Ghais Guevara – Critical Acclaim

From Nortey, a Philly rapper whose song title delivers on its promise…

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[7.78]Nortey Dowuona: Saving face is all I do as a rule. I’m balding at the grand old age of 29. I have never had a long-term relationship with anyone. I often spend long hours trying my best to not let anyone see what I’m downloading on the internet. And yet I park my ass in front of this same computer to preach and condemn and shame. I’ve only ever know shame and condemnation since childhood, and unlike others, I never moved past it. ‘Till this day, I never truly pushed past that enforced fear. I hear that fear in this song. Ghais, according to his possibly malformed Wiki, is born a year before my youngest brother. I feel that same joy when I hear the insight and worry, the regret, guilt and shame. Baldwin once said that guilt is a luxury, and we was right. Men who are not raving misogynists, secretly predators hiding behind preaching goodness, delusional cult leaders or irritable freaks, are often stricken with guilt whenever they are gifted the honest reality about their fathers, their friends, themselves. And so they decide to either swing wildly on any man they see, sink further into entitled despair, or simply cash in. After all, critical acclaim for men who show face is forthcoming always. And especially for those who seem promising, redemption is on the table. You doing this for her or you trying to save face? When will the victims get their redemption? I don’t know, and neither does Ghais.
[10]

Al Varela: Starting your song off with a recollection of Diddy’s monstrous behavior and how all he could do in reaction was to “shake his head” really doesn’t prepare you for how much deeper Ghais Guevara will take that guilt and make you live through it. You can tell he’s haunted by the actions of his male peers and how deeply he empathizes with the women whom they traumatize, all delivered through bars that never pull punches set against the murky pianos and muddled atmosphere. For as much as Ghais wants to deconstruct and diminish this performance of masculinity, sometimes it haunts him too and drives him further down the road of paranoia and violence. I can deeply relate to that frustration of seeing these actions and this needless trauma relived over and over again and feeling like you’re trapped and can’t enjoy anything without worrying that it’ll all happen again. You think back to that intro sample and worry about how many Diddys are still in your life.
[9]

Alfred Soto: Is he quoting testimony from the Diddy trial? Does he adapt a verse from Proverbs? Yes and Yes. Moving confidently from bar to bar, Ghais Guevara takes a long look at himself in the mirror, documents what he dislikes, and wonders why he can’t do better: “You just caught a body, but you feel no shame.” Objects of further scorn: Robin Thicke, how patriarchal brawn beat “matrifocal focus” senseless.
[8]

Taylor Alatorre: The verse from Proverbs is cited here less for doctrinal reasons than for the qualities which the word “Biblical” tends to evoke, even in the non-believer — something vast and ancient and all-encompassing, judging us always by an unbending moral standard, invisible yet palpably felt. For Ghais Guevara, the guilt that he feels for his complicity in an abusive scenario exists in the shadow of Scripture, as does his righteous desire to shame and shun those who have violated his and others’ trust. His delivery on “Critical Acclaim” is dictated by this stark seriousness of intent, Robin Thicke pun notwithstanding. Though answering the demands of one’s conscience may not make for a purely entertaining listen, Ghais succeeds fully in convincing the listener that this was an utter necessary song for him to make.
[7]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: We do not, as a matter of course, cover very many album tracks from indie label communist rap concept albums, but based on this, maybe we should. It’s easy for this variety of heady classicist rap to get too hauntological for me but even with all the choirs and pianos this doesn’t ever feel more burdened than it has to be.
[8]

Will Adams: The Diddy-referencing intro is intentionally discomforting and sets the stage for Guevara’s reflection on sin and the patriarchal forces that structure his worldview. The simple arrangement — a piano loop and occasional synth wash — give him much needed space, but even then it seems like he has a few too many ideas he’s trying to pack in here.
[6]

Julian Axelrod: It shouldn’t be noteworthy for a rapper to address everything from consent and the patriarchy to the “Blurred Lines” and Diddy trials, but in a decidedly apolitical rap landscape, I’m grateful to the Ghais Guevaras of the world for pulling at these tangled threads. If anything, the song feels overly ambitious, like he tried to cram a year’s worth of news into one song. The ripped-from-the-headlines approach feels less like Ice-T speaking truth to power in the 80’s and more like Ice-T recapping a topical story on Law & Order: SVU. Ghais’s droll drawl and classicist piano production evoke the masked cult hero Mach-Hommy, but this comparison just underlines Hommy’s understated ability to expound on Gaza one moment and call you a meatball the next. But there are far worse rappers to emulate, and I’d much rather hear someone miss this specific mark than clear a low bar.
[6]

Ian Mathers: At first the loop just sounds lovely, kind of laid back, but as soon as Guevera starts going in (and he never really stops until the end) the combination is relentless, vicious. A minor alchemy, and one greater than the sum of its parts.
[9]

Dave Moore: Certainly sounds “critically acclaimed” (not derogatory but not entirely complimentary) but as far as I can tell has been little remarked upon. I never know what to do with thoughtful but plain stuff like this, seems like it’s waiting expectantly for the rest of the world to elevate it to my attention. Glad I heard it, though.
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