There’s been a lot of great music that’s been released and we definitely have to talk about it. Arizona based artist West Hook released an album in February based solely on the subject of love titled ‘Love, Phoenix, & Other Delusions.’ With this project, West Hook sought to take the listener through a journey of love. The various types of love and ending in God’s love, the truest form of love, is what this project is all about. Let’s dive into this album.
The first song is titled “As You Like,” and we are greeted with a voicemail from a young lady pleading with West Hook about their relationship. She ultimately decided to end the relationship and then the song truly gets started. West Hook starts singing about love that’s lost and then he jumps right into rapping. West Hook talks about the life that he wants and the relationships he’s seeking to build. It’s clear from the album art that West Hook is an anime fan, and I caught some of the anime references he made in this first song, he mentions Inchiro and Ichigo. This is an interesting start to this project.
The second song is “Natural” featuring N!X and I like the way this starts. I don’t know the name of the song, but it feels like this song sampled either an anime or a video game, but I love the feel of it. We get some strings and then the drums hit. West comes in with some hard hitting bars like a mini-verse before jumping into the hook. West is talking about his aspirations in life and the things he wants to do in his career. He hits a nice cadence on the verse with some dope word play. On the second verse we have N!X come in with his auto tune soaked vocals. I didn’t think that would fit on this song, but I’m actually not mad at it. He also talks about his goals and aspirations but injects Jesus into it. I like the lines, “He came to Earth like an asteroid/ demons get killed in the blast zone and we going up like an alto.” I thought those were some pretty clever rhymes. The hook is the only thing that throws me off. It goes from his chain being “too froze” to having a crown which is actually his halo but his glow is all natural? It was like flexing in Jesus’ name, and I’m not too sure how I feel about that. Other than that, this is a good song.
The nostalgic part of me smiled as soon as I read the title of the third song “Purple Dragons.” If that means nothing to you, you may have missed out on one of the best iterations of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This is the version that ran from 2003 until 2009. In addition to the Foot Clan, there was a street gang that worked alongside them known as the Purple Dragons. The beat has an eerie feel to it as Hook gets into it. The premise of this song is that his demons and obstacles are Purple Dragons, meaning he’s going to defeat them easily. The Turtles almost never struggled when fighting the Purple Dragons, they were like entry level goons. West Hook brings a lot of aggression and passion to this song as he talks about folks not understanding his grind as an artist and being slept on. I like the bars, “I know there’s so many kids who want to be free, so I have to become a vigilante.” West doesn’t mind doing what others won’t do so that his folks can be free. The song closes with an audio bite from the TMNT 2003 show with Raphael telling someone that if they really want to be a Purple Dragon, then they need to get their butt kicked by a Ninja Turtle. Another good song in this album.
The fourth song, “Taiga,” finds a change of pace and tone for West Hooks as he dips into his crooning bag. “Taiga” is a love song over keys, strings, and drums. This song sounds like it could be about his relationship with the Lord or about a woman. Whoever this song is about, they mean a lot to West Hook. Taiga is the name of an anime character, so this may most likely be about a young lady. Next is the “Such a Light Interlude.” This finds the same young lady from the beginning of the album leaving West Hook a voicemail saying happy anniversary and how he’s such a light in her life. Their whole relationship has been like a fantasy and she can’t wait to celebrate with him. When you look at the context of the album, perhaps West stood her up and that’s why she’s done with him? There’s a bit of a story and unanswered questions here, which only adds to the album. Perhaps West is missing her and is replaying her message prior to the break up? I’m not sure, but I know that this interlude serves a purpose.
We come to the halfway point of the album with the song ”W.S. Luminary.” West Hook takes the classic idiom of letting his light shine and adds a trap update to it. As a West Side Luminary, West is determined to shine his light in the darkest parts of the city he lives in. West is eager to share the freedom he’s found in Christ with whoever will listen. I like this song and it brings the energy back to the album after “Taiga” and the “Such A Light” interlude. West keeps the train moving with the song “Rider.” West Hook is eager to find someone to ride with him on life’s journey. He’s interested in someone and thinks he needs to write her back. This whole song is a plea to a young lady as West lets her know why he’s the obvious and only choice for her. I really like how he ends this song, “Baby you gon see I got what other guys lack!” West Hook is talking his talk and presenting his case on this record and I’m not mad at it.
The next song is “Mai” and it’s a far cry from the previous song. West starts out with lines like, “I see through all the vanity/how can you see through all of the canopy?/ Girl I still love you, but your smile is damaging.” SHEESH. What happened, Hook? These last few songs have felt like a rollercoaster of emotions and West Hook is our tour guide. As West Hook is heartbroken, he asks what love is and seeks to find it. He inserts some anime yelling into the middle of the song and the. Transitions back to the hook. He knows that love will never drag him through the mud and he just wants to feel love on the inside.
As we turn the corner on the final portion of the album, we land on “Higurashi.” West Hook is deep in the trenches with his anime references, but “Higurashi” is referring to a video game series “Higurashi: When They Cry.” He lowkey confirms this on his first verse when he spits, “is it wrong when I say I start to feel better when they cry?” West is skating on this beat, which sounds airy with some nice drums on it. I like the lines, “Feeling like a blind champ, you can call me Toph.” I’m a sucker for some well placed Avatar the Last Air Bender bars. West Hook is dealing with inner turmoil and is lamenting on this track and I’m here for it.
Next, we have the song “Cerberus,” which is the shortest song on the album, clocking in at a minute and forty seconds. This song starts off with a message from the same young lady, only this time she sounds like she is grinning from ear to ear. In this message she says she is glad that West Hook finally asked her out. She wondered how long he was going to keep her waiting and she was looking forward to seeing him soon. I like how he starts this song off, “I’m just tryna get my chicken, but I get my head bit off when I ask for extra biscuits.” West is still dreaming but he’s also talking about his need for Jesus. I like how he says, “I need the whole Lamb, I can’t just settle for a chop.” Cerberus is a good song for West to vent his frustrations out and he does just that. “Rikka,” which has a more somber tone to it. This sounds like the song you play after the breakup. West remembers how things used to be when he was swept up in love. He’s lost control over his emotions whenever his love came around. The second verse finds Hook rapping about how he always wanted love and prayed for it and finally got it. It seems like once he focused on being holy that’s when he was blessed with the love he had been looking for.
The next to last song is called “Take My Heart” and it has a rock feel to it, which I like. This song sounds like a love song but when you listen, it really sounds like West Hook is calling out to Jesus to take his heart. He’s asking to see the light and be made brand new. Hook definitely showed a different side on this song, which is both surprising and dope at the same time. The album is brought to a close with “Veil Freestyle.” I like the sound of this song, it sounds like he sampled an anime and then decided to go ham on it! Hook got some things on his chest and made no bones about it with his opening lines, “I feel like the game lied through its teeth/when they said one song can land you a deal with Reach!” West got some bars off and then he gets to hear of it saying that it took two years for this album to come out. West is a man on a mission and he ends the project in a strong way with this song.
In conclusion, I had never heard of West Hook before this album review, and now he’s on my radar. He may have made me a fan with this project. One of the things I like the most about this album is the sound. There were no production credits for the project, but I believe that West Hook did most of if not all the production for this project. I like his use of samples and how the project had a complete cohesive sound without each song sounding the same. His use of anime references incorporated within the songs is done seamlessly and I really enjoyed it. West Hook is his complete self on this project and I am grateful for that. It’s very clear that he loves Jesus and anime, from the album art to the title font and aesthetic which is reminiscent of an actual anime title. It also seems that if you play the record from the bottom up, the interludes featuring the young lady make a lot more sense. It’s almost like the album is a live story that’s being told in reverse. Maybe I’m stretching it, but that could be something. West Hook is representing for Phoenix, Arizona and he’s definitely someone to keep your eyes on. If you are looking for a project that’s different from the average CHH album, then you need to check out West Hook’s ’Love, Phoenix & Other Delusions!’
