Rapid Fire Reviews: 2 Chainz, Ty Dolla $ign, Mulatto

So Help Me God - 2 Chainz 

I was pretty excited for this record given how much I've enjoyed 2 Chainz in the past even leading up to his record last year which landed on the back half of my albums of the year list. Unfortunately some of the issues I had with the singles leading up to this record lasted onto the project itself, starting with a stacked roster of features that come off really lame more often than not. With the exception of Kevin Gates none of the high profile names end up really showing their best side and a handful of tracks are nearly ruined by bad supporting cast. Pair this with some very average production and the only saving grace the record has is 2 Chainz himself. What makes the record worth hearing is 2 Chainz animated and infectious performances, hilarious lyricism and generally great attitude that's as infectious as always. Even though this isn't the longest record in the world I still wish I had dialed back on the feature overload because some of these songs are good enough with 2 Chainz on his own to combine for a pretty solid record. But what he presents here flashes that potential in between messy tracks for a mixed bag final product. 5.5/10

Featuring Ty Dolla $ign - Ty Dolla $ign

The feature king HIMSELF finally gave into the craze and made an entire album that is thematically tied to his characteristically on point hooks with an absolutely loaded feature list alongside him. AT an hour long with about 22 proper songs this record absolutely suffers from some of the cliches that burden so many trap records. Like when a song is predominately handled by a feature that just falls completely flat like Lil Durk or Gunna or when the song itself sounds like a generic remake of any of the hundreds of trap cuts Ty has featured on over the years. While this record is incredibly bloated I was surprised by just how many tracks here I find myself really enjoying though. The songs without any features are honestly a more consistent bunch and tunes like Time Will Tell and Slow It Down were big highlights for me. Unfortunately the large variance in quality of the performances across the record and even across individual songs makes it difficult to give credit to anything on this record in large portions. Thankfully with great performances from Ty and a few standout tunes the record manages to avoid being a complete slog. 5.5/10

Queen Of Da Souf - Mulatto

After delivering the most impressive performance of the bunch for this years XXL Freshman Class I thought it would only be right to get my thoughts out on Mulatto's debut record even though I heard it when it originally came out and it didn't make a major impact on me. A few months later I think I enjoy the record a bit more but it still features some unfortunate limitations. At just 30 minutes there are a few too many songs here that come off as total duds. Whether it's an underwhelming personal cut or a terrible hook there are a few tracks here that just feel like a total waste. Latto brings the charm and swagger of many of her female contemporaries at points across this record with a handful of sexually charged bangers but comparing this record to other badass female hip hop albums this year from the likes of City Girls or Flo Milli show that Latto is onto something, but not quite there. Although she certainly did enough to guarantee that I'll be paying attention to whatever she does for years to come. 5/10