Norf

*Norf* is the sophomoric album by Live Free rapper Norff. Released on July 2nd, 2021, it was lead by the singles She Ma Lady, Sanitize Your Hands, Mirror, Mirror, Fire, and Too Loud, as well as the Spring exclusive, Flexin' 2.

Following Life Is Rough, it explores Norff experimenting with rap and instrumentals in a sonically different way than its predecessor. The album was heavily teased by tease marketing, similar to UGK David's $EX $ELLS. Examples of this include the teasing of Shorty being a sequel prior to the album's release (on August 13th) and Forgive The Delay II receiving a release date of September 3rd (the first Forgive The Delay premiered about three weeks before the first album). Another major joking tease was the 'announcement' of Overmorrow tracks being released. In reality, when visiting Genius - where the tracks were released - you can see the album, its artwork, and release date.

Further promotion came on the June 29th installment of Twisted Tracklist in which the comments saw Live Free post "An album with an approved Mike tracklist is coming Friday!" Gee Mak, frequent Norff collaborator and feature on this album, replied with a heart emoji. It was officially announced in the afternoon of July 1st, hours before it's release with pre-save links for every platform.

The album was met with critical acclaim upon release for it's blending of radio friendly songs with thought provoking ones. It was followed by Overmorrow, which was a more "concise" sibling project of this, as this album at one point was intended to include thirty songs.

## Background

"Norf" was originally teased as an EP release by Norff and Barkhoff. The title came from a post made by the musician shortly after changing his name, which included one less "f". Barkhoff told Norff it would be a good title. When Norff got further in the process of finishing "Overmorrow", he realized that, despite promising thirty tracks for that album, it may be best to divvy up the tracks into two albums to fit better, and to tie together his singles that released prior and performed well commercially.

"Norf" was originally not being planned for release as early as it occurred, and it was Norff who decided to up the release date upon Barkhoff's approval, citing personal reasons and goals. Initially, the EP turned album would have seen a September released with Overmorrow following it in early 2022. Because of this, Barkhoff has stated his promoting wasn't always meant to be as teasing as it was.

Barkhoff appears on a remix to Sanitize Your Hands and is also listed as a Remix contributor for She Ma Lady (When I'm On Fire). Aside from that, he created the artwork - all 5 - and formed the tracklist. It was Barkhoff's idea to release the project to stores with different covers as it was something he had considered for projects prior but never had the time to do.

Track 12, entitled 12 Interlude, is a snippet from 12Digits upcoming album. Notably, 12Digits and 69ERRAS are listed as features, though their names changed to 12Digits and 69ERRAS shortly before the album's release. G Mak is still credited as Gee Mak, though his name changed, and his YouTube comment was under his old name, G-Mac.

## Marketing

"Fire" and "She Ma Lady" were released in an EP entitled "Double Feature" in August 2020. Barkhoff has since admitted that initially these were perceived as standalone singles, not belonging to an album. After seeing the success, however, Barkhoff urged Norff to include "She Ma Lady" and upon discovering the true meaning of "Fire" when creating Norff a Genius page, he urged him to include that song, too. "She Ma Lady" received a visualizer and a Remix EP which saw features from EmilyN and a beatmix by Barkhoff - it also debuted on radio stations, alongside UGK David's ROBIN WILLIAM$.

After releasing "Life Is Rough", Norff then released another single, "Mirror, Mirror", featuring Gee Mak. This was intended to be the first single off the forthcoming "Overmorrow". As Barkhoff received more songs for that project, he felt it would be an overly stuffed album with many themes and began working on splitting it between the album and what was then an EP entitled "Norf". "Sanitize Your Hands" followed shortly thereafter - intended to be released on the EP rather than as a single, Barkhoff was met with doubts, worrying it wouldn't be 'as impactful' due to COVID-19 becoming less prominent in news. This single also received a music video.

When Barkhoff received "Too Loud" as a single, he used it to promote new signees 69ERRAS and 12Digits. This video received a lyric video. After that, Norff suggested a June release, but Barkhoff urged at least two weeks between the album's last single and the album itself - settling on July 2nd. "Shorty" intended to be a single and announced as one, became part of a red herring marketing technique, as well as "Forgive the Delay II", both unintentional initially, according to Barkhoff. About a month prior to it's release, "Flexin' 2" was exclusively available as a single sold via Spring.

After the album "Overmorrow" being announced for a September release - further, and this time planned, red herring - it was soon revealed that the tracklist for "Overmorrow", released along with it's announcement, was for "Norf" when visiting the Genius page. Due to Barkhoff doing this on an anonymous account, he remained null over revealing anything publicly or for sure. Many considered the never-before-seen artwork too 'fake' to be real - a ploy Barkhoff intentionally did to make the album more 'ecstatic' during release, as he gave all streaming services their own unique cover. The album was formally confirmed six hours prior to it's release.

On July 6th, a music video for "Sky Falling Down" was released, directed by Barkhoff. It received mixed reviews for it's 'overbearing simplicity'.

## Artwork

Norf features five cover arts, with each being used for distribution to a single store. The first is a simple black background with the titles 'Norf' and 'Norff' on them. The second is an expansion and features the words repeated. The third is a mimick cover to "Overmorrow", Norff's upcoming third album, and bares the framework background with a blank CD disc above and chains blocking it off. The fourth cover features Norff's silhouette with the title displayed above his shoulder. The letters on this cover each contain writing pertaining to their letter ("F" says inside "Fuck It", for example). The fifth cover is another black background with the title and three stripes under it - an alternative version features no bearing of Norff's stage name. Another cover is an expansion of this one, with the font and stripes moved to look more like the outside emblems of a sports car.

## Tracklist

1. Sky Falling Down (ft. G Mak)
2. Fake It 'Til You Make It (ft. 12Digits & G Mak)
3. Make Everyday Friday (ft. 69ERRAS)
4. Striking Demon
5. Shorty (ft. Era)
6. She Ma Lady
7. Too Loud (ft. Era, Gee Mak, & Square Lee)
8. Flexin' 2 (ft. 12Digits & G Mak)
9. Murda (ft. 12Digits)
10. Do The Math (ft. 69ERRAS, 12Digits, & G Mak)
11. Fire
12. 12 Interlude
13. Hold Up (12Digits)
14. Believe What You See (ft. 69ERRAS)
15. Mirror, Mirror (ft. Gee Mak)
16. Somebody's Cold (ft. 69ERRAS)
17. Sanitize Your Hands
18. Everybody (ft. K.H.)
19. She Ma Lady - Remix (ft. EmilyN)
20. She Ma Lady (When I'm On Fire) - Remix (Prod. by Mike Barkhoff)
21. She Ma Lady - Radio Debut
22. Sanitize Your Hands - Remix (ft. Mike Barkhoff)

## Reception

Norf has amassed over 4,500 streams on Spotify in it's first three days, again breaking previous records and becoming the fastest selling debut week for a Live Free distributed musical release.

The album was met with critical acclaim, particularly for it's ability to blend radio friendly singles with personal and effective tracks amongst the backdrop. Singled out songs that weren't prior singles included "Sky Falling Down", "Make Everyday Friday", "Fake It 'Til You Make It", "Striking Demon", "Shorty", and "Believe What You See". Clarke Accloades lamented the album with a 'classic' label and declared it an improvement over the prior album.