Joshua Virtue is a relatively new artist from Chicago, releasing their first album just back in 2019. Since that time, Virtue has worked a prolific pace and shown a lot of growth and an adventurous spirit that is afraid of some experimentation within hip hop, with projects like Together, With Great Feeling and Moon. On top of this, Virtue has also released two projects with Davis under the name UDABABY, and a few more with Ruby Watson under the name Free Snacks. With all of this work done in a short amount of time, you might not necessarily expect a standout release, but Virtue has given us just that in releasing their latest album, RAMA.

When an artist like Virtue releases so many project in a short amount of time, as good as they all are, it can be a little difficult to clock the progress in real time. That is, until you get an ambitious standalone project like RAMA. In listening to this album, which Virtue wrote and produced solo, you can hear all of the lessons from experimentation on all of these other projects come together to give you the absolute best music from Virtue to date. The beats and rhythms are still dense and challenging, but there are also moments where the music lines up and the grooves are inviting and accessible for a second. This seems to be mirroring the ways in which Virtue is writing about how tumultuous life can be as they explore Black and queer spaces in their lyricism, but how there is still space for joy when life gives you a moment of peace and happiness. To that end, RAMA is Virtue’s most personal album to date, really delving into the emotional journey that they’ve been on over the last few years, while also doing a great job of connecting all of the personal experiences to the larger historical and political picture of America. Virtue has also never sounded more confident on the mic while taking us on this journey, with a clear and direct delivery that puts weight on all of this lyricism. It’s an album that is challenging, but then so rewarding, you just want to keep diving back in and uncovering all the musical and lyrical gems spread throughout.

RAMA is a huge step forward for Joshua Virtue. It’s musically adventurous while remaining focused, which lets Virtue really shine on the mic and go deep in relating all of the ups and downs and personal growth experienced over the last couple of years. This is the album that Joshua Virtue has been working towards.