TWOPOINTFIVE - Amine: Review

Amine

is a Portland rapper who broke out a few years ago with his viral single Caroline. Since then he has dropped two albums and managed to keep a foot in both the world of contemporary radio rap music, and it's more critically acclaimed and experimental counterpart. TWOPOINTFIVE is a mixtape that is designed to bridge the gap between Amine's 2nd and 3rd albums just like it's predecessor ONEPOINTFIVE did for his 1st and 2nd albums. 

Review By Lav:

For most artists I wouldn't go out of my way to write a full review for a mixtape like this. Clearly this is a step down in terms of focus, depth and in all likelihood quality from Amine's core album releases. The reason I decided to take this record on in depth is simple, I really liked Amine's last album. Limbo was a great example of the artistic versatility he's capable of an featured one song after another of his infectious performances and immeasurable charm. So yeah, I had a feeling this thing wouldn't blow me away and it hasn't, but Amine definitely deserved the look because at this point in his career he's one of my favorite young rappers out there.

Going into this record my expectations were pretty much aligned with ONEPOINTFIVE and the two projects mirror each other quite a bit. They both feature hilarious Rickey Thompson interludes all over and take a much simpler more straightforward approach to both songwriting and presentation. While the first rendition of the mixtape series had a pretty big hit in Reel It In, it looks like this mixtapes lead single Charmander is on the way. I've seen a LOT of people talking about how much they love the song which kind of surprised me because I think it's just okay. The sampled hook doesn't do much for me and the verses are a little all over the place, but clearly it's striking a cord with people. 

I'm not gonna break down every single song on here because there's a lot of short tracks that I just don't have much to say about and I think most listeners understand going into the record that the production and songwriting are going to be scaled back a bit. With that being said there really are some tracks here with instrumentals that absolutely kicks ass. Twisted! pairs these extremely tangible clattering high hats with some surreal synths that come together for this really spacey head-bobbing atmosphere. I was hoping that Between The Lines had something to do with the Robyn song of the same title and it doesn't, obviously. But with the runway drums and dance beat that it kicks off with you'd be in the right to do a double take. The song itself has one of the best hooks on the record and sees Amine delivering some of his most engaging flows for a massive highlight. 

I think a lot of projects of this nature take a more vibe oriented approach, just trying to string together a series of tracks with a consistent energy to be enjoyed very casually. Tracks here like Colors with it' fast tempo but relaxed rapping and Dididumduhduh with it's more sensual style make for highlights among the album many breezier tracks. 

What really makes TWOPOINTFIVE worthwhile is Amine's personality which he doesn't deliver throughout, but when he does it hits. NEO is a fun and absolutely hilarious cut full of Amine flexing his wealth and success with a series of charmingly dumb brags. Highlights include him referring to his own dick as "his pickle", a bar I've been thinking a lot about this week. I was also charmed by Van Gogh a genuinely sweet pseudo love some where Amine employs some pretty stellar wordplay to come off as genuinely lustful. 

Overall I wouldn't call this mixtape all that essential and maybe even breaking it down like this is silly and missing the point. It has a vibe to it that is pretty consistent throughout even when the quality of the songs themselves isn't. I think it achieves what it set out to and while there are a number of songs here that will be among my Amine favorites for a long time to come, I'm still obviously anticipating what more fully fleshed out project he will deliver next. 6.5/10

Album Cover Review by Tyler Judson:

This cover is exactly what I expect from Amine. The fun, vibrant and out there energy in his music is represented in the artwork. The colors are in your face and annoying. The illustration is slightly awful to look at but all centered around being humorous. I'm not crazy about the entirety of it stylistically but I think that's why it kind of works. 6/10

For more hip hop check out my review of Young Thug's Punk here