In the throngs of success, trust becomes tested among friends. Sometimes, that test extends to trusting yourself. Since 2013’s Nehruvia debut, Bishop Nehru has written from this headspace, inspecting everything through smoky palettes of 90’s hip hop.
On ‘Too Lost,’ Nehru finds himself in isolation, reflecting on his own life before being visited by two internal voices; one of his inner-child preaching to his jaded state and the other of a grizzled future self, scolding him for not taking more chances. Both of these verses are delivered a few semi-tones off from Nehru’s regular voice, lending to the idea of these voices being spiritual entities of the self.
The Kendrick-frequented device of the pitch-shifted super-ego isn’t the only voice imbuing a bitterness inside of the beat. In the past, Nehru’s bars have often been bookended with snipped soundbites of interviews and movie lines, such as “fear is greater than love” and “be to yourself, stay to yourself, trust nobody – trust nobody.”
This time, it’s a sampled “Boy, you in the wrong place with the wrong one” that slides through the mix, a sample that itself seems to chastise Nehru for his every wrong turn. The track is nostalgic, a little forlorn, and anxious, hitting feelings of pressure within a grouped-vocal hook that sways with the same emotions of longing and caution that many of his songs’ vocal samples share.
DJ Premier’s production has a higher fidelity to it than what some may expect from Nehru, with boom-bap drums and operatic piano notes taking my first thoughts to something from Dr. Dre. Over the beat, Nehru’s dissatisfaction is driven home with a resilient sense of searching – he’s not been destroyed. And through his perspective of noting the opinions of both his past and future selves, Bishop Nehru casts a light on the value of being hyperaware of your direction and goals as you live day by day.
Words by Luke Deitz
