Self deprecation is not a common feature of many rappers. It’s even more uncommon when the subject of the deprecation is the rapper’s own music. It paints a pretty pessimistic view about the art, and the artist itself. But it’s also very honest and self-aware, two traits that separate Milo from nearly any other rapper.

Milo is the stage name of Rory Ferreira, a Wisconsin native. While many artists gloat their riches, skill, and flow, Milo elects to critically analyze himself. And while many artists elect to paint themselves an brainiac-type, “cool” nerds a la the characters in the Big Band Theory, Milo is a man genuinely interested in philosophy and thought, two things which bring him great joy (in one song he vows,”I’m going to put this big brain to good use/I’m going to write rap songs to find objective truths”) . His musical verses are more stream-of-consciousness rambles than calculated rhyme schemes, something that makes him often wish he was better at the art (“I just want to rap good and not sell breadsticks”).

In my favorite song, “Folk Metaphysics”, Milo simultaneously questions his own existence, while listing all of the things he wishes he could do better. He raps, “I’m going to be better than my father/I’m going to upload well edited pictures to Flickr/I’m going to eat a lot more Fig Newtons and sign petitions by women’s rights movements.” These are all very relatable, very idealistic, very “American Dream” aspirations. But, he ultimately concludes, these typical acts that presumably lead to happiness aren’t really for him: “I don’t know much about Being and Nothingness/But I might just be a being of nothingness.”

Very little in known about Milo, who also goes by Milo, Rapper or Milo Raps. One of his albums, “I Wish my Brother Rob was here”, is a clear play off rapper Del da Funkee Homosapien’s album “I Wish my Brother George was here”. But Del raps in a goofball, punchline style, completely different from that of Milo. It may be that Milo, his music, and his thoughts, will all remain much of a mystery. It may be, in fact, that the mystery makes his music that much more intriguing.