One of the most exciting parts of being a music journalist is discovering talent at the beginning of a career. Or, to be more accurate in this case, when that talent taps you on the shoulder and opens a door to an exciting scene. This is precisely what happened last October, when a young Wisconsin artist named Milo submitted his solo debut, I wish my brother Rob was here. Milo was clearly talented himself, but there were hints of even more music to come due to the guest spots from Safari Al and Nicholas J. All of a sudden, it appeared that there were a handful of young artists in Wisconsin devoted to making some really interesting and outside-the-norm hip hop. A few months after being turned on to this scene by Milo, we get Safari Al’s debut, Hermitage Academy.

Taking his name from a lesser known Calvin & Hobbes character, Safari Al, much like his friend Milo, makes no attempt to hide the fact that he’s a nerdy college kid with eclectic musical tastes. One of the first things that hit me as I was fleshing out my understanding of Safari Al as an artist is that while he can rap a more traditional emcee, he also just as comfortable performing as a soulful singer-songwriter. This becomes most apparent on “Circumlocution (Take Off Your Coat),” a piano ballad that appears several songs into Hermitage Academy. It’s not my favorite song on the album, but I more than appreciate it’s inclusion, and I’m glad to see Al taking chances by inserting it in the middle of a hip hop album. There are other points where he strikes a better balance between styles, but the music is always well performed. He has a strong singing voice that can carry a ballad like “Circumlocution,” but he can deliver some rapid fire staccato rhymes just as well. If there’s anything holding back the album, it’s that Al hasn’t quite figured out how to combine all of his influences into one cohesive sound yet. I don’t think he’s far off, and there are plenty of great songs that hint at great things to come, but there are also moments that are a little disconnected. “Aretha” and “Ode to Dimples” bring out a fun, sweet, and soulful side of Safari Al that help endear him to his listeners, and employ a more traditional song structure of funky beats, rapped verse, and sung chorus. “Heavy Eyelids & Dream Trafficking” is a great moment of abstract hip hop, full of free flowing stream of consciousness rhymes. “Bellow of the Urbanite” might be the best marriage of styles, which features some of Al’s best flows as a slow beat featuring upright bass and clarinet steadily build momentum as the drums kick in. He employs several different flows, and seamless moves into a sung chorus that fits the song structure perfectly. It’s moments like this that make me rest assured that as strong as this debut is, things are going to get even better as he explores more and finds ways to bring everything to the table at once.

Hermitage Academy is not perfect, but it is a strong and promising debut. Safari Al has a lot of interesting and enjoyable factors going into his music, and when it clicks, it’s absolutely fantastic. I have every reason to believe that while we have a really good debut right now, it’s going to get even better as we move on. Thanks to the work of Milo and now his friend Safari Al, I am very excited about the future of hip hop in Wisconsin.