When you think of fire, what do you think of? Do you think of the warmth of sitting by the fireplace on a winter night? The flames on a stove for cooking your favorite meals. Or even the 2025 California wildfires or any fires you have read about in history books?
Well, what if I told you that fire can exist in many other forms, especially when it comes to music? That is the case with Novatore’s 2024 project “The 87 Arsonist”. Novatore is an artist who I have listened to for some time now. During the 2020s, I have really become accustomed to more underground artists who are really shaped by their personal experiences and their amazing lyrical abilities. I prefer his discography from Embrace The Darkness onward because that is when he started to really grow on a lot of people, especially during the pandemic.
As an artist, Novatore raps about a lot of themes, from the struggles and pitfalls of life on the streets of his home city of Chicago to the true meaning of success – earning it rather than being granted it. More recently, he signed to Goon Musick, the label of the iconic German underground hip hop production team Snowgoons, after going solo for some time. Just today, I finished transcribing his first work upon signing to the label, The 87 Arsonist, which goes to show how “fire” of an artist he is, in terms of lyricism and beats from iconic producers such as C-Lance and Stu Bangas; all the tracks have fire-related imagery to them.
The album kicks off with a “fire” intro called “Ronald Bartel Intro” which is from the movie Backdraft, which has an arsonist named Ronald Bartel gloating to protagonist Shadow about his love for fires. Then things kick off with “Flammable Material”, which has Novatore gloating to his opposition about how they will be needing all sorts of burn medication from all of his fire-themed bars (“Fire breather, Charizard the way I’m spittin’ flames” as well as the burn victim imagery ones are my favorites) over an eerie beat from C-Lance Then, C-Lance returns with a sinister and hauntingly cold boom-bap beat for “Backdraft” with Lord Goat of Non Phixion demonstrates how the two help add fuel to the fire like oxygen, Novatore with his lyrical skills and Lord Goat with his dark, violent imagery. Afterwards, “Point of Origin: The Biography of John Leonard Orr” has Novatore portraying himself as and recapping the story of the titular “87 Arsonist” who became the most prolific arsonist in American history over a haunting and prideful beat produced by Stu Bangas.
“Pyromaniacs” with Celph Titled of AOTP then switches things up with both of them demonstrating how fire their lyrics are over another sinister boom bap beat produced by C-Lance.”All Consuming” with Toronto’s own Daniel Son of BBM demonstrates how their lifestyles consume them like flame destroying a house – Novatore through eating a lot, while Daniel Son lives a life of luxury, with Johnny Slash’s sinister keys, kicks and snares. Slash then returns for “Burning Monk” with frequent collaborator and fellow Chicagoan Moecyrus compares them both to Thích Quảng Đức, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk who burned himself, by showing that they reject conformity and institutions of authority.
Next, “Waking Up To Fire” shows how Novatore always views sleep as fuel for his incredibly “fire” lyrics over an inspiring C-Lance beat, whereas “Incendiary Device” with fellow frequent collaborator and Chicagoan A.M. Early Morning demonstrate how explosive and inflammatory they are as a tag team; Johnny Slash returns to the beat for this one (and also did all the beats for their joint project Kingdom of Criminality II this year). Finally, “Sent from Hell” feat. Benny Holiday produced by Snowgoons themselves closes out things by shamelessly conveying their path of flame and destruction will never stop over a revolutionary war-style beat, although I do wish Benny Holiday had a whole verse rather than just a hook, he is very underrated as a lyricist.
Overall, this is yet another amazing installment in Novatore’s library; he has proven himself to be a very gifted lyricist in the underground right now. Joining up with Snowgoons has only improved his craft as this is him at his most darkest and starts a new chapter in his career by reminding his followers how “fire” he always is.
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