Sheesh this album flew COMPLETELY under my radar.
So yeah, I’m a bit late on this one admittedly – like seriously, I didn’t even register that this album came out at all – however I’m really glad I decided to go back to it, because this album goes super hard. The samples THE FRICKING SAMPLES ON THIS THING are music to my ears, like this is exactly the type of thing I love in rap music. The beats are super clean with just the right amount of dirty (forced breaking bad reference check) and are all super memorable – this is like an album made of those songs that get stuck in your head for days and just refuse to leave.
Case in point the opener ¨Sometimes¨ where the sampling really shines through – it’s like going through a portal. Honestly I just wish the song was longer. ¨Cheat Codes¨, the next song, has a similar vibe to the last one, except this time around the emphasis is on the keys which make the song sound more i guess dirty – I will complain though, even for the shorter runtime of this song, nothing really changes throughout – I just wish there was like a beat switch or something because I think it would really make the song pop out more – still a great track though, just kind of uneventful. ¨The Darkest Part¨ picks thing up a bit, the angelic chorus hits super hard and compliments the rap verses pretty well, however the same criticisms I had with the last song also apply here (even though the core tune is so good that here it’s not as big of an issue, however there is a pattern growing here) – it’s more of a nitpick really but the song barely changes throughout it’s entire runtime and I just wish there was more to it you know. It’s really intresting because the album feels like a not so all over the place Madvilliany (which is a compliment, however the unpredictability of that album is exactly what I love so much about it, so I guess it’s just the element of surprise that’s missing here – it’s more like a collection of banger songs, which is by no means a bad thing, but at least for me as the days went by it kind of lost the replayability aspect a little bit, because I felt like I got the most out of it already – anyways sorry about this little rant here, let’s keep going with the review). Well funily enough the next song „No Gold Teeth“ sounds like something straight out of Madvillainy – the really dirty bass with all the instrumentation surrounding it, just something about it screams that album to me. „Because“ with Joey Badass, Russ and Dylan Cartlidge in the mix is one of my personal favorites from this album, the way the chorus is sung is just super orgasmic to me, so it’s really no wonder that it’s the most well performing song from this album. Also while we’re still on the topic of Madvillainy -the next song is „Belize“ with the one and only MF DOOM (rest in peace obviously) doing a posthumous feature and man does this song just hit different. DOOM’s verse makes it feel like the guy never really left, the man absolutely owns this track. Definetly one of my favorites here for sure. Speaking of favorites „Aquamarine“ sure is another one – the beat goes hard, the lyrics are raw and delivered agressively, it’s the whole package! „Identical Deaths“ is honestly kind of forgetable – at least relatively to the rest of the album. I appriciate the message of the song and the instrumental switch up towards the end, however I just think there could have been more done with the song, feels kind of underbaked. The same can’t however be said about the next song „Strangers“ with fricking A$AP Rocky AND Run The Jewels?? Christmas really came early this year (I did aswell listening to this song but that’s besides the point). I mean do I really have to tell you that the song is a banger? A$AP kills his verse as does LP and Killer Mike and honestly what else do you want? After that comes „Close to Famous“ which is alright – I mean you could put any song after the last one and it would feel stale in comparison so that’s not really the song’s fault. Still a nice addition to the album. „Saltwater“ with Conway the Machine is honestly really carried by Conway, he murders his verse and instantly ranks the song up a few notches. Still it’s once again all things considered just alright. And finally the closer „Violas and Lupitas“ is probably the best way to close this album – the strings with the otherworldly production really create this feeling of a journey coming to an end and by the end of it the whole album just comes full circle for you.
I mean WOW I knew this album was gonna be good based on the features but nothing could prepare me for just how good – Danger Mouse’s production throughout the whole album is on point, as is Black Thought’s rapping and there isn’t a single feature on here that isn’t at the bare minimum good. So if you, like me, for some reason haven’t checked this album out yet then go do yourself a favor and do so, because you will not regret it.
-favorite tracks: Sometimes, The Darkest Part, No Gold Teeth, Because, Belize, Aquamarine, Strangers, Violas and Lupitas
-least favorite tracks: Identical Deaths, Close to Famous
Decent 8/10