Rapid Fire Reviews: Hip Hop Girlies with Flo Milli, Rico Nasty & Tink
The title says it all with this one. I wasn't going to let these records pass me by.
Las Ruinas - Rico Nasty
You Still Here, Ho? - Flo Milli
Flo Milli's first album snuck up on me. She had the kind of fancam-ready breakout hit that often pigeonholes an artist so I was very surprised to find just how much she had to offer on a full-length album. While she hasn't exactly spent the two years since taking over the world or anything, if she paired her myriad of features with a solid sophomore effort I think she could buy herself some genuine longevity in hip hop. As it turns out the similar title this record sports to its predecessor is more than surface level as the two records are very similar. The major difference is that I would say there are generally harder beats and more intense flows across this record than the previous one which comes with good and bad. The misses here are much worse purely out of the desire for everything to be bigger in both sound and personality, yet in contrast to that I find the record really easy to listen to. The versatility in subject matter combined with how consistently Flo Milli can stay on topic is impressive and makes the records runtime kind of a breeze. While I once again think that her best work might still be ahead of her I have to say that at the very least she kept up her momentum with this record. 6.5/10
I never got the impression early on in her career that Rico Nasty would struggle to drop cohesive and consistent studio projects. As we get deeper into her career she continues to drop some of the most creative and hard-hitting singles of anyone out there but her vice has become just that, translating those into studio projects on the same quality level. I was really excited about some of the singles from this record like Intrusive and Black Punk but I still maintained my reservations about the record and it wasn't all that surprising to me when it received generally mixed reviews. This is a very mixtape-style project with many short tracks that cover a wide variety of sounds in rapid succession so tackling it can be a little all over the place. One place I can make a blanket statement is the features. All of the rappers, singers and even the credited producers she works with on collaborative tracks really drop the ball and it makes for a collection of pretty much all the worst stuff Ruinas has to offer. Another big Achilles heel of the record is songwriting. Even when the songs aren't jumping around between genres constantly the hooks are a huge issue which consistently come off incredibly flat and very few of them stick with me. It's an inconsistency that runs deep because I can genuinely say there are some absolutely great songs in the mix here, but they're the minority. So with the messy state of things on this project all I can say is that I'm once again just left expecting Rico's run of great singles to continue and merely hoping she can deliver an album to back it. 4.5/10
Pillow Talk - Tink
Tink is as much an R&B singer at this point as a rapper but I've been meaning to touch on one of her many projects in recent years and it felt right to slide her in here. So long as your hip hop purview is wide enough to tolerate R&B flavors and the same exact Hitmaka producer tag on literally every single song across this 45 minute record then it's enough to warrant giving it a try. That production is at the core of the record's very soulful and undeniably SZA-influenced soulful sound. From Tink's charming and infectious sensual honesty to the stark bouncy beats complete with clicky drums and moody bass the record is about as full of an adaptation of R&B aesthetics as I've ever heard from her. While she does clearly serve the sound very well I will say I wish there was a bit more variety to be found in the tracklist and to the uninitiated I think there's a legitimate complaint to be had about how similar all these songs sound. But digging into things on the lyrical and thematic front can be really helpful in separating the dynamics. What I can't say about however are the features which are a real mixed bag that's heavy on the bad. Between the mediocre and forgettable performances to the laughably bad attempts at sounding sexy most of the guest rappers here either make very little impact or miss hard. All things considered, I don't think this is going to blow any non-fans away immediately. But if you love R&B or you're interested in Tink's confident but vulnerable brand of delivery there are more than enough highlights in the mix to keep you around. 6/10
