After dropping one single after another since 2015, Yohannes felt comfortable enough to drop his album Die Enormous. Die Enormous is a ten-track project that lets listeners inside the mentality of the artist. Within the songs, he shares stories of recognizing the value of many things, such as self and the effects of decisions once they're made.
The album opens with a similar guitar sample to that of Tsu Surf's Living To Die. Family Ties 4.0 is an opening statement that expresses how valuable Yohannes is. Close to the two-minute mark, he states that "I'm the one God push a verse through, Ye need me. My verse should cost what he charges times two, and I knew I was the best when I started on this tune." Inquire has Yohannes sending a message to his listeners to inquire about what they want in life and make sure that they're willing to make the sacrifices needed. He displays his vocal range in the chorus of Inquire and places emphasis on that theme by singing: "Why take the stand and tell when you can hold down ya mans? Why smoke up the whole bail when you can make up ya ends? Why be selfish with your info when the next [man] needs it? I ask questions first because I don't like to repeat 'em?"
In the song titled after the album, part of the hook goes: "consider yo consequences. Do more for you than conversation. [Men] thinking the world is ending. I think we just expanding the nation..." The pragmatics that Yohannes expands on in the song is how someone lives a fast life overcoming barriers of legal trouble and treacherous individuals. In the same song, he expresses the benefits of the fast life from international flights to accumulating endless currency. The rest of the album after that changes in tone where the production is at a slower pace, creating more of an intimate feel as if he's having a monologue or a one on one conversation. It changes at the last track where it starts off slow with a layer of sounds that sound like it can be in the closing credits of Soul Calibur 2 and the rest of the beat comes in with his double-time rap flow. ABCs ends rather abruptly and feels like that there should have been a breakdown at the end, but that doesn't take away from how good of a song it is.
For someone who is trying to be in Arenas, like he's Gilbert, Die Enormous is an album that can be played as an entire set. There's a little bit of everything from double-time flows, to a decent vocal range, to an array of production from violins to strings and the usual drum kick bass-filled rap production. Overall, I loved the versatility of each song. Albeit they have common themes, each track sounds distinctively different from one another in regards to how they were approached mixing different sounds and flows together. Below you can view all the production, mixing, and mastering credits.
Stream Die Enormous on Apple Music and Spotify and follow him on all social media @yohannesmusic .
Written by: Jay Guevara @justinhisprime on all social media.