“Soul Train” YBN Nahmir (2021)

By Vincent Okyere

6,000 people hit the like button on this top comment: “The sound engineer who had to listen to the raw vocals needs a Medal of Honor.” The average consumer might regard this comment as distasteful, but if they’ve heard “Soul Train” by YBN Nahmir, this comment seems like an understatement. Unlike the groovy, historic musical show that bears the same name, YBN Nahmir marked the beginning of his fall off with a dreadful tape that pierces the ears and leaves an insulting stain on all pop and rap music. The beat is straight out of the clean playlist that would underscore my traumatic summer working at Five Below, and the autotune is gut-wrenching, to the extent that it's hard to believe the song was engineered. Nahmir’s worst enemy seems to be a metronome, and his greatest friend seems to be torture. Like his successful YBN counterpart Cordae once said, “Have mercy” on us, Nahmir.