- NOWTRODUCTION
1nce Upon A Time Called “NOW” is a fable: a parable of hard work. A tale of 10,000 hours, and then some. But this isn’t an epic of old, it’s a narrative of “NOW”. It took al.divino nearly 100 projects and a decade of work to arrive at 1nce Upon A Time Called “NOW” and it stands as the most important album divino has crafted in his classic career. Yet, it could not have been made any earlier or any later; it had to be “NOW”, for it is ‘the only time that ever will exist’, as stated on the ‘NOWTRO’, by the oracle, A.A. Rashid.
At 30 tracks, many of which with beat switches, attempting to analyse the album in shorthand would not only be a disservice, but an impossibility. Fully produced, mixed, mastered, and recorded by al.divino: its sound is wholly singular and vast. Its themes are macro and require microscopic attention to fully understand through the eyes of one of the genre’s greats. The way I see it, 1nce Upon A Time Called “NOW” is enlightening on 4 major ideas: legacy, art, life, and death. Topics which have been present throughout divino’s discography, but feel truly synthesised and distilled in each brush stoke that composes the full painting of 1nce Upon A Time Called “NOW”.
- LEGACY AND ART
It doesn’t take long listening to 1nce Upon A Time Called “NOW” to start piecing together al.divino’s aesthetic ethos: see track 2, ‘DESIGN LANGUAGE (PERFECTIONISM IS OVERRATED)’.
‘Rational is real, reality is surreal, signature fingerprint, perfectionism is overrated, what’s important to you, huh?’
I’ve often found the art of al.divino to be a clash of the real and surreal, it’s his ‘signature fingerprint’ after all. And where there is a clash, imperfection is to be found in all its beauty. divino has mentioned in interviews (See DEF Magazine #2) that his intention is to be organic in the creation and delivery of his art in all its forms. Lessons of life and history are to be learnt in order to hear the truth in the music. Simultaneously, truth is stranger than fiction – its surreal. To me, the works of al.divino express that fact better than anyone has, and in that, is the necessary acceptance of imperfection as the real and surreal combine. Take the beat of this track and divino’s method of tackling his own masterful production, delivering the very bars which sparked this paragraph: bugged out, glitching, chopping, stopping, starting. Despite this, divino is quick witted and inevitable, an unstoppable force, dragging the beat along with his language, by design.
The question ‘what’s important to you, huh?’ still sticks with me though. If we’re still talking art, what’s important? Is it the money? Or is it the legacy? Well, why can’t it be both? First thing’s first, ‘MONEY CHASE THE ART’, not the other way round. That’s a given. But to not reflect on the creative act as not just something one does for the sake of it, but to change the fortunes of your kids, would be ignorant.
‘Dreaming of credit lines, better cribs, better living, better life for my kids than I did, you dig?’ (‘JUDAS’)
Over the course al.divino’s tenure as one of hip-hop’s true renaissance men, he has given unto us too many classics to count, at prices that are self-aware of the art they unlock, and allows divino to build for “NOW” and the future; something DSP pennies can’t do. 1nce Upon A Time Called “NOW” is no different.
‘Why If I charge $1,000 for a tape, it’s offensive? Why can’t it just be expensive? Rap don’t come with a pension’ (‘FUCK BEING FAMOUS’)
The value of art is a much-debated topic, but to me, it boils down to something to the effect of “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. YOU may not want to pay $1,000 dollars for the tape (you’re be missing out mind you; might want to get your eye checked), but to be offended by it? Come on, your twitter fingers aren’t going to make it any cheaper.
Even worse, to claim that the price of 1nce Upon A Time Called “NOW” has something to do with ego? I can tell that you haven’t heard the album. The track ‘BENT SPOONS’ is a watershed moment, not just for the album, but possibly for al.divino’s career. At track 15, it splits the album in half, and will do this review too, revealing a vulnerability that I don’t know if we have heard before, at least not to this extent. Discordant percussion pans the plain, a crushing, crunching crash double backs on itself in the distance while tolling chimes echo in al.divino like we’ve never heard him before.
‘Wonder how I’ma be remembered lord, did I do enough? Did I do too much? Did I do it right? Did I fuck it up? Am I lost? Am I losing sight? Am I moving too slow? Or too much of a rush? Intangibles. Wise man once told me, you both the question, and the answer, truth has no one form, the one who ask the dumb questions, won’t be dumb long, we gon’ be ight, long as the sun warm, even if the money gone, we got us, fuck ‘em all’
Referring again to the interview I mentioned earlier, divino makes his opinion on legacy very clear: “The possibility of having a life after my life. Living longer than my physical expiration date. That’s what this shit is all about.” And while I know I won’t be the final judge, I think that I can say with confidence that al.divino has done more than enough, not too much, in just the right amount of time, and has never sounded as focussed as “NOW”.
- LIFE AND DEATH
The only problem with legacy is this: it requires death, however great the life is. But I’m using the word ‘death’ a bit disingenuously here. To interpolate Banksy, or Hiriluk, or some ancient Egyptian wisdom: you don’t die when your heart stops beating, but when someone says your name for the last time. Legacy, therefore, is the time between your last breath and the last recounting of your memory. That is a ‘2ND LIFE’.
‘Legacy all I think about these days, tryna be remembered right, death like a second life, why we put this work in every night, in these dark times, spread light’
Chopped to perfection, the beat of ‘2ND LIFE’ is centred on an uplifting vocal sample that ascends with the chords, laced throughout to emphasise the beauty of memory and legacy in the face of what that which defines legacy: death. Strength in the face of death is not an uncommon idea in al.divino’s art. Yes, his art is ‘not just gun raps’ (‘JUDAS’), instead fulfilling a ‘duty to drop jewels’ (‘JUDAS’), but that doesn’t mean the scent of death of at the hands of street violence doesn’t linger. Released on divino’s 30th birthday, 1nce Upon A Time Called “NOW” reflects on the fact that despite the circumstances, al.divino survived to create a legacy in art through his life.
‘Thinking I wouldn’t even get to see 30 before I exit’ (‘BETTER KNOW BETTER’)
Harkening back to ‘2ND LIFE’, we not only better understand al.divino’s intention with his legacy, but of the life which has shaped his art and forms the legacy he will have. And here, we are met with the most pivotal character on the album, and seemingly in divino’s life: his mother.
‘You never held your mother pain like it was yours, ain’t one of ours for sure, too selfish, we share cuz we all we ever had, absentee dads, father means further’
Moving ahead to the second half of the project, I want to focus in on another pivotal track that stands shoulder to shoulder with the watershed ‘BENT SPOONS’ as discussed earlier, that is track 18, ‘LOOK MA, WE MADE IT!’. Plucked guitar strings dance over a dense thicket of percussion, sporadic keys, and the odd angelic vocal snippet. Eventually, the keys break through, oscillating and warping in a trance, making way for the star feature on the album, al.divino’s mother. The production, like on all of the tracks on 1nce Upon A Time Called “NOW” is mind bending and often rule breaking, just further testament to divino’s talent as a master of the craft. Throw in the fact that the entire project is recorded and mixed immaculately on a Model 12 and you can start to appreciate the full sound of the project in all its singular rawness.
‘First car I drove, Porsche Panamera, Tone lost his L, needed a lift on the low, so he ain’t even know, I was 16 years old… soon to learn there’s bumps in the road, blind curves and tolls’
Through life interpreted as an extended metaphor, divino details his adolescence as a time of learning: when you drive yourself, you see the dangers that follow. It is not always easy going.
‘Not a naïve, but I was once, betrayal like a knife to the gut of ya soul, but know who’s who, and what’s what, if nothing changes, nothing grows’
The tales of betrayal, gaining wisdom from experience: divino drops jewels as his duty dictated. Even better than that, divino allows us to hear the voice who raised him well to be man and artist he is today. This moment between al.divino and his mother is my favourite on the album and can bring a grown man to tears. Transcribing it will ruin it, so just listen it, and give thanks to al.divino for sharing it.
- NOWTRO
Life is a learnt skill on 1nce Upon A Time Called “NOW”, something best understood through curiosity and the love of family, be that blood or not. A.A. Rashid, King Asiatic Allah (R.I.P.), Reggieknow, Estee Nack, and al.divino’s own mother all play a role in telling the story of one of the greats. A life which informed some many of the best projects to come out of the genre in the past decade, including 1nce Upon A Time Called “NOW”. A ‘2ND LIFE’ is most certainly secured with this project; a legacy that will ring out into the universe indefinitely.
Put simply and contradictorily, 1nce Upon A Time Called “NOW” is not a fable: it is a life’s story of hard work. An expression of 10,000 hours and then some. But this isn’t a life of luck, but an act of fate. Truly, the most important album al.divino has released… so far.
‘Look ma, we made it… not a fable, this fate’