Babyface Ray is a 31 year old rapper, songwriter & actor from Detroit, Michigan who emerged in 2014 by joining the Team Eastside collective. He has since gone on to drop 5 mixtapes as well as 5 EPs & a well received full-length debut within the last 6-7 years before turning heads worldwide & becoming one of the 2 biggest up-&-comers in the city next to Babytron, both of whom eventually landed spots in this year’s XXL Freshman Class over the summer. But Face is looking to end 2022 the way he started it by dropping a sophomore effort.
“Waves on Every Chain” is a lavish Detroit trap opener with Face dropping some braggadocio whereas “Wonderful Wayne & Jackie Boy” with Lil Durk is an off the wall banger coming through with some more menacing lyricism. “Rap Politics” has a more futuristic quality to the instrumental as Face talks about being a hustler goin’ corporate just before “Nice Guy” has a gloomier vibe courtesy of Pooh Beatz confessing that he’s tired of always trying to be generous.
Continuing from there with “Brand New Benz”, we have Face over some rattling hi-hats & bells showing off his new ride leading into the spacious “Vonnie” getting more personal this time around lyrically. Blxst comes into the picture for the R&B/trap duet “Spend It” talking about going on shopping sprees, but then “Bitch Wyd?” weaves some incredible background vocals thanks to Sledgren asking his girl why she won’t return any of his missed calls.
“Crazy World” brings a more atmospheric approach to the table showing what he had draw down while “Massacre” has a more darker tone to it down to Face & Doe Boy talking about all the real ones in the building to stand the fuck up. The harp through “Masterpiece” is amazingly powerful as he flexes his left wrist while “Wavy Gang Immortal” with King Hendrick$ & Samuel Shabazz finds the trio over some hi-hats & eerily croooning vocals talking about learning from your favorites.
“Code + Love Me Some More” is a well sequenced 2-parter as Face gets on the more romantic side on the mic while “Spill My Cup” somberly admits that he’s been sensing hate from people that he genuinely cares about. The song “Corner Suite” is more synth-heavy sound to boast while the penultimate track “Hallelujah” with GMO Stax has a more suspenseful feel to it talking about staying in motion. “Famous” though delivers a piano/trap closer opening up on where he’s at in his life at this point.
I’ll admit that I had my bit of doubt going into this album & I personally prefer Face more, but I gotta say that I came away from Mob to be a fine sophomore effort. The features are kind of hit or miss yet one of the 2 best artists in the 313 right now above Babytron succeeds in Face’s goal to further establish himself with his more personal lyrics & the production continuing to expand on a diverse range of sounds.
Score: 3.5/5
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