Decora
Friends Take Time
(ALVB Records)
Newburgh rapper Decora’s accomplishments as an activist and community steward—in urban agriculture, carceral reform, youth-uplift spheres—arguably transcend his robust, stirring oeuvre as a recording artist and performer. Concise by hip-hop standards, his new album covers considerable ground, nonetheless. Frenetic to a fault, what it lacks in cohesion is surmounted by force of will; an exhilarating, often irrepressible ride. Decora’s social-justice ethos surfaces only obliquely. Instead, Friends Take Time is grounded intimately in relationships’ authentic embodiment, what makes them endure. There’s lot of love in that.
The balance between profundity and pop (call it hip-hop emo) can be uneasy: “Keep It Real” and “Fade”’s anodyne, even banal, inspirational nostrums launch the set. Well-intentioned but not incisive, they fizzle. Production throughout is maybe too pristine, a bit tinny. Sometimes Decora tries on lyrical hats, plays a character, and it’s an awkward fit: “Nice and Easy” has a Dirty South bounce, but is goofier, nerdier. “Momento”’s comically surreal, free-associative, ultimately non-sequitur lyrics feel retreaded. But the album settles into place midway, finding defining moments. “Low Low” is a potent amalgam of beats, flow, wit, and well-honed lyrical craft, Decora’s undulating yogic breath propelling chameleonic delivery. “Parents” hews to pointillist diaristic detail, embedded in storytelling over sparse arpeggiated piano. Can Catskills hip-hop be essential, urgent? Decora convinces as a passionate and inventive artist but doesn’t forge a singular regional style. And yet, while the album might be musically ambivalent, this expansive, eclectic ambition can be thrilling. An admirably flawed foray, its dizzying whirl elevates.
This article appears in January 2026.
