Album: Atychiphobia (The Fear Of Failure)
Artist: Curtiss King
Release Date: November 27, 2012
When Atychiphobia drops, will it bury your doubts?
After a continuous series of nearly15 free beat-tape & mixtape projects, Curtiss King brings us his debut album Atychiphobia (The Fear Of Failure).
The producer turned rapper sets himself aside and gathers up eclectic production from Villain, A3, Jynxx, Osym, JBizness, OhGoshLeotus, Hutch, Ayiro, BK Beats, Jansport J, & Tae Beast. While, features include Brooke Taylor, Mickey Taelor, the late Alori Joh, Bee Tarver, Glasses Malone, Hit-Boy, and comrade Noa James, along with the rest of the rest of the Black Cloud Music artists.
Atychiphobia begins with a alike titled intro in which the production by Villian coincides with Bee Tarver’s vocals, her voice lies perfectly over the hopeful, uplifting, triumphed, dream-like beat. Curtiss uses the track to briefly introduce himself without fear as Curtiss King, the rapper. He assures that he is not afraid to be himself, as he recalls his past fears that have only served to mold him into the artist he is today.
“The Fear Of Failure” featuring Art Barz has JBizness on the production end supplying a beautiful woodwind filled instrumental. Curtiss repeats that “If [he] had a dollar for all times that [he’s] failed, [he’d] have enough to sow all the holes in [his] size 12”, as he follows with a catchy and clever pronunciation of the titled album “tic-tic-tic-tic-tic-A-tic-ah-phobia” (so if you’re still having trouble with the album’s pronunciation, please refer to the second track).
“Ratchets Still Jockin‘” and “Hella Close” are the tracks that are guaranteed to be of mainstream like. Villian makes production appearance once again on “Hella Close”, where Mike Jone’s “Back Then” finds a place for sampling and we find Curtiss King channeling his inner E-40/bay area rhyming steez- “Hella-Hella-Hella Close Trick”!
Curtiss King uses A3 on the boards to carry out a track featuring and paying homage to the late, TDE affiliated vocalist, Alori Joh. Curtiss titles the track “The Freshest”, and he expresses his love towards Alori Joh as an artist and friend.
While my personal favorites lie among the soulful Jansport J produced tracks “OhMyGod” and “Post It Note 1”, there are two tracks that are impossible to ignore- “Sade. Badu. Jill” (The Remedy) and “Doorknobs”.
“Sade. Badu. Jill” (The Remedy) again finds Villian serving a dream-like beat that is fitting to Curtiss’s lyricism. Aside from paying homage to these ladies, Curtiss King goes into his childhood recalling the variation of sounds he grew up listening to. Particularly, he drifts into a situation in which he felt at his lowest, music was his remedy.
“Doorknobs” is that one track that just about all of us lower-to-middle-class young adults with dreams and aspirations can relate to. It depicts a life of struggle, and the ambition to offer our families, our mothers especially, a better living. The dream of not just reaching success for our self fulfillment but doing so for a much deeper cause. Curtiss and Faimkills both utilize this track as an open letter to their mothers.
“Momma today I sold a beat
So that’s a doorknob to your mansion
Momma today I rocked the stage
and everybody knew my name
So I’m really hoping that I’m getting closer to the day
That you’ll never, ever, have to ever work again”
“Doorknobs” is the most heartfelt track off this album. The concept of the album ends with this track, but two bonus tracks follow, “OTG” and the Glasses Malone & Hit-Boy assisted “Ratchets Still Jockin’ (Remix)”, making Atychiphobia a 17-track project.
Atychiphobia (The Fear Of Failure) is an impressing, solid independent debut. It is one of those rare musical offerings in which the listener can hear the project back-to-back and not lose interest. It offers tracks that are relatable, inspiring, and most importantly portray the artist through each track for who he truly is- no gimmicks. Atychiphobia buries the doubts. I am confident that Curtiss King will be a name you will see a lot of.
Atychiphobia (The Fear Of Failure) will be available for download November 27th via iTunes. Make sure you mark your calendars & cop that!
November 27th. Atychiphobia.
-Stace Fresh
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