be disappointed.
It is also immediately clear that the rapper’s verses on “Enemy” are dense, both in meaning and execution especially with the addition of a guest artist. The Manuel is more focused on launching into new subject matter by virtue of something as simple as a clever inside rhyme or a catchy hook. The song is good enough and the narrative is easy to follow, and though the music is still full of youthful rage it sees The Manuel convey a more varied palette of emotions.
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