Raahiim - BUT IF iiM HONEST (2023) Hi-Res

As RAAHiiM tells it, he’s not so much making records as continuing conversations. With BUT IF iiM HONEST, the Toronto singer/producer picks up thematic threads that stretch back all the way to his breakout 2019 single “Peak (Fed Up)” and his proper 2020 debut, ii KNEW BETTER, as he continues to construct a 360-degree, 3D portrait of his life and chart his transformation from teenage dvsn associate to a full-fledged R&B auteur in his own right. BUT IF iiM HONEST captures him in the midst of a quarter-life crisis: the career pressures have gotten more intense, the romantic entanglements have gotten messier and the dialogue has turned more brutally honest.

“Your twenties are a really awkward time, because you’re really still a teenager, but you’re a teenager with complete freedom,” RAAHiiM tells Apple Music. “And unless you have some form of rigid structure, you’re going to have more mistakes than successes. With this project, I wanted to work on my ability to be as truthful in the music as possible. The greatest writers—like Future or Drake or Frank Ocean—will say things that make you go, ‘Oh, shit—I didn’t think you could say something like that. I don’t think any other artist would be comfortable saying something that vulnerable out loud.’ So, I strived to just say the uncomfortable thing.”

However, thanks to RAAHiiM’s preternatural smooth croon and a kaleidoscopic production palette of foggy synth textures, chill boom-bap beats and subliminal guitar solos, BUT IF iiM HONEST makes all the drama feel like a dream.