There are places we leave behind without ever really leaving them. They stay in the music we make, the way we speak, and the memories that surface when we least expect them. For Omari Alltimer, that place is Research Forest, Texas.
Created alongside producer MNTRY, Research Forest is an album about memory, identity, and the process of finding your way back to a place you once called home. It isn’t simply a record about Texas, but more expansive, discussing what happens when distance changes the way you understand where you came from.
Born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, Alltimer came of age in the suburbs of Houston, a transition he describes as a culture shock. In his own terms, if Houston was Game of Thrones’ King’s Landing, The Woodlands was its “bougie Winterfell.” It was home, but it was also a place where he often felt caught between worlds.
As one of very few Black people in a predominantly white community, Alltimer experienced a sense of isolation that would later become central to the project. At the time, he didn’t fully appreciate the culture surrounding him. It was only after leaving Texas for his freshman year of college in San Francisco that he realized how much he missed home.
That realization became part of the inspiration for Research Forest—the kind of album Alltimer wishes he had growing up. A project for anyone who has ever felt out of place, misunderstood, or somewhere between identities.
MNTRY’s production gives the project that sense of space. On “4sho,” airy, layered instrumentation creates an atmospheric entrance for Alltimer’s sharp and reflective writing. “Feeder Rd.” moves into smoother territory, pairing lush production with sleek bars, while “Focus” brings some of the album’s most detailed storytelling against MNTRY’s ethereal, gritty sound.
The closing track, “The Cost,” provides a sense of resolution. Triumphant flows meet powerful production, bringing the project to a fitting conclusion.
Research Forest is a record about evolution—and about the places that remain part of us long after we’ve left them.
“Reality is a laboratory,” Alltimer says. “Since escaping the woods of Texas I keep finding myself there.”
Research Forest may be a physical place, but on this album it becomes something larger: a memory, a feeling, and a piece of home that never really disappeared.
Listen to ‘Research Forest’ here now:
ROUNDHOUSE MUSIC 