Badari - Dream Journal (Self-Released)

Badari is a rapper and singer from Los Angeles with almost ten years of experience releasing music and a singular voice that sounds even wiser and more mature in lyrics than most of his peers. After a handful of mixtapes which garnered attention from the likes of Little Wayne and RZA, Badari took a break from music, but he is back with his debut EP Dream Journal. The EP is literally a dream journal in a sense, because disparate images and incomplete thoughts flow in and out, often simultaneously and there are hidden and double meanings everywhere that are only revealed with repeated listens.

Equal parts social commentary and autobiographical, Badari will often tackle both in a single track like “Things I See In My Dreams” where he takes on everything from Trump to his own youth spent with his mother, and some of the EP’s most profound moments, like “When A Tree Falls,” are those in which he discusses the adversity he has faced growing up as an Indian American. Dream Journal may not be a masterpiece, but it is the long overdue return of an artist who has the talent and vision necessary to someday soon produce one.