Released: April 22, 2016
Appearances are a strange part of being a music fan. Sometimes it feels more important to like music that has been accepted by cultural tastemakers than to vulnerably and proudly wear our own tastes.
Upon listening to Therapy Session, I immediately recognize that NF is the kind of musician that tastemakers love to ridicule. He’s Christian and he doesn’t curse, two strikes against him in a culture that still considers “fuck” to be a proclamation of revolutionary independence.
Therapy Session is a good album. NF tells compelling stories, his rhymes are creative, his arrangements and song structures are dynamic and dark. It’s a little overwrought and it doesn’t break new ground, but that can be said of most therapy sessions.
If you only listen to music that is praised by cultural tastemakers, don’t bother with Therapy Session. If you want a solid, emotional, hip-hop album that is rooted in hard rock sensibilities and that searches for meaning in life’s struggles, give this a listen.
It is interesting how something like not cursing has become counter-cultural. A few slip ups aside, I have not cursed since my dad died. In the eulogy I did for my dad, I talked about it being counter-cultural.
This also makes me think of a Rush documentary I watched a number of years ago. They were dismissed by the critics of their day, but resonated with a lot of people who went on to make music. I remember it being a shockingly diverse group of artists who spoke about Rush’s influence on their own work in the documentary.
Counter-cultural is the perfect phrase. It’s difficult to think of a group like Rush as counter-cultural, but they actually are, far more than any punk band from the past 30 years ever could be.
This came to the forefront for me during the Super Bowl halftime show where M.I.A. gave the finger to the camera. I was disgusted by America’s reaction but I was even more disgusted by her: it was a pedestrian and unimaginative move by an artist who has been widely praised for her independence and creativity. However, to the point of tastemakers, I’ve always thought M.I.A.’s innovative spirit has been exaggerated, and that halftime show certainly supported my perspective.