Four-time Best of Charleston rapper Matt Monday’s “Before the Filth” is the first release under the new moniker. Formerly known as Righchus, the South Carolina young’un has matured beyond the schoolyard battler name, and “Before the Filth” is evidence of that. Now, as Monday has signed to BlurRoc with distribution through Dame Dash’s label, it was time for him to make a statement.
“Make sure they can’t ignore” echoes the outro to “No Doubt,” the album’s first fully-formed song, which goes to wax with Monday’s ambitions to do it bigger than Kanye. It’s something that every hungry up-and-comer throws into their “here I am” track, but it feel special when Monday says it. He’s not just throwing that statement around. Matt Monday is rebranded and poised to attack.
Monday let’s “Before the Filth” be all about him. He takes all nine tracks by himself, running through nine different producers to keep the focus on his sing-talking Khalifa flow. That doesn’t mean that certain songs don’t stick out because of the production – “Make It Last” is particularly memorable for “Sango”‘s twisty sampling and brassy piano – but there are points where the trackmakers step on the rising star’s toes (“Folly Road”).
Monday’s style rests somewhere between T.I. and Future. His lyrical attacks are punctate and chop the verses up into unpredictable bits. “Get It Wrong” is a showcase of how Monday creates his own momentum this way – one moment he’s murderering consecutive bars with internal rhyme, and then he’s pausing the track to bleat out an auto-tuned punchline. It’s a prowess that makes “Before the Filth” such an exciting album to listen to. Clearly, Monday is a dude with a high rap IQ.
It’s unclear what the mixtape’s namesake means given the context. The eponymous album closer is a mix of “Rocky”-like trumpets and hi-hats. Perhaps this is Monday’s nod to Charleston before he launches into national consciousness – entering the filth of fame. If that’s the case, the tape is indeed a special look into rise to fame, however that may pan out in the end. This is at the very least a good start for the newly christened Matt Monday, and you should look forward to bigger things from the S.C. native.
