Diaspora - GoldLink: Review

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GoldLink

is a Washington D.C. rapper who rose to prominence on an extreme wave of hype a few years ago around the midpoint of this decade. His impressively smooth flow and sharp lyricism landed him a spot on XXL 2014 Freshman List but since then despite his talent and a handful of moderately successful songs he has yet to drop an album to critical acclaim. 

Review By Lavender;
GoldLink is so clearly talented. I have dished out some big time praise to numerous singles of his and last year he landed the #1 spot on my guest verses of the year list with his standout addition to Denzel Curry's Black Balloons. That's why it has been so frustrating to watch his career evolve over the years, and why I'm disappointed he has once again failed to present a quality full length album on Diaspora. While his 2014 breakout record The God Complex is probably his best and most consistent, and I would challenge people who haven't heard 2015's and after that we didn't talk to give it another listen with auto crooning trap music so popular right now and see if you enjoy it more, because I certainly did. GoldLink has still failed to release an album that matches his potential and Diaspora is a just barely average album from an artist who has proven he can work in the upper echelons of hip hop.

This review may be short because I've just been saying the same things about GoldLink for so long now. Songs like the opening track here Joke Ting have bars and flows so good that they can even overcome flaws like terrible singing from Ari Pensmith bookending the track. Surprisingly the Latin music inspired Zulu Screams contains some fantastic flows and a crystal clear display of talent from GoldLink that makes it enjoyable in spite of some lackluster features. When the features are good on Diaspora the songs are GREAT. Cokewhite features Pusha T, because of course it does. Push murders his verse as usual and closes it with a perfect bar "Platinum and gold links, a perfect combination like when Pusha and GoldLink". GoldLink follows this up with an excellent verse of his own and this track is a huge highlight. The very next song on the album is yet another great one, U Say. The track serves as a classic sexy GoldLink tune and while Tyler, The Creator wouldn't have been my first choice for a track like this his performance is pretty good and so is the song overall.

A handful of the songs here straight up show off GoldLink's sheer talent. Spanish Song despite being entirely in English is a great track with an inspired Spanish flavor in the beat and a great series of verses from GoldLink. I have some suspicion that Tiff Freestyle isn't actually a freestyle but if it is good for GoldLink because the bars here are great and the flow is tight, the only problem is the very abrupt ending.

In spite of a lot of good way too many songs here fall into the exact same problems that he has been facing since his come up. Maniac has a disaster of a hook that totally sinks the song from the moment it starts. Days Like This has an awful misuse of what is probably the albums biggest feature Khalid, featuring him whisper singing his verses and practically taking a backup role to GoldLink on an awful hook. More and Yard are lackluster culture grabs that see GoldLink, who is from Washington D.C mind you, appropriating Spanish music and rapping in Jamaican Patois respectively. And finally No Lie sees him recruiting yet another awful feature this time from WizKid who is for some reason still allowed to feature on any significant projects. WizKid's hook is not only one of the worst and most patience testing things I've heard all year but it is the icing on top of an already mediocre cake that is the song itself.

On Diaspora GoldLink once again blends his incredible talent with his clearly sub par decision making and delivers a series of incredibly inconsistent songs which don't play to his strengths far too often. It is becoming routine to dismiss half the songs in a GoldLink album and fans will only tolerate so many renditions of that level of quality, I know I certainly will. 4.5/10

Best Track: Cokewhite

For more hip hop check out my review of Denzel Curry's ZUU here. 

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