Artist 2.0 - A Boogie Wit da Hoodie: Review
is a New York MC who has had a meteoric rise to success starting with a prominent spot on XXL 2017 freshman list. He released his debut record to moderate critical acclaim and commercial success later that year, and followed it up with his sophomore record Hoodie SZN which spent multiple weeks at #1 in the beginning of last year. Now after a run of singles and feature Boogie is gearing up to release his third album Artist 2.0 a sequel to his debut record.
Review By Lavender:
I enjoyed Boogie's debut album The Bigger Artist, it didn't blow me away but as far as trap records go I found much more of it interesting than mundane. Unfortunately I could say the exact opposite for the follow-up Hoodie SZN which came out late in 2018 and underwhelmed me to the point of where I didn't even give it a formal review before my list week. What had me worried coming into the album was the success Boogie found with Hoodie SZA commercially, and wondering if he would be content to rest on what he already knew and make another round at collecting commercial brownie points. But after he announced that the record was the formal sequel to his debut I was more excited. But when all is said and done Artist 2.0 is somewhere in between, and really needed to be whittled down to its gems.
One of the biggest complaints I have about this record is that way too many of the songs on here are such a standard generic trap affair that I have no idea why they made it onto the full release of a proper studio album. Good Girls Gone Bad is a ridiculously generic trap affair that desperately needs some structure at all. Big Shit features a pretty solid Murda Beatz instrumental and a memorable chorus but takes a nosedive into monotony both instrumentally and vocally as soon as it reaches the verses.
But almost all of the songs I would cut from the record, surprisingly enough are the ones with features. Might Not Give Up features a generic beat aside from one fluttering synth line but the bigger disaapointment is that the track is mainly Boogie trying to do a very average Young Thug impression just for Young Thug to show up and deliver one of his most uninspired features in recent memory. Numbers is a decent track that was released as a single and shows off some decent chemistry between Boogie and Roddy Rich. I'm not saying Gunna ruins the entire song but his verse is so much worse than the rest of it that I can't help but wonder why it was still included to basically just make a very okay song even harder to get through. Stain is the second track here that features Boogie trying really hard to be Young Thug and this one may be even worse than the first one, and to top it off DaBaby delivers one of my least favorite features from him recently as well.
Hit Em Up features Trap Manny and is probably the worst song on the record all around with almost nothing good coming out of any element of the track. Calm Down is a super awkward love duet between Summer Walker and A Boogie. Summer just absolutely sings him under the table throughout the entire song and they have almost no chemistry whatsoever. Another Day Gone isn't terrible and feature Khalid sounding a little bit cooler than usual, but neither he or Boogie are really at their performance best and the song suffers as a result. Luv Is Art is a painful collaboration where both A Boogie and Lil Uzi try to wander their way through a terribly generic beat. Boogie specifically seems so lost on this song and it makes me wonder how much time they actually put into any of the elements on this track.
The only feature I really genuinely liked was the second Uzi feature on the record, the song Reply which was released as a single. The beat is pretty generic but they are both bringing plenty of lyrical creativity and swagger particularly on Uzi's hook. It's important to note here that this album is 20 tracks long and while there is a lot of bad, there is also quite a bit to like about it. Thug Love is a pretty decent opener with a slick London On Da Track beat that expresses the woes of being in love in an honestly sentimental way, and sets up well for the next song Cinderella Story. That track is a TMI sexual anthem that could have used a bit more structure but primarily shows Boogie getting personal in a pretty rewarding way.
Me And My Guitar is a track I was worried about but its much closer to Beautiful Thugger Girls than it is Rebirth. Not only are the refrains pretty catchy but Boogie actually lays down some impressive vocals on the song that I didn't know he had in him. Blood On My Denim continues with this string of solid performances as the track actually has a pretty dramatic climax and build that the performance matches. Right Back features some of the most pure singing he does on the record and it is much better for it as the track is a little bit generic but he clearly delivers an energy that helps heighten it. Finally a pair of more lowkey songs on the end of the record see Boogie getting more personal in an incredibly compelling way that make for even more highlights. King Of My City is a simple track with a solid hook that looks back at Boogie's New York come-up with more lyrical detail than many of the other songs here. Streets Don't Love You is the albums ambitious closer that shows the streets as the trap they are for so many and takes a much more lowkey and lyrical oriented approach that I really enjoy being the closer of the record.
My favorite tracks on the album much like Boogie's first record are the catchy effortlessly slick bangers. DTB 4 Life is a great song that shows off both Boogie's singing and rapping skills over a great instrumental and paired with a tight and expressive hook. R.O.D is another great track about a ride or die bitch that features so much swagger in Boogie's performance it is almost irresistible. Finally Mood Swings has an incredibly creative and awesome Wheezy beat that is one of the best on the album. Even though the hook took a little bit of getting used to ultimately the track grew on me and I think its pretty catchy and fun.
Ultimately there is a lot to like about Artist 2.0, but with a lot of baggage. A cut down version of the record could have been a really cool and far above average trap record in 2020, but what we have here is a record watered down with underwhelming features and underwritten at far too many points. Though I do think the album is a step in the right direction and hopefully next A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie will drop a record of mostly his best work. 5.5/10
