Connie Roses’ new EP, “There’s a Light at the End of the Tunnel, Grab My Hand,” is full of perilous twists and turns
Pittsburgh Rapper Connie Roses has been making music since 2017, but he’s been on a creative streak since the pandemic started. Not one, but two Connie Roses albums have been released since 2020, The Connie Roses Show and 2021’s guest heavy album KOI.
Even though Connie spits bars faster than lightning on both projects, he has no interest in taking a break to catch his breath. In fact, his new EP, There’s a Light at the End of the Tunnel, Grab My Hand, is even more action packed and unpredictable than his other projects in its short 6 track sequence.
The production is a little more rough around the edges than on KOI, but Connie takes advantage by not being too careful when he raps over top of the instrumental—the spotlight is his, not the beats. For example, the opener “Faith” is like listening to an artsy instrumental spoken word track before the hook comes. Connie doesn’t care about the beat; his impressive flow falls off of the bone of the skeletal instrumental, making an otherwise slow and spacey track feel like a whiplash inducing rollercoaster ride.
“Touch” follows a similar formula, except this time that formula is juiced up on steroids. The instrumental has more players involved like horns and synth, while still playing it cool and laid back. However, Connie’s flow is the farthest from chill—his lyrics and rhymes are spat out like train derailing at 200 miles an hour. You can feel the emotion building as Connie’s lyrical delivery gets louder and more unpredictable, stirring up an anxious excitement in the listener. You don’t really know where he’s taking you, but that’s what’s making the ride so fun to be on.
The Earl Sweatshirt/JPEGMafia inspired “Adobo” has a modern jazz/art hip hop flare, with its instrumental made up of sleek guitars and and a slick bass grooves that change keys at the drop of a hat. Connie makes an effort to sync his flow up to the beat a little more here than the previous tracks, all the while sounding still loose and free.
Connie switches the style up yet again on “Armadillo,” the most instrumentally robust song on the project. The bass bumps hard enough to rattle the loose change in your car, and Connie matches the intensity with his in your face rhymes and delivery. The follow up track “Prayer” however, goes in yet another different direction. It’s centered around the sticky melodious refrain that shines through a moody instrumental, perfect sound tracking a walk through the back streets of the city during the cold months.
The closer “Light” wraps all of these different moods together and ties a neat bow around them. The instrumental is grandiose and vibey, while an unhinged Connie yells his dreams are “JUST ALL I GOT.” He’s making a statement that he’s here to stay, that he’ll never stop putting out projects, and that he’ll never stop getting better at what he does.
Theres a Light at the end of the Tunnel, Grab My Hand drops tomorrow 1/15/22 on all streaming services
