From his early days to his featured appearance on Gully Boy to his current stint with the Divine-fronted Gully Gang, Mumbai-bred wordsmith MC Altaf has made quite a name for himself in recent times. Naturally, his newfound fame at a young age would compel him to “flex” a little every now and then.
But even while flexing, Altaf wishes to stay humble as is evident from his latest freeverse release titled Humble Rap, produced by DRJ Sohail. The title seems like an intentional pun on “mumble rap” while also evoking Altaf’s respect for his own humble roots.

He follows his typical flow to rap about toxic males in the scene with their “fake biceps”, small-time rappers hating on his million-view videos, blind followers of tyrannical governments, and many other themes scattered all over a freestyle-like layout.

While Altaf’s delivery is on point and he does try his best to not formulaic, his lyrics might come off as repetitive to a few listeners. The three-minute duration could also be trimmed by a few seconds considering how the song is a one-take freeverse without a hook to hold the listeners’ attention.

So, Humble Rap might not go down as one of Altaf’s best tracks but it still stands on its own as a worthy inclusion to his consistently maturing discography. Maybe, the rapper himself is very well aware of Humble Rap’s true nature and maybe, it’s a sign for a better and more accomplished version of himself.  As mentioned earlier, this is a perfect lyrical opportunity to showcase Altaf’s sense of achievement along with his call back to humility. Some of the bars might come off as derivative from other instance of Hindi rap but the overall product ends up taking over the flaws.

Verdict: A freeverse session that finds the MC delving into how far he has come.