The Brave Has Tom MacDonald and Adam Calhoun Joining Forces to Create a Once-in-a-lifetime Album, But How Does Calhoun’s More Rugged Bars Combine with MacDonald’s More Produced Beats?
For this review, we’ve decided to follow the theme of blending two artists and instead blend two reviews. Since I’m (Greg) a bigger Adam Calhoun fan and Heather is a bigger Tom Macdonald fan, we thought this would be a nice tie-in to the album for this review. The scores given at the top of the article are our combined scores averaged.
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, onto the review!
Greg Wampler
I’ll admit it. I was a little nervous when I heard about Adam Calhoun making an album with Tom Macdonald. For one, I’ve always been a little leery of Tom MacDonald. Not that I didn’t like his music, but because I thought he was ONLY being controversial to grift and sell albums. Making an album with Adam places him into a different world where grifting isn’t worth doing.
That being said, the album is a massive hit in my mind. Some of these tracks should absolutely blow up the internet. For now, the album has only been released physically, but March 1st it drops digitally. I believe a few tracks may be for physical only, but you can hear a small part of all of these tracks in the sample compilation at the top of the article.
If you liked the prereleases “WhiteBoyz” and “New World Order” you will absolutely love tracks like my favorites “In God We Trust,” “Bad Guy” and “A Prayer.”
The track “Bad Guy” has some of the best bars from Calhoun I’ve heard to date and the rhythm, beat and production from MacDonald and Nova Rockafeller are phenomenal. The production level that I was worried about Calhoun fitting into never really bothers me. There may be a track or two that I think would have been better without him, but overall, they all work. If you didn’t know, Calhoun has always been more of a rugged artist. MacDonald’s and Rockafeller’s production is always more smooth and crisp. The two combining their sounds is definitely different, but I always tend to like different.
Take the track “A Prayer” for instance. Another one of my favorites, this track has a pretty awesome sample being used as part of the beat and rhythm which I can only guess is Nova Rockafeller’s voice used for the sample. It’s a very different song to have Calhoun drop bars for, but it works. It works extremely well and it’s a catchy track.
Now, my absolute favorite slow track is “In God We Trust.” I know this track is going to divide. Many might not like how popish it is, but it’s very well done with an amazing message. Also, the fact that they snuck Struggle Jennings into this track was an amazing touch. Struggle is another one of my favorite independent artists. But, this song really hits home to me. Every word, bar and beat just hits me. Listen to a sample to see what I’m talking about.
See what I mean? The chorus is also well done with Rockafeller and MacDonald teaming up. It’s a true callout of the lies and deceit of the world and the only thing we are asking for is, freedom.
The rest of the tracks are great in their own right. You’ll get your Eminem-like beat in “Free World” and your quick, fast and nothing-like-anything-else track in “Fire Emojis” where even Madchild drops some guest bars. Speaking of Madchild, you can also hear him in the remix/reimagining of “Whiteboyz” called “Whiteboyz II.” By the way, you want to hear some of Calhoun’s fastest flow? It’s definitely on “Fire Emojis.”
Tracks “Back and Forth” and “The Story” really show off the differences and how well they really due mesh when done right. “The Story,” by the way, is a rap about the story of how Adam and Tom got together. It’s inspiring and shows not seeing eye-to-eye isn’t everlasting and can lead to something amazing.
Heather Wampler
It’s the collaboration we didn’t know that we wanted.
Adam Calhoun and Tom Macdonald have finally teamed up for one of the best albums I’ve heard in a very long time. The Brave
Now, if you’re the type who is seriously offended by extremely patriotic people this is probably not the music for you.
Tom, a Canadian born rapper who seems to love America more than a lot of people actually born here. He’s provided us with some amazing hits such as “Brainwashed”, “Dummies”, “Snowflakes”, and “Whiteboy”.
Whiteboy was a great song when it was just Tom, but the new album The Brave has a new version. “Whiteboyz” featuring none other than Adam Calhoun.
The first time I heard this particular song I was on the fence. The video was not something I normally enjoy, but it grows on you.
A common theme throughout the entire album is the rivalry between Macdonald and Calhoun. Which is why I never expected this collaboration to happen. They explain the entire situation in “The Story”.
There are two songs in particular that I am completely obsessed with. I have them on repeat. “New World Order”, which they released before the album released physically and “Bad Guy”.
In “New World Order” they call out the hypocrisy of the left and how you’ll be canceled for doing the exact same things they do and they know it.
“Bad Guy” we hear Macdonald and Calhoun spitting their lines back and forth discussing how they’ve both been labeled bad guys for different reasons and how they’ve overcome the reputations that they were given.
While I have been labeled a bad guy in different situations, I’m not trying to overcome my label. My bad guy label comes from my conservative, outspoken views and that’s something I’m proud of.
If you’re familiar with anything that Macdonald has put out you would know that he doesn’t hide the fact he’s struggled with addictions in his past. “Let Me Go” touches on the difficulties he had cutting off people from that part of his life.
Again something that so many of us can relate to,
Even if you aren’t the type of music lover who pays attention to the words, the beats throughout the track do not disappoint. There is something for everyone whether you love the softer songs or you want something harder that you can bop your head to throughout. The music really hits you in the soul and feels like it was written for you even though they’re talking about themselves.
And with that, the end comes for this review. We hope you enjoyed our thoughts on this album. We both love it and we both blast it any chance we get, but now we want to know your thoughts in the comments below.
Thank you for reading.
