Having broken through to mainstream audiences with 2021 EP
Unfuckwitable -- and its 14-track, deluxe version -- Detroit's own
Babyface Ray looks to make his statement piece with
FACE, his latest full-length LP. Though there's plenty of space for local talents like
42 Dugg and
Icewear Vezzo,
FACE notably contains
Ray's most varied set of collaborators to date: cloud rap pioneer
Yung Lean croons through "Overtime,"
Pusha T and
Landstrip Chip make for an unlikely combo on "Dancing with the Devil," and
Wiz Khalifa offers a homage to his classic mixtapes with "Kush & Codeine." This openness to new ideas manifests equally in
FACE's solo tracks: though the rapper dedicates a few cuts to the frosted-over lane he has spent the last decade carving out, many of the tracks here add a more melodic angle to the MC's typically neutral sound. Some, like the groove-led "Idols," are entirely new concepts -- and thoroughly brilliant. Yet at the top of the pile is the grandiose,
OneRepublic-sampling "My Thoughts 3/Pop's Prayer," where the rapper adds a pain-tinged reflection of his typically distant persona, "I come asking your choice blessings on my baby boy Ray," reads the rapper's father in prayer, "that you might wrap him up with your love, your grace, and your mercy." It's a compelling plea, an afternote that casts
Ray's insular raps in a spectral, emotive light. ~ David Crone