By Jacob Ezra
Long Beach, California artist Mikem Nahmir has caught our attention for his recent project, THESE THINGS JUS‘ HAPPEN. The soulful, personal release provides vivid lyrical imagery that paint pictures of Nahmir’s mindstate and environment, laced atop immersive, sampling production. Here, the West Coast lyricist’s poetic pen shines through, especially on tracks like the evocative “no cryin’ no sufferin'”, a song that balances stark realism with hopefulness eloquently. Elsewhere, Nahmir achieves a similar effect with the rapper inspiring the listener while always keeping a grounded sense of matter-of-factness. “faces”, featuring cystic, contains haunting beauty, enhanced even further by Nahmir’s detailed, cathartic lyricism. The smoky, jazzy sound with uplifting notes on THESE THINGS JUS’ HAPPEN calls to mind some elements of Common or Blu, but Nahmir is certainly doing things his own way. All in all, THESE THINGS JUS’ HAPPEN comes through as a late-year highlight and will likely go down as one of our favorite projects from 2023. Support Mikem Nahmir directly on Bandcamp HERE.
ROUNDHOUSE MUSIC 