Mustafa
When Smoke Rises
Regent Park Songs
Buy via Official Store | Listen Below
Music that tackles an inner city, urbanized life of violence and drug related gang life is nothing new. Rap music (although far from exclusively) in particular has mined a rich seam in telling the stories of those closest to “the game” and its associated characters and horrific details. Too often though, these tales are told through a lens of bravado and machismo—a glorified toxic masculinity of street life.
Mustafa (or Mustafa The Poet, as he is sometimes monikered) could not be further from that cliché as his debut album When Smoke Rises ably demonstrates. Having written for some big hitters (The Weeknd, Jonas Brothers and Shawn Mendes) and had his poetry work highlighted by Drake, anticipation for his own work was always likely to be high. But this debut exceeds any and all expectations.
Along the way, he’s supported by a couple of names that give some context and clue to the direction the album takes. James Blake and Sampha both appear and there is something of both of them in Mustafa’s approach. There is the sparseness and simplicity of Blake’s gentle hum of understated electronic accompaniment and the emotional fragility of Sampha, with whom Mustafa also shares a memorable and deeply affecting vocal tone.
“Stay Alive” opens the album and it exhibits all the qualities replete through the rest of the album. A gentle acoustic guitar line gives way to his lyrics: “A bottle of lean, a gun in your jeans / And a little faith in me / A plane in the sky, the only starlight / On this never ending street / The cameras and cops, we could’ve been stars / On our mothers news screens.” These six lines embody the troubadour’s heart that beats in his chest—the lightly poetic metaphor, the sardonic implications of being “stars” and the inherent emotional heft of the whole, all told via his warm yet emotionally brittle voice.
When later, he follows this up with “Just put down your bottle, tell your sorrows / I care about you fam,” it is clear that a stark humanity and sense of brotherhood runs through Mustafa and that he is unafraid to confront the stark dangers and big emotions that come into play without recourse to toxic traits that might creep in elsewhere.
On “Air Forces,” he pleads with his friend through unbearable sadness and the seeming inevitability of trouble and death: “Don’t crease your Air Forces / Just stay inside tonight / You know what’s happening outside… / And I tell you how I feel / In case it's the last time.” The combination of the poignant lyrics and his delicate delivery is a powerful concoction that grabs hold and doesn’t let go.
The same sense of sadness flows like tears through “Separate.” Once again, a simple piece (albeit with slight refrains of what I’m going to assume, given his heritage, are Sudanese lyrics) lets Mustafa’s lyrics shine and his deeply emotional voice take center stage, in lines like, “You know everyone I touch / Never makes it through / Will you make it through?”
The same pattern is set for the rest of the impressive album. There’s the heartbreak and internal conflict of “The Hearse,” as he wrestles with the loss of a loved one and the desire to throw his life away in an act of revenge. Meanwhile the piano-led piece “Capo” finds Sampha and Mustafa grappling with life and “grieving the birth of a new day” in an existence riven with challenges.
Perhaps the strongest song on the album though is “Ali.” A heart-breaking reflection on the loss of a friend to violence, its electronic heartbeat pulses strongly and dies away throughout the song. The grief and emptiness grabs with a vice-like grip, as his voice cracks and strains to contain the strength of feeling.
This album, at just 8 songs lasting a grand total of 24 minutes, keenly exemplifies the old showbiz adage “leave ‘em wanting more.” It is brief but beautiful and avoids the many pitfalls of overstuffed, guest-laden epics. The message is sharply focused, deeply moving and all the better for it. It offers an emotionally bold counterpoint to so much of the violent narrative that started with the blues and continued through musical traditions into rap music. In processing his pain in this way, Mustafa allows others to heal too.
Notable Tracks: “Air Forces” | “Ali” | “Stay Alive”
BUY When Smoke Rises via Mustafa’s Official Store
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