Best Single of the Week
Tory Lanez feat. Meek Mill - DrIP DrIp Drip
Tory Lanez's second 2018 project, LoVE mE NOw, is slated to drop next Friday. This is the third single from the album's tracklist. Before I get to my thoughts on this single, I just wanna rant about a few minor details about this upcoming album. First of all, is Tory Lanez really titling his songs following the mocking SpongeBob meme format? Second, what in the world is with that cover? I think a rapper doing a Brady Bunch-style cover could be cool, but having the muppet version of yourself on it as opposed to just using different pictures of yourself is just stupid. However, the single is not as bad as the cover entails. I was pretty excited about this because Tory and Meek cannot miss as a duo. This may not be on the level of "Lord Knows" or "Litty," but this song still adds to their winning streak. I've noticed that Tory Lanez likes to use 3 or 4 different pitches on his voice, and I was thankful to hear that he used the lower-pitched one as opposed to the hit-or-miss high-pitched one. Tory flows well over the beat and Meek surprisingly doesn't seem out of place given the production style on this track. My one gripe with this song is the fact that Tory didn't stop the chorus at the end of the pre-chorus but goes on to just say the word "drip" 12 times. Repetition can be catchy, but this is a prime example of how it can be annoying. Other than that, this is a good song.
Honorable Mention: Action Bronson - Prince Charming
Worst Single of the Week
Mariah Carey feat. Ty Dolla $ign - The Distance
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Mariah Carey used to be one of the most talented female singers in pop music. Since artists like Ariana Grande and Beyonce have blown up, Mariah has been fading into obscurity. Given performances of her famous Christmas song in this decade, her voice has clearly been declining. And it's very evident in the fact that she has to use autotune and pitch correction to make her voice sound listenable nowadays. Trying to revive her current corpse of a career, she's making her 15th (!!!) studio album, titled Caution, which is set to release this November. She's not off to a good start as her first two singles haven't gained any traction. To get appeal in the current mainstream, she recruited one of hip hop's biggest feature artists, Ty Dolla $ign, for her third single. And as expected, this is hot garbage. The song begins and ends with a cheerleading squad chant, which is a tired trope in pop music. Her pitch correction-laced vocals over this basic trap type beat show that she's desperate to get back on the charts, and Ty Dolla $ign's phoned in verse didn't help either. This song reads like a cry for help.
Dishonorable Mention: Post Malone & Swae Lee - Sunflower [From "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse"]
This Week's Albums
Lil Yachty - Nuthin' 2 Prove
The polarizing Atlanta crooner's fifth full-length project is basically a similar sound and style to his Lil Boat series. This cover probably would have been a better fit for his March 2018 release, Lil Boat 2, mostly because he's actually on a boat in this one. Yachty promoted this album on twitter as a release that includes half the tracklist being rap and the other half being melodic rap, similar to what Drake did with the release of Scorpion. As one of the (apparently) few people who loved LB2, I was looking forward to this. I wasn't too excited, however, because it had only been 7 months since his last release and I still had some of the LB2 tracks in my rotation. While there are more melodic cuts as opposed to his last project, Nuthin' 2 Prove feels like more of the same from Yachty. Not that I expected anything different since it is Lil Yachty after all, but I thought there would have been more effort to make it sound a little different than LB2. The cover art even uses the same coloring as that project. Some of the tracks on the first half such as "Riley from the Boondocks" and "I'm the Mac" sound like rejected tracks from LB2. And while I appreciate him going back to his roots from the first Boat album, I still think his autotune can sound grating at times, especially when he belts out extended notes. Overall, this felt like more of the same, and while I enjoyed it, I also could have done without it.
Singles
Who Want the Smoke? - feat. Cardi B & Offset [This track is a certified banger. Offset snapped on his verse]
Best Tracks
Get Dripped - feat. Playboi Carti
Yacht Club - feat. Juice WRLD [Some of Juice WRLD's lines, such as the reference to Drake's hidden child, are pretty funny.]
We Outta Here! - feat. Young Nudy
Everything Good, Everything Right
Worst Track
I'm the Mac
Score: 6/10, slightly worse than LB2.
Future & Juice WRLD Present...WRLD ON DRUGS
I find it very funny that we got two projects that are polar opposites, J. Cole's KOD and this album. While Cole's April 2018 effort is filled with life lessons and anti-drug messages, WRLD on Drugs is filled with lyrics about, well, being on drugs all the goddamn time. Future has been working hard this year, as this is the fourth project he's been involved with this year alone. I wasn't crazy about the other three, nor was I crazy about Juice WRLD's debut project that he released back in May (I gave it a 4). However, I was interested to see what kind of chemistry Future and Juice WRLD would have. They surprisingly have great chemistry on here and they play off each other's styles beautifully. The bulk of the album was produced by Wheezy, who did a stellar job on the beats here. However, one thing I was surprised about was how much Juice WRLD outperformed Future on a good portion of these tracks. Even as a huge Future fan, I found myself drawn to Juice's melodies and flows more than Future's throughout this album. I don't think Future did too bad of a job, but his hooks, melodies, and flows weren't nearly as good as Juice. The features on this album were hit or miss, with my favorite being from Lil Wayne on "Oxy" and least favorite being Nicki Minaj on "Transformer." The sound was expected and not very progressive for either Future or Juice WRLD, but they managed to put together a very enjoyable and consistent project with some great bangers.
Singles
Fine China [Juice's worst hook which includes the worst lyrics he's ever written:
"And her last man was a pussy, had a vagina.../...It's her body or nobody, I refuse to compromise / So if she leaves, I'ma kill her, oh, she'll die"
I know he said something after as if he was kidding but this is still a pretty cringe-worthy set of lyrics.]
Best Tracks
Make It Back (Juice WRLD Solo Track) [It's a shame that Future got 3 solo tracks and he only got one, and it's less than 2 minutes.]
7 Am Freestyle
WRLD on Drugs
Ain't Livin' Right - feat. Gunna
Worst Tracks
Fine China
Oxy (Future Solo Track) - feat. Lil Wayne [I loved Wayne's verse but Future straight up ruined this. What the fuck was he thinking to put on that voice?]
Score: 7/10, definitely better than the Future/Thugger project, that's for damn sure.
This concludes Episode 1. Episode 2 will be coming sometime next week and might feature a new project from Tory Lanez.
