Ransom's one of those veteran rappers who should've blown up years ago, but is still rapping and releasing music like he's just on the come-up. He's dropped two albums this year, a large batch of singles including "Table For 3", and has kept this momentum up from 2021 releases like his collab tape with Rome Street, "Coup De Grace." Ransom's latest single "Sinatra's Demons" is just as raw as you'd expect; it's raw and soulful bar-spitting from a voice that has decades of experience.
Instrumentally, the track is completely based on a sample loop that sounds straight out of a triumphant movie scene from the 1970s. The horn harmonies are so powerful and open that there's not much else the beat even needs to hook you in. By the time Ransom starts rapping, the incredibly faint drums on the track all but disappear under the weight of his confident delivery. But for this style of rap, where there's such an emphasis on the story's told, this beat gives the track the perfect amount of soul to compliment the Jersey native's introspection. The production here is handled by 38 Speech, a frequent collaborator and MC who tapped Ransom for his Interstate 38 tape.
Ransom's reflection takes the form of powerful one-liners and detailed narrations of decadent lifestyles. There's a passage where he reckons with "how hood n***as handle s**t," having to be the middle-man in situations of conflict and trying to reckon with the effects on his life of hardships he doesn't have to endure anymore. It seems to be a contrast that guides a majority of the track's sentiment and emotion, represented by this standout line: "they turn misery into memes and funerals into photoshoots." It also informed much of Ransom's most recent 2022 project, This Life Made Me.
There are so many great passages, rhyme schemes lines to highlight on "Sinatra's Demons," but the most fun part of the track is going along for the ride and replaying it back. If not to catch all the sharp lyrics packed in the track, then at least to hear those beautiful horns one more time.
You can check out Ransom's excellent new track "Sinatra's Demons" below.
Quotable Lyrics
Rap n***as wearin' disguises, still I know it's you,
I know the truth and I'm supposed to know this who? Nah,
You gotta show some proof, you only get confident when you go in booths,
You don't show my quest love, I'm back to my oldest roots