Artson is an emcee originally from El Paso. After spending some time in L.A., he now resides in Las Vegas. After releasing his last EP, E.A.R.T.H., he garnered a bit of acclaim, including a handful of Native American Music Awards. Now, two years later, he comes back with a full-length album, Brave Star.

As you might guess from the title and cover art, there is homage being paid to the one and only Black Star album with Mos Def and Talib Kweli. And in terms of general tone and subject matter, it certainly follows suite. If you want to talk about the actual sound of the album, though, it’s much more rooted in the West Coast than Brooklyn. Featuring production from Bboy Wicket, David Strickland, Don P., Tone Jonez, Elliot Waite, Legion, and Dreamlife, this album is packed full of big, fat beats with a lot of space that will sound great blasting out of your car speakers as you cruise around in your car this summer. When you combine that with Artson’s clear, direct delivery on the mic, you end up getting an album that sounds somewhere between Bambu and Dilated Peoples. This is all well and good and it checks off the boxes of a lot of things I like, but that still leaves one thing that a lot of people will be asking – who is Artson? Well, the good new there is that over the course of this album, you’ll get to know him very well through his lyrics. He’s incredibly open and earnest about who is and where he’s come from, and he wants to speak to the concerns of his community, specifically those of indigenous heritage in the Southwest. While he’s speaking for and of that particular community and their specific needs, which is greatly needed in hip hop and beyond, he’s also just giving a lot of himself to the music. He’s talking about growing up a city kid in El Paso and navigating the streets there, he’s talking about finding religion, and he’s talking about finding love. It’s all stuff that when done well and honestly, you can relate to very easily, and that’s where this album really grabs a hold of my attention. The only minor criticism I have of Brave Star is that it could use a little bit of trimming. Coming in at eighteen songs and just under one hour in length, the album could stand to lose a couple of songs in the interest of making it a tighter listening experience, because it does drag a little bit as you try to make it through the whole album in one sitting. That’s not an indictment on any one song in particular, but sometimes you need to make some tough decisions and hold on to a few songs in the greater service of the album as a whole.

If you don’t know Artson, you’ll definitely know him and want to know even more after listening to Brave Star. It’s full of big beats and passionate lyrics about self-discovery and building community. You can’t go wrong with that.