Rapid Fire Reviews - How Long To Trap?
A month into 2022 it's time for the first rapid fire reviews of the year and as we often do we're diving into some trap records that I don't have the time or patience of preservation of mind to break down in their entirety. We have never been short for trap music and I suspect this year won't be any different. So lets cover some of the newer and older stars of the genre who are turning heads in the first month of the year.
Colors - YoungBoy Never Broke Again
Brightside EP - Rich Brian
I haven't reviewed Rich Brian specifically in a long time, like 2018 long I think. I wanted to talk about this EP because I saw a surprising amount of people online talking about how much they enjoyed it and saying it was the best thing he'd done in years. The first thing you'll notice about this EP is that every song has at least one pretty significant beat switch-up which goes a long way to keeping up its hype energy but can make it a bit difficult to judge when the different portions of a song are wildly inconsistent. The lyrical tone is also a little all over the place as you'll get bars about how Brian's is having trouble sleeping back to back with stuff like "pussy bald like Joe Rogan". Even though the songs here don't completely hold up between the margins it's hard for me to even care because they are all impressively hype and there is rarely a moment across these 13 minutes that I'm not bobbing my head along to the fast paced bars and punchy instrumentals. He's not re-inventing the wheel or anything here but it's a solid bunch of tracks that sound better than the last time I heard any new Rich Brian music. 6.5/10
NBA YoungBoy releases music at a pretty alarming rate even for the already prolific style of rap that he occupies. While I've never been as crazy about him as his inexplicably die hard fanbase, you can certainly do a lot worse when it comes to this vein of trap than his expressive voice and the intensity of his performances. The last time I tried to review YoungBoy however, I had a bit of a breakdown. His previous outing Sincerely, Kentrell was already more bloated than his normal affair and I didn't find it distinctly good, distinctly bad or really anything. Unlike some far worse rappers who aim for generic but don't have the skills to pull it off, YoungBoy's bassline of talent was high enough for him to pretty much blend in completely and after trying to write a review for that record numerous times I had to just throw in the towel and explain just how much it mystified me. So you know how excited I must have been to see him release an entire new album so soon after that, and one that so many people were streaming and discussing online nonetheless. Yay. Generally speaking this is an improvement even though it's still a firmly predictable trap affair. These 64 minutes of the deluxe edition, (the only edition available on streaming) feature some genuine bangers, some hilarious misses at trying to sound hard and some sensual tracks describing sex in absolutely disturbing detail. But at least this time around some genuine highlights emerge and I have a few favorite songs on the album. Bring It On is an absolute banger and probably the records vocal highlight as YoungBoy bounces between chilling 21 Savage style whispers and a Trippie Redd sounding howl with ease. I think Gangsta is technically a bonus track but it's one of the more thematically interesting songs here that goes into the trials and tribulations of an artist trying to keep it real and stay true to their roots but also acknowledging the dangers of their origins. While the record certainly covers the same ground over and over again it is far from the blandest or most offensive example I've ever heard, in fact it's not even the most redundant trap record I've heard in the first month of the year. I don't see this thing being a critical darling or anything like that but I can definitely say that I enjoy listening to it for the most part and I suppose that's what counts. 6/10
on to better things - iann dior
So, who is Iann Dior. If you aren't an obsessive chart watcher like me you might not have ever heard of this guy, but I promise you've heard his big hit. Last year his collaboration with fellow up and coming artist 24kGoldn, Mood, was one of the biggest songs of the entire year. Now that you've googled it, listened to the first 30 seconds and remembered that you either hate it or have absolutely no feeling about it whatsoever, we are on the same page. I know that some stuffy critic trying to put down a young artist backfires more often than it doesn't, even though I think he's a year older than me. So let me make one thing clear, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if this guy has more staying power than some people realize. His voice really does fit the Juice Wrld emo trap wave we've been in the thick of for a few years now and if he drops a track with The Kid Laroi this summer I guarantee we'll all be hearing it everywhere. But critically speaking I wasn't crazy about Mood so I went into this record with pretty low expectations for iann. Honestly I think that was smart because it gave me a lane to actually appreciate some of the stuff that the record actually does okay. Firstly iann has a better voice than I gave him credit for and he's not afraid to show it. Even though the beats here are extremely generic his refrains are not and while he's not exactly belting there also aren't any moments on the record he isn't vocally capable of covering. The records shortcomings on the other hand, they're kind of too obvious to say. This is a 15 track album that runs just 36 minutes long and even that feel generous to some of these compositions. The lyrical content of the record is obviously not ideal either, though it isn't so bad that it's noticeable which is nice. Ultimately while I don't think this record necessarily promises any future success, it could be a LOT worse. I don't have any reason to suspect that iann isn't at least a semi decent person and he seems to be comfortable exploring his vulnerabilities on record, so I don't think I would be mad if he gets an honestly look by the industry as an artist with some staying power. 5.5/10
