(Photo By Dreem Katcher Music)
Chicago emcee/producer International Maverick aka IMAV dropped another video from his Dreem Katcher project, this time for the record “Dear Maverick.” Serving as the ninth visual off of the project, the Mid-West lyricist continues to bring his rhymes to life on the screen in this new piece.
Handling the production himself on this song, IMAV keeps it pretty simple. The beat is built on a lush, cosmic synthesized pad, with a raising layer on every second bar. The drum loop is a basic snare and kick with a nice thump that acts as a heart beat of sorts to the intimate track. The beat isn’t overly epic but it serves its purpose for the record.
IMAV makes sure that we focus on his bars in this self reflecting song about his struggle within himself to believe in his Hip-Hop dreams. His delivery matches the tone of the song which is somber at times and he pours some heavy emotions into the lyrics. You feel him most with lines like: “Under my own influence, no collision. I just want my dreams to coincide with my ambitions. (…) It gets deep, I’m trying to keep my head above the water. Far from a saint, but yet and still I wanna die a martyr.”
Once again he teams up with director Work Nowitzki on the visual end and he captures the song’s essence very well. The most noticeable thing about the video is the shots that reflect themselves, almost forcing IMAV to look at “the man in the mirror.” He also spends every second alone, no matter the area, which alludes to the fact that he is within his own mind or thoughts at the moment. While I don’t know if the video needs to be in all black and white, it wasn’t a bad touch.
**Final Thoughts: Overall, it was a strong piece for IMAV and another solid effort from his project. The lyrics were strong and I didn’t hear any filler. While the video isn’t jaw-dropping, it does fit the song and adds more to the feeling of the theme. It’s good and made me want to hear more of IMAV, so it works. -Real McCoy
