I first came in contact with 888 Producer when he sent me a copy of his composition “There is Always Light,” a piece that sounded relatively dark in comparison to its name. After chopping it up with the producer, I was informed that “There is Always Light” is the transition portion of his project The Mind. Essentially, it’s the darkness within the light that the human mind goes through when processing an event. With that new information, I jumped headfirst into The Mind to see if the analysis rang true.

For the most part, it did because the project does start off relatively pensive and dark. The first several beats feel like how the end of Evangelion looked–minus needing brain bleach to make sense of it. Instead, the instrumentals’ names give a hint to the mood one should expect over the course of the project proper. 888 delivers an excellent introduction to his body of work throughout this project. It’s a solid collection, one that defies the concept that mostly instrumental hip-hop albums can’t tell stories as well as albums with lyrics. After getting through the project, I’ve got to recommend it and say to support dope music in all its forms.