Wednesday, 10/29/2025
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This tangled romance is at the center of A Forsaken Lover’s Plea, Chuck's most comprehensive solo project since his debut album Consumers Park from 2018. The five years in between - not unlike the four years during which he produced unnoticed beats - were filled with hard lessons, even if not all of them are available on streaming platforms. For example, he realized that with patience and discipline, he can achieve things that surprise even him: "It's a cliché," he says, "but if you do a lot of repetitions, you'll get stronger." Like muscle mass on the body, these repetitions manifest in a marked expansion of his sound, adding new, fascinating facets to his already unique style. Where Consumers Park was still heavily influenced by the boom-bap ethos of the '90s, A Forsaken Lover’s Plea sounds noticeably more lush - honest rhymes supported by a variety of guest producers like The Alchemist, Animoss, and NV. Chuck's own productions sound more current without losing their familiar coziness - a perfect complement to his lived, authentic raps.

However, there is also the everyday, sometimes exhausting dynamic of a committed relationship with something like hip-hop - at best cathartic, at worst relentless. Even if the metaphor "rap as a girlfriend" is another cliché he views critically, his ongoing relationship with music has taught him lessons about humility, patience, and process, just like real relationships do. "I'm grateful for everything I've done," he says, "but like in any long-term relationship, I have much more to give."

For Chuck, this journey began in the public school system of New York, where he gradually came into contact with members of his then-collective, the group Pro Era founded by Capital STEEZ. As the group's in-house producer, he created distinctive, rough soundscapes that recalled the legacy of the US East Coast while simultaneously pointing to a possible future. In 2018, he wanted to explore these tensions as a solo artist for himself; on his debut album, he balanced lush productions with sharp storytelling - somewhere between a wise prophet and a well-read student who becomes a teacher himself.

However, over the years, his involvement with Pro Era diminished, and he began to collaborate with a fresh generation of New York MCs - artists who were less fascinated by the past of the East Coast and more by a modern future. The features on the 2020 EP Too Afraid to Dance tell this development: alongside Ka, a veteran of the New York underground, Navy Blue and Caleb Giles also appeared - two new torchbearers of the scene.

On A Forsaken Lover’s Plea, Chuck collaborates with a number of long-time companions, including Remy Banks, Joey Bada$$, and Erick the Architect - all artists with connections to the classic '90s New York sound, but without sounding nostalgic. The album does not yearn for the past but engages with it - time here is understood more as a drive than as a burden. Those who look at yesterday also look at themselves: after a decade of glorifying New York's golden era, he now turns his gaze inward - at a version of himself that he is slowly outgrowing.

In the title track - a conversation produced by Graymatter with hip-hop about flaws and tensions - he confesses: "Too G to take a knee" - not out of pride, but out of the patient determination that has brought him this far and will also pave his and the future path of New York rap. "I won't give up," he says. "Everyone talks about how much they love this or that rapper, or who their favorite is - but not me. I have to keep going."

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