Imperial was both his finest work to date and his best received. The brief, breathless album showcases his near- peerless technical skill along with a newfound maturity in his songwriting. "I was going through a dark time," Curry says now of the time that birthed Imperial. So he challenged himself to find a radical level of transparency. "The whole theme of that tape is just being honest—exposing myself before anybody else does, talking about my past, talking about where I'm heading to."