South London’s Rae is back after a long hiatus with ‘Revival’.

For some Rae may be a new name, others know exactly what he’s about and ‘Revival’ is just a reminder of that. Rae came up during the same era as Stormzy, Bonkaz, Cadet and has worked with all three as well as a whole host of other names. He came up during the Hoods Hottest and MME era of South where the best talent was cutting their teeth and building a strong street buzz. He’s no slouch on the mic and had one of the most underappreciated mixtapes in memory in Don’t Love Me Too Late.

‘Revival’ is his first release in possibly over 6 years but it links him up with his trusted producer Pinero Beats again. Visuals are kept simple but clean by director FPVISIONS and keep you engaged without being distracted from the message of the track. The audio production is ethereal and does a lot without overcomplicating things by having too much going on. This helps for Rae to shine through on the track. He has lost the slight twang he previously had which had previously made his voice sound higher pitched than it was, he also seems to have got even clearer than before in his delivery. What he hasn’t lost is his ability to put words together, switch diverse flows, and tell a story. The phrase “form is temporary, class is permanent” comes to mind because ‘Revival’ shows that even after all this time Rae is beyond just talented.

On ‘Revival’ we get taken through some of Rae‘s journey whilst he wasn’t dropping music. We get it in that classic open book narrative way that make Rae so relatable. He says the things we’d expect someone in his position to think but wouldn’t publicly share. This mixed in with clever wordplay and delivered at a relentless pace make the track a dominant stamp of his return.

I’ve already seen a few comments about how Rae sounds like Cadet, and it’s a fair comparison. But people need to keep in mind they are cousins and both started around the same time, no one is copying each other on this occasion they’re both just cold.

As a fan of Rae ‘Revival’ was something I’d hoped for but wasn’t sure would happen. This should be the start of some very big things for Rae. He has promised that this is just the start, so keep your eyes peeled for more music coming sooner rather than later.