Florida Jit - Smokepurpp: Review
is a Florida based rapper who emerged alongside the ever growing wave of SoundCloud rap over the latter half of the last decade. His frequent collaborations with artists like Denzel Curry and Lil Pump, who he fronts the group Gucci Gang alongside, as well as producers like Murda Beatz and Ronny J has given him a contemporary and influential sound. Despite consistent public interest in his music he has largely avoided critical acclaim with simple formulas and poor lyricism.
Review By Lavender:
I'd be lying if I said I hadn't enjoyed plenty of singles from Smokepurpp over the last few years. Despite the fact that he tends to attract a little bit more genuine attention for his talent than most of his trap contemporaries both records in the Deadstar series as well as his Murda Beatz collaboration have suffered from similar shortcomings. Not only does Florida Jit suffer from the same problems just as heavily but it also features a lack of true highlights that makes it his weakest full length project yet.
Despite having 17 tracks the record is a remarkably short 37 minutes and almost none of the tracks that fail to reach the two minute mark are worth anything at all. While that is the biggest group of Lowlights on the record they aren't alone. Pop Shit is a pretty weak opening track with some annoying stop and start bars that make no sense and develop absolutely no flow. One Play features the stupidest vocals on the record with a delivery that is every bit as corny as the also terrible lyrics and makes for a very quick pass nearly every time I hear it come on. Outside is a kind of kooky trap song with pretty much no flow to it whatsoever. The bars are really confident and confrontational but the delivery is so lazy that it's hard to take anything he is saying seriously. Mink Coat may be the single dumbest Smokepurpp song I've ever heard and that is really saying something, pairing some of the worst lyrics with one of the most whack flows I've heard all year and the result is a song that proves nothing was cut from this record. In general the features on the record are some of the biggest highlights with the exception of Jack Harlow on Tide Pen. If you made an algorithm designed to spit out a rapper so lifeless that you could forget about him while he was still rapping the result would be Harlow and he makes this song difficult to sit through. The second thing that makes it difficult it some more major lyrical shortcomings from Purpp where the SAT questions bar in particular warrants an audible sigh.
On the reverse side of the records features if Off My Chest a single from Smokepurpp and Lil Pump that rivals the pairs history of good singles. The song is their already classic formula of hard-hitting beat and ridiculous hilarious bars that makes for one of the most fun and engaging moments on the record. Ends is also surprisingly decent even though Smokeprupp is pretty average on the song for the first time I'm really enjoying something from Young Nudy. Even though he absolutely cannot stay on beat there is something so charming about his vocalizations that I can't help but vibe with. I'm Him is a great track even before its feature as Purpp comes out firing in his opening verse. Denzel Curry hops on the track and delivers a very out of character feature for him yet he still absolutely kills it. Hearing him in this context is fun and says a ton about his already impressive versatility. Big Dawg was a surprise in the tracklist that features Rick Ross and while I'm not head over heels for his feature Purpp delivers a good hook on the song and the huge difference in style between the pair works pretty well together on the track.
Some other tracks here and there on the record have redeemable factors like the alien keys on Not Code and the upbeat flow on the closer Chopstix, even if the song is admittedly kind of racist sounding mostly as a result of Purpp being such an underwhelming lyricist. It's Whatever was the only song I spent any serious time with before the record was released and I still think it's one of the more enjoyable with a simple but hard-hitting hook and flows that change up but remain pretty catchy throughout. The track is just barely good enough for me to tolerate the bard about if a girl is hot enough Purpp "might just go pee in there". 1st & 3rd was another highlight with a rattling fast paced banger of a beat that has more than one sound in its arsenal and Purpp is prepared to bring more than one flow to the song too. All in all it is probably the most complete song here among the incredibly short series of tunes that make up the tracklist.
Florida Jit isn't going to win over any new fans for Purpp as it is honestly a step down from his last few projects. Even though I have never really considered myself an avid fan I still can admit that records like Deadstar II had more interesting beats and flashier performances than almost everything here. Compared to all the mediocre trap records I've suffered through this year this one isn't quite as bad but there is certainly no reason to return to a significant portion of the songs here anytime soon. 4.5/10
Album Cover Review By Tyler Judson:
This is the kind of aesthetic in an album cover where you know the kind of sound you can expect when you hit play. It's an overused style but ramped up by the red monochromatic palette which I appreciate. The imagery is fine and nothing to go on about in quality. The only thing I really dislike is the space where the artists name occupies, it just seems slapped on a could have been implemented better, with the same going for the advisory placement. 5/10
For more trap check out my review of Future's High On Life here
