Chris Orrick is the Detroit emcee formerly known as Red Pill, who worked both as a solo artist and as a member of the group Ugly Heroes. His last album under the old moniker came out two years ago, a loving tribute to his late mother, Instinctive Drowning. Now, he continues to strip down the barriers between him and his audience as he releases his first album under his given name, Portraits.

The title of the album comes from the idea that each song is something of a snapshot of life, or a portrait. Another way to think of this album is as a collection of short stories, as Orrick works through the album relating tales from the life he’s known as a blue-collar Michigan native. This means songs about how the American dream has been eroded, with hard work not giving the same payoff it used to, as greed and mismanagement means that factory workers are forced to work more for less, without a chance to improve their lot in life. It means songs about struggling with addiction, and how one person’s struggles can affect so many people. It means assessing what really matters in life and making plans. To craft a soundscape that matches the tone of these stories, Orrick enlists the help of Nolan the Ninja, Bruce Wain, L’Orange, Calvin Valentine, Apollo Brown, Samarei, Exile, and Onra. This might sound like a lot of cooks in the kitchen, but it quickly becomes clear that even though there are a lot of different contributors, they are all contributing the same type of production, which are these slow, sparse beats that draw upon blues and jazz, especially piano. There’s a lot of space on each track for Orrick’s words to breath, and just enough instrumentation to convey the overall tone of each song. The result is this really intimate, personal album, as Orrick really does a great job of spinning these slice-of-life narratives. Of course, the most moving song on the album comes on “Mom,” in which Orrick revisits his relationship with his late mother, and laments how she isn’t there to see him and the rest of his generation grow. It should be noted that for all of the moments of struggle that are laid bare on this album, Orrick does take care to allow room for the light to shine in. After all, he’s taken great strides himself as an emcee and lyricist and seen his career as an artist grow and develop.

Just a few years ago, I was worried that the emcee known as Red Pill was content to just be a hip hop curmudgeon and keep everyone at arm’s length with his lyrics. Not only did he turn the corner, the emcee now known as Chris Orrick is making some of the most emotionally raw and honest hip hop to come out this year. Portraits is a great album that really forces you to take a walk in someone else’s shoes and experience their life for a few minutes at a time.