Music Reviews

This one’s a bit short but c’mon, it’s Yeat, cut me some slack.

So I guess let’s get right to it – the opener „Flawless“ right of the back tries to be this opening raging anthem that kinda works? However I just wasn’t as crazy about it as everyone else – when the song first hits it’s great but from there nor Lil Uzi Vert’s feature nor Yeat’s performance are really that captivating – and trust me I listened to the song soo many times, I really wanted to like it, seeing how everyone else is head over heels for it, but for some reason I just can’t get into this one that much. HOWEVER here on the second track „Up off X“ is where things were starting to click with me for some reason. The track has a numbing quality to it that I actually do enjoy. It doesn’t stand out at all actually but it’s a really strong vibe that really got me into that „Die Lit“ mood that actually REALLY enhanced my enjoyment of this project. From this track on even though the songs weren’t the most memorable I just couldn’t help but enjoy them nonetheless. I mean I felt good listening to it that’s what matters right? The next two songs „Out thë way“ and „Wat It Feel Lykë“ both carry out the vibe pretty well even though as I said they don’t really stick out in any way (except the synths on „Wat It Feel Lykë“ which are a nice touch) but they don’t need to – the vibe is there. „Can’t stop it“ is the first song that switches thing up a bit adding some guitar and actual live drums to the mix that make for an intresting change but I don’t think they bring enough for the change to be justified, if anything for me it kinda ruined the pacing a little bit. I appriciate the experimentation but it just doesn’t necessarily stick the landing on this one. Still a solid tune i guess. Another song that doesn’t bring quite enough for me is „Krank“ funily enough the next song after „Can’t stop it“. There just isn’t anything remotely intresting in this one which yeah there wasn’t much in the previous ones either but at least those had a pulse, this one is sort of dry you know. However the next song „Talk“ is probably the hardest song on this whole album so it’s kind of excused. This song is really good even outside of the mind-numbing context of this album, the melody is just that infexious. The last 4 song are all surprisingly decent. „Comë on“ sounds like something straight out of Whole Lotta Red, „Systëm“ has a simple beat that actually goes kind of hard, „Holy 1“ has one of my favorite tunes on the whole album (even though the Future influence here is really apparent) and „Killin ëm“ is a really nice closing track, these last 4 songs alone manage to make this album actually surprisingly cohesive.

So yeah, do I like this more over perhaps some of his earlier stuff? No, not necessarily, but it’s still an overall nice addition to his discography even though a bit forgetable one.

-favorite tracks: parts of Flawlëss, Up off X, Talk, Comë on, Systëm, Holy 1, Killin ëm

-least favorite tracks: Krank, Can’t stop it, Got it all (this one’s just forgetable)

Light 6/10

Um… What?

I- I don’t even know where to begin… First off all, believe me when I say that there are 2 things in this world I love and those are trap metal and especially when ZillaKami is on the mic. But this… Something feels very wrong with this project. And I can’t really put my finger on what that is for some reason… I tried to pin-point the issue to 2 main factors though – first of all the choruses, how do I say this… They just don’t hit, not at all. I don’t remember a single hook from this thing not a second from it. The second reason I think this project doesn’t work is, well, ZillaKami himself. Don’t get me wrong, I wish nothing but the best for the guy and I loved his music thus far, but here he just delivers these really akward kinda safe hooks over what seems to be just looped guitars with trap beats that probably even I could make in like 5 minutes and it all just comes out really forced and mashed together. There are some stand-outs I guess, I like the song „Not Worth It“ no matter how melodramatic it can be, it at least isn’t another trap beat slapped over some mediocre guitars, it’s different, gives the record a bit of variety. Also that’s another problem not only with this song but so many god damn songs on this record – THEY ARE SO FRICKING SHORT. Like even for this genre’s standarts, where songs are usually shorter – these songs don’t go anywhere, because they don’t have the TIME to go anywhere. Also I was laughing my ass off when the song „Hello“ came on – that’s like the most lazy tribute to Nirvana I’ve probably ever heard, it’s comically stupid and uninspired, Post Malone did this s**t 3 times as good, even though admiteddly he did just covers, but I’ll take covers anyday over whatever this is. I DO like „Bleach“ with Denzel Curry though, that feels like legitematelly the only song that had some care and thought put into it. After that rare moment of clarity we go back to the pointless wannabe ragers that just don’t get any better nor memorable. That’s the thing, if these songs were like really bad, I would at least remember them, but they are not bad, just really mediocre and therefore forgetable and boring and that’s just not the level of quality I’m used to from ZillaKami and City Morgue as a whole. The either make Ws or here and there some Ls, but you are entertained the entire way through – here I was just waiting to hear something I didn’t the million times before that. „BADASS“ with Lil Uzi Vert seems to also be one of the more positively rated songs on the album and why exactly is that? Once again, the production barely gets a pass, the hook is somewhat better than the majority of this record I guess and Uzi does just alright – like what makes this song so different from the rest of them? The Denzel Curry cut at least had some uniqueness to it, this just blends together with the rest of thie songs on here. 5 songs left and I’m DREADING for this to be over – however the quality does pick-up somewhat on the song „Nissan Only“ where you immidiately hear that this song had some effort put into it. For the first time on this whole record I felt like I was listening to an actual ZillaKami song, instead of a parody of it. „Black Cats“ has a similar vibe to it like „Not Worth It“ does and they both are just a cut above the rest. However after this the album ONCE AGAIN remembers it’s trying to be as boring as possible and realising it almost made a good song throws a couple more non-tracks on us in the form of „dedgrl“ (which is honestly fine) and „FROSTY“ (which not so much, easily the worst vocal performance of the whole album and the emotional weight just isn’t strong enough to carry this song, I’m sorry), before closing with „Space Cowboy“, which I’ll admit, FROSTY leads to pretty well and this song… I’ll just say he definetly saves the best for last. Well I guess not the best, but definetly one of the better cuts here, for sure – I’m glad ZillaKami remembered how to make good songs again a shame that it’s only at THE END OF THE ALBUM.

*sigh* yeah, this was disapointing to say the least. It’s not bad and if you’re a die-hard City Morgue fan, you will definetly find some enjoyment on this album, but for me, this felt like a weird way to compile some random ideas Zilla had into a full half-baked album. Also this is all just my opinnion, you’re completely free to have a different one and honestly, if you enjoy this album, don’t let my trash-talking get to you, like all power to you for seeing the good in this album – but even still, I’m gonna go ask you to do one thing. Take ANY song of of this album and compare it to, I don’t know, like „DRAINO“ by City Morgue. You see what I mean now?

Strong 4/10

So yeah, the white cornball eminem clone NF is back with a brand new… Mixtape? I honestly have no clue why this is branded as a mixtape, considering it has the length of most full length LPs, but whatever. The only important question is, is the music here good? And well, that question has many answers.

For once the opener „CLOUDS“ (yes, this is one of the albums where every letter of every song is capital) is actually one of NF’s more fulfilling songs. The typical orchestral instrumentation really works here, complimenting the occasional cringy but still somewhat introspective lyrics. The follow-up „THAT’S A JOKE“ drops the bar a bit, with the really akward sound effects and fast rapping segment in the middle – I mean that at least sounds somewhat cool, but do you really expect me to pay attention to what he’s saying in the middle of that? NF is one of those „real rappers“ that just for the love of god can’t balance fast rapping with substance and it shows. Still, the song isn’t awful or anything, mostly just gets burried by the other like 4 songs that sound the EXACT same here, no big deal. One thing I’ll give NF on this album, he sounds really confident with his delivery – that makes some of the more unaberable lines, well, more berable. „JUST LIKE YOU“ has this really weird inflection on NF’s voice, sounds like a cheap Tyler Joseph rip-off and I’m also not really that crazy about the piano instrumentation on this one. NF also gets just absolutely burried, when the actual instrumentation kicks in. But once again, it’s not terrible, just a low point for me personally. „STORY“ is actually a nice change of pace and also probably the best song on this thing, kind of by a landslide. Like everything after this song just feels so stale compared to this – this is really peak NF. The story he portrays in this one is really captivating and the additional sound effects really make you feel like you are right there with him – it’s kind of insane. „PRIDEFUL“ is just your typical trap beat, with some pianos and orchestral instrumentation to smoothen things up. The instrumental is actually quite delicate, but NF attempts to go full Drake here and it, uh, sort of falls flat on it’s face. Still this is one of the more down-to-earth songs here and I appriciate that if nothing else. The second single released prior to this album „LOST“ with Hopsin out of all people is actually pretty good and not beacause of NF, but Hopsin really carries this track, like REALLY. Just an enjoyable song overall, if you can get past how melodramatic it all sounds. „LAYERS“ is also a low point for me – NF sounds really hungry here, but unfortunately that’s to his disantavantage on this one. The only thing saving this one is genuinely the beat switch transitioning in the second half, but there still isn’t anything ground-breaking about it, it’s just sort of okay. „DRIFITING“ is the emotional anthem of this album – NF again tries to go more melodical here and it actually kind of pans out for him. Once you get past the corniness of it all, it’s not even half as bad as it could be, especially the short freak out by the end of the song, it really comes full circle. One thing I’ll give NF credit for is that he really cares about these songs – even though it’s just a mixtape, it’s a mixtape of high quality, at least prouction-wise. „TRUST“ featuring Tech N9ne just exists. It’s not terrible, but just waay too melodramatical for me, especially by this point in the album, it’s just too much. The closer „PAID MY DUES“ also currently probably the biggest song on this album is alright – could’ve been better, but definetly could’ve been much worse. The flavoured trap beat actually reallz works in this context and the instrumentation surrounding it compliments it quite well. There is also the weird CLOUDS edit as the actual closer to this thing, which is literally the same song, just shorten up a bit, so me talking about it would be just repeating myself.

I haven’t been this split on an album in a while, I’ll tell you that much – the good songs here are usually really good, but the others are just sort of there to fill out space. The whole thing is just packed with high-class intricate production, that NF usually undersells. Still this is probably one of NF’s better releases, the highlights on this one are really high.

Strong 5/10