The third release in a loosely tied trilogy of projects, Blue Collar is underground veteran Arlo Maverick’s latest album. Based out of Edmonton, Alberta, Arlo Maverick uses modern and extravagant beats to get his down-to-earth and blue-collar message across, pun intended. Tackling topics that everyone can relate to like graduating college, finding work, the economy, feeding your family, and much more.
The song “Paper” is the best example of this. It takes the vibes and frequencies of a party song that you would expect to be celebrating money and delivers a message about how many of us out there are actually struggling for the paper. The song “Night Shift” functions along the same lines but is more of a late-night jam, which is purely brilliant if you ask me.
Arlo Maverick also flows on some productions that are more akin to the boom-bap era of Hip-Hop on tracks like “On Me” featuring Dirt Gritie, and he’s not afraid to tackle all different sound styles of the art form. For instance, the song “Retail Therapy” reminds me of something pulled right out of the early 2010s, while songs like “Late Nights” is an R&B-style duet with Bvitae, and “I Don’t Trust You” is something you’d hear on a Drake album.
The fearlessness of tackling so many different sounds on one project is commendable. It’s very hard to pull off and Arlo Maverick does a passable job to say the least. My one critique would be song placement. I feel like some songs would play off of each other better than others, but that’s entirely subjective.
“Lost My Way” featuring Fab El, Sinzere, and Riwo might be my favourite joint on the album because of the bars and the simplicity behind the production. Arlo Maverick deserves much more shine, so go and check out Blue Collar now.
