Heroes for Sale is the debut studio album by American Christian hip hop artist Andy Mineo, released on April 16, 2013. It follows up Mineo's 2011 mixtape Formerly Known. Considered one of the most anticipated Christian hip hop albums of 2013, Heroes for Sale includes features from Lecrae, Trip Lee, KB, Christon Gray, Krizz Kaliko, and for KING & COUNTRY among others. Three singles were released for the album, "AYO!" on January 28, 2013, "Bitter" on March 5, 2013, and "You Will" on April 2, 2013. A music video for "AYO!" came out on January 31, a three-part webseries was launched on February 6, and a documentary entitled "Everything Must Go" was released on April 9. Lyrically, Mineo based the album concept around the brokenness of human heroes, and the album has a very transparent and personal tone. Stylistically, it mixes electronic-influenced hip hop music with a variety of other genres, including hymns, reggaeton, jazz, R&B, heavy metal, classical, dubstep, second line, acid jazz, psychedelic funk, and jack swing. The album debuted at No. 11 on the Billboard 200, No. 4 on Top Rap Albums chart, No. 1 on the US Top Christian Albums and No. 2 on the UK Top Christianhart. Read More Here
As solid as the production itself is, Mineo's crisp, high-pitched raps deliver as well with transparent, witty, and at times confrontational lyrics thematically centered around making sinful humans your heroes. At various times, he lays bare snippets of his testimony and personal struggles, ranging from regrettable past decisions ("Curious") to lust ("Shallow") to his relationship with his estranged father ("Bitter"). He also deals topics ranging from societal issues like human depravity ("Superhuman") and his relationships with non-Christians ("Wild Things") to the 116 Clique anthems "The Saints," with KB and Trip Lee, and "Uno Uno Seis" with Lecrae. The album finishes with a heavy-hitting trifecta of songs where he seems to turn up the dial on his passion, dealing with the harmful power of words in "Still Bleeding," the struggle to give up his "other gods" in "Tug-of-War," and the climactic brokenness-themed "Death Has Died."
There isn't one dull song or misfire in the entire 65 minute runtime of Heroes For Sale, proving that all the hype around the album was not unwarranted. That said, many might be thrown off by Mineo's transparency and bluntness (I think he could have used some more poeticism at times) and the overall darkness of the album. In addition, the heavy content leaves little room to breathe, making one think it would have been better if the album were shorter as to not get overwhelming. I also cannot say that much of the album's content, both lyrically and music-wise, is anything vastly different from what many are noticing to be the "Reach Records formula" (ei, God is good, people are sinful, the world is messed up, we need God), but Mineo's album is so vastly unique in other aspects that it is hardly a knock against it. In any event, Mineo's debut album is definitely a great start to the year for Reach Records, and it is a must-have for any Christian Hip Hop fan.
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