Bobby Noble | Bobby’s Lament (Prod. by Lars Viola)
Andre
I don't want to be a hater, but this just wasn't for me. Not the video nor the song itself. Maybe some of you know rap and hip-hop music isn't my strong suit but there are a lot that I do enjoy and it's usually more underground/hardcore. And what I'm about to say is very superficial but I just can't get past the voice of Bobby Noble, it's very obviously White with an attempt to say things in an inherently Black way. I really can't get past it. I personally don't know if he talks like this all the time or if it's all just an act, but something about it doesn't seem right. And this isn't just a critique of just Bobby, but the many, and I mean many, White rappers that try to join the hip-hop scene. I don't know it just seems a bit like cultural appropriation.
And the video, it had high production value and looked impressive. But just seemed uninspiring, a man in a suit getting drunk throughout every set piece isn't interesting to me.
I liked the beat, but I really couldn't listen to the lyrics. Sorry if this is offensive to anyone but it's just what is strongly coming to mind when I listen to this song.
Cosmo Zellman
After scrubbing his moniker from Cynic the Apache to Bobby Noble, the casual listener might be lulled into the belief that this New York-based rapper was, at least at one point, conscious and aware of appropriation and ethics. But after waking up in a bathtub of booze, he’ll say he’s got a problem, yeah, but he likes it though.
The music video opens in a laundromat where, instead of his clothes, the artist pulls a bottle of wine out from the washer. His beige and brown salesman’s suit conjures images of Arthur Miller’s Willy Loman; Bobby’s freedom to flaunt his alcoholism, his ego, his throwing up in the hotel lobby, are all privileges afforded to the few who fit that image of the American dreamer. Drinking from his “Tiki Bowl” while flailing around on an empty subway car fit his self-assessment of how he’s doing: “all right.”
Bobby’s got a problem and it’s more than just alcoholism. His reckless disregard is reminiscent of the national course, and the closing sample goes, “...we really love you. You’ve got guts… you’re insane. You’ve got courage. You’re beautiful.” While we might have once embraced both Bobby and his flaws, that same beautiful courage emboldens wannabe militiamen like Kyle Rittenhouse. Bobby’s Lament isn’t so much his problem as that of the American divide, and his misgivings are only empowered by their invisibility.
Dillon 🍺🍺🍺
Bobby Noble brings us “Bobby’s Lament” a boozy, lo-fi hip-hop track with some decent-to-pretty clever lines over a beat that I think just needed a little more to it to keep my interest. The video for this track, similar to the lyrics, is interesting and punching way above its budget, but like the beat I think the video is sorta relying on these filters and weirdly out of place aftereffects that wear out their welcome before the runtime runs out. Overall, the track is pretty good, especially if you’re wondering what happened to Asher Roth after “I Love College” I think Bobby Noble’s love-hate relationship with the bottle may be a decent clue.
Sean 😬 👋🏻
First things first love the music video. Bobby's Lament is a well shot, well edited, entertaining video to watch. The locations are great, the colors are saturated and punchy. It is a feast for the eyes. The only gripe I have about it is the “drunk” pulsing effects. I understand why they are there but there has to be a better way to show this that does not detract from the great footage with digital distortion.
Now let's move on to the music. The song almost works for me. As a track it’s laser focused in it’s message and production. Bobby Set out to make a boom bap rap track about drinking booze. Bobby did this. If you have heard boom bap playlists on YouTube or any hip hop from the 80s this will be obvious to you. As it stacks up to what I have heard Bobby’s track falls a little flat. The drums are middle of the road, and the rhythm of the vocals was a little off. I will end with a positive note however and say that a number of the lines gave me a chuckle.
Mary 💄🤥
If a song starts out with a symphony sample that probably was in a movie…for better or worse, I probably picked it. Its strength is from time window 00:15 to 00:45. The dreamy strings, hip hop beat and rhyming ‘lobby’ with ‘bobby’.…he can call me by his name any time. To be serious, I could watch that stanza like 4 times straight and keep loving it. After that, it’s a little repetitive and the lyrics lack depth. Gimmicky. Too much sampling not enough invention. He throws in a sample of James Brown just saying the word ‘Bobby’ from the intro of ‘Make It Funky - Pt. 1’. That’s just me flexing my love of James Brown*. I’m realizing that this critique might be revealing that sometimes my music taste is just my ego finding high order narcissistic achievements...go figure it lacks depth or invention. All to say, for better or worse, I dig it.
*white person who has no culture flex