Music Reviews

Chop Suey cover song of the year.

I mean to call this a mixed bag doesn’t even cut it for this album – there are somehow some of the best songs I’ve heard all year on this and at the same time some of the unironically worst pieces of music I’ve heard like this entire decade so far. With that being said even with those you at least can’t say it wasn’t entertainingly bad and at the end of the day I think Uzi is just doing whatever he wants to do on here and I really can’t hate on that even though it doesn’t always result in the best song quality.

The album opens up with the ethereal and surreal „Flooded The Face“ which has hands down not only the best beat on this whole album but one of my personal favorite Uzi beats ever, the synths are just out of this world, the parts where you can clearly hear the bass are just super funky and when the beat drops… It really drops. And Uzi sounds amazing over it too – really starting this project on as strong of a foot as you can get. Just an absolute jam. Anyways Uzi IMMEDIATELY does a 180 with the next also amazing song „Suicide Doors“ produced besides others also by the legendary „Arca“ and you can clearly hear that in the mix with the guitars, the chainsaw sounds constantly going from left to right, the punchy synths – long story short, this song is an absolute rage bop. Easy gym playlist song. So yeah, to say this album opens up strong is an understatement. However things really take a nose dive from this point on kinda fast. Next is the song „Aye“ with none other than Travis Scott and for such a promising beat this song REAAAALLY underdelivers, like Travis is barely even present on here and the beat is like REALLY good but just misses some final touches, because like this it’s just all over the place and honestly Uzi is kinda what really drags this song down – overall a really promising song with some really cool parts that kinda just doesn’t go anywhere. After that is the song „Crush Em“ which is where the filler REALLY starts to settle in. I mean this song in particular is fine to be honest – and I like the way the synths are introduced later on in the song and admiteddly it is really catchy, but it just once again doesn’t leave much of a lasting impact like the first song. The song „Amped“ is overall also kinda filler BUT I just LOVE the beat on this one – the guitar beats on this album just work so much for me. Honestly I just can’t hate this song because if Uzi is kinda underdelivering at points I just zone him out and just focus on the amazing beat and then he also starts sounding amazing + the main hook is pretty hype I won’t lie. Speaking of really amazing beats with some weak deliveries from Uzi the next song „x2“ is like the definition of that. The beat is this glitched swirling set of synths and some heavy hitting hi-hats that all just come together absolutely amazingly. After this point however the songs REALLY start to just blend together, so I’ll only be mentioning the stand-outs whether good or bad. „Died and Came Back“ has a nice beat. „Endless Fashion“ with Nicki Minaj is this absolutely HORRENDOUS „Blue (Da Ba Dee)“ type beat that somehow butchers the original song more than that one other song from last year. Nicki’s chorus is I’m sorry but just absolutely horrible as is her verse – like what the hell happened Nicki? Uzi’s harmonizing is also just… I can’t I’m sorry, this song just ain’t it. „Nakamura“ is the first song in a looong while that’s like REALLY good, like the first two songs quality good. The main melody is really well constructed and surprisingly even sung, it feels super full of life after the couple of last soulless songs. Just a really good song overall, really picks up the momentum of this album by a bit and it sure as hell needed it. After that is the infamous single „Just Wanna Rock“ aka the song that just never really starts. I mean… It definetly fits the album and there are times where I can absolutely mindlessly enjoy it but when I said some of the songs on here don’t really go nowhere, it’s like this song doesn’t even start going like ever. Still there are parts of it I for some weird reasons really like so. After that is the surprisingly really hard „Fire Alarm“ (mostly for the „Justice“ sample“ but yeah) and what can I say, this song just kinda goes. The alarm type beat just really works for some reason and the intro to this song REALLY gets you hyped. So yeah, this one goes, sue me. Wow, 3 kinda really good songs in a row, is this album finally starting to pick up again? Can’t wait to see how the next song continues thi- oh… So yes, the rumours have been true, the next song simply titled „CS“ as in „Chop Suey“ as most of you probably already put the pieces together, is indeed a thing. Honestly nothing I could write here would really describe how absolutely just… Yeah see what I mean, I just CAN’T explain how this thing made it onto the album, he literally just gives up singing halfway throughout the song and just let’s the instrumental play out. This is easily like top 10 worst songs of the year, how is this real, like you’re telling me NOBODY in the studio said anything about it? Fortunately things do go basically from a 0 to a 100 with the next and also my favorite song on the album „Werewolf“ with Bring Me the Horizon, yes this is also a real thing. Even though it’s basically a BMTH song featuring Lil Uzi, his metal vocals area ctually surprisingly fitting and BMTH just do their thing and yeah it just work even though it really shouldn’t, I just can’t get enough of this song, the chorus, the instrumentals, even Uzi is just fire on this song. This one’s a certified hood classic. „Pluto to Mars“ has once again a really nice beat and honestly a really nice vibe, it’s a good kinda slow down after the BMTH song, I quite like this one as well. And „Patience“ with Don Tolliver as much as it’s kinda slow and drab, I can’t help but really like this one too – it scratches that R&B itch in my brain just the tiniest bit. And yeah, Don Tolliver really is barely there, his background vocals aren’t half bad honestly. It’s not the most well-made song on the album but it’s really pleasant to listen to. The second to last two songs „Days Come and Go“ and „Rehab“ are passable, definitely better than some of the song in the middle, but I’m still not as crazy about these though. However the finnisher „The End“ with BABYMETAL is REALLY something. It’s not on the same level as the BMTH song however it still absolutely rules. Not much to complain about with this one as much as it is just all over the place but like in a good way.

So that was… confusing to say the least. I mean don’t get me wrong, this album DEFINETLY has it’s moments, but at the same time there is just so much absolute CRAP burried underneath all of the greatness. It honestly just all evens out, but I still overall enjoyed myself, it was definetly an experience. I really wouldn’t mind Uzi experimenting like this more, because it usually still results into something pretty decent.

-favourite songs: Flooded The Face, Suicide Doors, parts of Amped, parts of x2, parts of Died and Came Back, Nakamura, Werewolf, Pluto to Mars, Patience, The End

-least favorite songs: Endless Fashion, CS, parts of Aye, rest is forgetable

Strong 5/10