The album starts with the song “Firestarter” which has a dark, ominous, yet hopeful feel to it. This song talks about some of the daily struggles growing up in Atlanta and how Kenny feels despite all these struggles, he has a gift. Kenny also hints at his dark yet hopeful feel when he says the line “I’ma guard my heart until I gain light, dark days became bright, part ways from dark ways and found ways to gain sight.” This also gives meaning to the title of the album, “Angelic Hoodrat,” which is the contrast between dark and light, or good and evil.

Kenny Mason mentioned in an interview that being both good and evil is “what it means to be human” and “you actually can’t be one without being the other.” That is truly a beautiful message and shows that sometimes a decision that benefits one, may hurt another, and that’s not selfish, that’s just human nature. This message ties into the second song on the album which is self-titled, “Angelic Hoodrat.” This song talks about how when he didn’t have anything, he was forced to take from others out of human nature. He also brings back that dark and light theme when he says despite having nothing you can see his “light” and “spirit” in any one of his songs. Then he wraps up that song talking about how those dark habits rooting from having nothing caused him to get shot. Kenny brings up his thoughts, moments after being shot, when he says “Don’t wake up my mama-I don’t want her to see” and “Watching my dawgs, Watching me bleed.” This also goes back to his dark and light theme because on one end, he’s bleeding out and just went through something traumatic, but on the other, he doesn’t want his mama to see him in this dark time in his life, giving him motivation to get out of it.

The third song on “Angelic Hoodrat” is called “PTSD” and it talks about the trauma he experienced being shot and how it’s affected him. He mentions this in the song when he says, “Sweat in your sleep from PTSD.”

Going into song 4, “Lean,” he talks about the past 2 songs, where he got shot, and was dealing with trauma. He starts the song off by saying he would give up that life to be back with someone important to him, not mentioning who. The beat in the song also feels very uplifting which shows he’s transitioning from dark times in his life, to light. He further brings this up saying “I’m tired of dodging death” and “Knowing where I was at a year ago, Knowing where it’ll go, Still be wishing that I was wherever you at.” The theme is continued throughout the song but seems to be more focused on the light part rather than the dark as he’s talking about loved ones he’s lost, but also seems grateful it wasn’t him which goes back to what he said in the interview, you can’t be good without being evil.

Song 5, “Chevron,” seems to glorify that dark life, in other words giving light to it, which is a way of coping with that trauma. Song 5 is also more a display of skill than a story as most of the song he is just rapping fast with clever bars like “Cook’em like chicken meat, Tyson no Cicely” and “I pull a string and it might make a symphony.” He also mentions in the song that he moves “too angelic” which both describes the way his music sounds and the fact that he feels he could be dead right now. This song being more of a display of skills rather than a story, while not being as impressive, is very important especially for Kenny Mason’s first album so a listener can imagine what he’s capable of and have a break from constantly processing a story in your head.

Leading into song 6, “Handles,” starts with a light guitar slowly gaining volume and once it reaches its peak Kenny Mason starts singing with a beautiful voice. In this song he sings about hating to do things alone but eventually becoming stronger on his own because of it. This is shown when he says, “To be honest I hate trying things, When you make me face it lonely, Strength from aloneness.” Kenny, cleverly, builds upon that idea with the next line “I wonder who stronger than me, I’m my only opponent it seems, Trying hard not to try anything, Cause you’ll make me face it lonely, Strength from aloneness, And I’ve learned to control everything.” This is him saying that he made one of his biggest weaknesses, one of his biggest strengths, and learned to control his emotions and trauma. This song is one of the best examples of the contrast between dark and light in the album, as he enlightened himself by making a weakness a strength, but still stays in touch and affected by his emotions.

Song 7,”Metal Wings,” starts the opposite to “Handles.” It starts with a very heavy guitar showing his versatility in rock and rap. The title “Metal Wings” also can be symbolic for a dark or evil angel. This song talks about how the best things that happened to him all happened in the worst conditions which yet again continues with the theme of the album. This is displayed in verses like “I met a queen in the belly of the beats” and “Now I am the light in the dark.” The song continues to talk about how he became such a talented artist by going through the worst conditions until a stopping point. At this stopping point in the song, his voice changes from aggressive, to angelic, and so do the lyrics. He makes this angelic chorus in the middle of a very dark song which is symbolic of his entire life. The chorus then eventually fades out back to the original darkness then repeats one last time before the song ends.

Going into song 8, “30,” you’re met with a beautiful piano and the loop of a guitar in your right ear. In this song he talks about how difficult love is to maintain between violence and music. There are many meaningful lyrics in this song like “I don’t need fake love when I can create love” meaning he loves his music so that’s all he needs to focus on, and says his mom told him “If you don’t make money or grow from her you don’t want her” meaning if she distracts you from you dreams and doesn’t make you stronger, than she isn’t worth your time. Kenny brings up towards the end of the song that gaining feelings for someone knowing they could die at any moment in their conditions was a big risk that he was unsure about. This is made clear when he says, “When my granny died it felt like I had no mamma [I] was so young, I ain’t even know I was affected, When women showed me affection I closed up and rejected.”

Only 8 songs into the 14-song long album and Kenny has already painted such a beautiful picture and had a consistent, meaningful theme throughout every song. Next week I will take you through the depths of the second half of the album, and conclude why Kenny Mason’s “Angelic Hoodrat” is the greatest album ever.