From the very start of his career, Black Sherif’s music has parsed complex emotions from the depths of his consciousness with a startling acuity that stood him out as the rare superstar with a cogent message for his generation. Whether channeling grief, confronting betrayal, or coming to terms with the end of a whirlwind romance, the Konongo native’s dexterous mastery of metaphors has carried deep personal significance but landed perfectly with a generation grappling with the exact emotions that course through Blacko’s music. On his sophomore album, IRON BOY, Black Sherif leans more into the dense, ruminative soul-inflected dispatches that established his profile as a relentless street preacher. Where The Villain I Never Was confronted and made sense of the unavoidable sense of nihilism that powered his breathless breakthrough, IRON BOY is a meditative status update on life since his 2022 debut. There are moments of exasperation, hopelessness, dreamy elation, and unadulterated subversiveness throughout the 43-minute runtime as the artist candidly articulates his innermost thoughts vis-à-vis the anxiety, desires, and fears of a generation that he unapologetically speaks to and for. Ultimately, these challenges are viewed through the prism of the experiences of living through unprecedented times and finding a way to work through the issues. On the opener, “The Victory Song,” he’s claiming a win as he deals with his challenges without losing his head: “Trouble in my soul, war with my mind/Keeping it together like the grown man I am,” he explains. For all his deconstruction of the wider world, Blacko does not lose sight of self, keenly trying to understand the factors that influence his decisions. He interrogates his persona and quirks on “One” and acknowledges that he’s still working through personal issues on “Soma Obi.” There are wholesome odes to the power of perseverance on songs like the Fireboy DML-featuring “So It Goes” and “Rebel Music” as well as lively cuts such as “Top of the Morning” and “Eye Open” that provide reminders of Blacko’s imperviousness. In many ways, IRON BOY sees Black Sherif walk into the light and allow himself the broadest embrace of his humanity while still making room for the haunting questions that poke at his soul.