Album Review: The Happening by SALIMATA

Brooklyn rapper SALIMATA’s third full-length arrives via MIKE’s 10k Global, written partly in Marseille but anchored in the borough’s swagger.

Courtesy of 10k.

SALIMATA has accumulated a lot of receipts. I don’t mean that petty. I mean like keeping receipts because you watched grown-ups in your house struggle and you kept track of every dollar in and every dollar out and every promise broken. She makes sense of things as she calculates them out loud: “I got family in Africa who really need a bag/Brother always down the bottle/Now I gotta hide the flack/Sixty with a couple tags, how I’m ‘posed to handle that/Daddy wasn’t never ‘round.” That’s four bars that feel like four verses, burden after burden mounted on top of each other. Most rappers would devote an entire concept album to any one of those facts. She barrels through them and returns to getting money, because what else is there to do?

That is what is unique about The Happening, outside of being just another rapper flexing. “All my life, growing up/Money I would never ask,” she brags in one moment, only to reveal, “Couple bags just to show my face, shit, I love to brag.” There is a literal meaning to her boast, “I know I’ma be the greatest, look at how I handled it/And these niggas didn’t hand me shit.” The production on these 14 tracks stays in a zone that is comfortable for her, never pushing too hard or slowing down too much, giving her space to operate at her pace. It’s that Brooklyn basement at nighttime feel. On “Moonlight,” the production almost feels empty, and SALIMATA lets down her guard: “I guess I’m feeling kinda lonely, that’s all.” The sample allows her space to confess a feeling, and she takes the opportunity. It is a rare thing on The Happening, which is why it is so welcome.

SALIMATA likes to prove that she has been to places. “Stay on a road, yeah, feel like a gypsy/Way around the globe, think I’m startin’ to get tipsy,” she raps on “9-5,” and travel references are everywhere: destinations for two, overseas, out the window to the coast. Abu Dhabi adjacent energy, with travel to Abu Dhabi not quite in the budget. Movement serves as escape, but also as proof that (literal) movement is happening, that the grind is working, and that she’s not stuck. But there’s an anxiousness to it all, too, like she can’t sit still. On “Cigar Smoke,” she allows herself to arrive: “Hopped up off the boat, parked it on the beach/Headed to the bar, tannin’ in the sun/Cute drink with a bendin’ straw.” Then she clarifies, “Ain’t no metaphor, bitch out here really livin’ large.” She distinguishes between typical rap talk and her current, literal existence.

The rapper seems to have a harder time with relationships than anything else under her control. She is almost always in the dominant position: “Talk too much, had to muzzle him up,” she declares on “9-5,” before bringing the topic up again on “Let’s Talk About It”: I’on really like a commitment/I’on even tryna text.” Her default is avoidance, never putting herself in a position to be waiting on anybody. “Why U Gotta Act Like???” begins as a defensive rap about someone talking crazy, running game, gaslighting, but by the end SALIMATA is admitting her feelings for this person she’s upset with: “Can you scratch my back? Can you hit the spot?/I love you, baby, like more than a lot.” Hard for me to forget/Hard for me to forfeit/Gotta treat your ass like corporate.” Treating your love life like corporate is a bar!

Kelly Moonstone provides a hook on “Cake Up” that is light and pretty in a way SALIMATA doesn’t often allow herself to be: “Soliloquy, I’m higher than melon trees/I’m sittin’ on melodies.” Peyton’s contributions to “Sprung” are similar, and both features add without distracting. The album loses steam when that flexing becomes generic. SALIMATA is better than “Dior, Celine, can’t you see the money tags?” or “Superhero, supermodel, super freak,” both on “Fergie.” “SWEETTHANG” boasts a sonically unique drum line and the extremely clever brag, “In a dictionary, I am where the G is.” A line like that is successful because it could only belong to her.

A theme that runs deeper than getting money, though, is the idea of familial responsibility: The mom who needs to stop working. The brother who is always down the bottle. The family in Africa. “Daddy wasn’t never ‘round but I guess I’ve been channelin’ him.” SALIMATA doesn’t spend too long on any of these obligations; it almost feels like she said too much with each bar, then decides to move on. But these are the lines that give context to her drive because, “I chase bags to solve problems but it never work/Purchase you a Rover if you earned it, gotta get it first.” It’s on “Foil” that you can hear how heavy all of her obligations weigh on her. She raps about bodegas and weed and food that makes her stomach hurt and possibly tainted water: “Clockin’ in to 9 to 5, I’ll make a nigga lose they mind.” That line is no longer about herself, but about everyone grinding at 9-to-5s. But then she is on a plane with a window seat, and this opportunity for escape, “Shit feel amazin’.”

The production on The Happening is consistent to the point where songs easily blend into each other, with few standout moments. You will remember SALIMATA’s overall attitude and impression before you remember a highlight verse. But “9-5,” “Moonlight,” and “Spur” differentiate themselves, while “Fergie,” “Centerfold,” and “It’s Like Dat” find themselves lost in the shuffle despite competent verses. SALIMATA is such a talented rapper that the missteps on the album are frustrating. She has a beautiful, confident flow, quick timing and a voice that lies well over the style of production on The Happening. The dictionary bar, the corporate bar, the stacking of family burdens in just a few lines: all are proof of her skill. But she is often in a comfort zone, and braggadocios rap in default mode here, when she could clearly excel when talking about more specific topics like Brooklyn, family, and literally being lonely instead of rapping about not liking commitment.

Solid (★★★½☆)

Favorite Track(s): “Spur,” “Why U Gotta Act Like???,” “Moonlight”