BIG SCARR PROVES HE HAD SO MUCH MORE TO GIVE ON POSTHUMOUS ‘THE SECRET WEAPON’

Just a few months shy of his 23rd birthday, Big Scarr’s Alexander Woods passed away from an unintentional drug overdose. The rapper from South Memphis had a booming, raspy voice—a mature croak typically associated with a life of squalor.

He rapped frequently in a muted, detached tone and carried himself with a certain weight. Tragic events characterized Scarr’s brief existence. He and his eight siblings resided with their grandmother until she died of lung cancer when he was 13 years old. When he was 16 years old, a serious car accident sent Scarr flying through the glass, causing injuries to his face. He was wounded in the hip at age 20 but the bullet entered his abdomen and nearly killed him.

After cousin Pooh Shiesty alerted 1017 head honcho Gucci Mane to Scarr’s abilities, Scarr’s brief career really got going. He was exposed to the larger rap scene through the street hymn “SoIcy Boyz,” a depressing but chugging street anthem with Shiesty and Foogiano. Scarr more than held his own with two of 1017’s biggest characters amidst the somber acoustic guitar samples and mean-mugging 808s, establishing his standing as an artist on the rise.

On his first two tapes, Big Grim Reaper and its deluxe follow-up, Big Grim Reaper: The Return, he laid out his strategy. A mesmerizing take on early 2010s Chicago drill, a wild-eyed frenzy of modern Michigan rap, and spacey Atlanta trap all combine to create this interpretation of legendary Memphis trunk music. It’s enough to state that the music is ominous.

Just a few months after Scarr passed away, The Secret Weapon was released with the intention of catapulting him to greater heights. The CD keeps his pessimistic attitude, although it’s not as relentless as his previous two tapes. It was Scarr’s attempt to diversify his sound; anxious to expand his musical vocabulary, he spends the majority of the album’s lengthy running time exploring with various styles.

Most of the time, it works. Scarr was a talented emcee with a merciless flow who transformed fellow Memphian Lord Infamous’ triplets into a threatening growl. He occasionally employs adlibs as a delay to simulate the effects of Percocet, the narcotic he casually mentioned using in his raps.

Synthetic horns and piano are prominently used on the album, often masked by rumbling rhythms. Some of these songs—in particular, “Try Being Me” and “Not In My League”—have a tendency to blend together a little bit as the production’s moving components contend with Scarr’s delivery’s constant tumble. On The Secret Weapon, his strongest work appears when he chooses a less maximalist sound, selecting beats that simmer with intensity rather than erupt into pandemonium.

The early album standout “Trappin N Rappin” features Gucci Mane and Scarr gliding over smeared synth loops throbbing over a frolicking trap rhythm. All of the factors combine to form storm clouds, but Scarr sounds strangely calm and ready for the impending downpour. It’s among Weapon’s most suspenseful scenes.

The greatest song on the album, “Understanding,” exploits Pusha T’s It’s Almost Dry-inspired white knuckle sound. Rimshot snares and a menacing voice loop are combined in the calm and unsettling beat of Hey Twon and Xay W. Da Play’s song. It is constantly on the verge of unraveling but manages to stay firmly curled. Scarr sounds particularly creative when he says in the introduction that he is “trying different shit.” He adopts a pensive, swinging delivery while rapping. The dismal “Understanding” describes how Scarr’s constant consumption of Percs has left him feeling hungover after passing asleep on the couch in his spacious, new home. Scarr’s terrifying closing phrase, “fuck everybody, I’m finna go ghost,” brings an unsettling conclusion to one of his darkest and most potent songs.

The Secret Weapon would be an intriguing blip in Big Scarr’s career, a transitional record with moments we could look back on as the seeds of a developed sound, if life were even quite fair. That’s not the case, though. The young, bright artist lost his life to the cruelties of existence before he even had a chance to discover his talents.

https://open.spotify.com/album/1UJT

Instead, what we have is a riveting account of a musician who wanted to convey his perplexing, all-consuming sorrow, make the abstract real, and ultimately produce art he could be proud of. The Secret Weapon is a difficult but rewarding listen that is inconsistent but never heartless.