ColleGrove is a southern hip hop duo consisting of Atlanta, Georgia rapper & songwriter 2 Chainz as well as New Orleans, Louisiana emcee, singer/songwriter, record executive & entrepreneur Lil Wayne. Both of whom have known each other since Tity Boi was Weezy’s weedman, which lead to Wayne appearing on the Playaz Circle’s debut album Supply & Demand and the rest is history. They eventually formed ColleGrove in 2016 & put out a decent eponymous debut album that same year, but was credited as a 2 Chainz solo effort due to Tunechi’s issues with Cash Money Records at the time. So it makes absolute sense to me for ColleGrove to put out a sophomore effort & be properly credited as a duo.
After the titular intro, the first song “G6” starts off the 2nd LP with an underwhelming trap instrumental despite the lyrics justifiably boasting themselves as the realest ones here whereas “Big Diamonds” featuring 21 Savage picks things up from the ratchet Mannie Fresh beat to the subject matter about being big dogs. “Presha” works in some whistling & hi-hats courtesy of Bangladesh looking to apply pressure of course, but then “Long Story Short” has a more soulful flare thanks to Big K.R.I.T. admitting this life they live are gonna be the death of them.
After the “Duffel Bag Boys” interlude, the horns from Apex Martin & Mike Dean on the official theme song for the Endeavor-owned TKO Group Holdings division WWE’s developmental NXT brand “Millions from Now” are pretty fun talking about not remembering certain people once they become rich leading into the mediocre “Crazy Thick” jumping over a bass-heavy instrumental talking about thick women. “Transparency” strips the drums completely in favor of synths provided by Hitmaka seeking clarity just before “Significant Other” produced by Honorable C.N.O.T.E. & 30 Roc is a 2-parter that’s pretty much ColleGrove’s equivalent to “Life is Good” by Future & Drake except better.
After the “Ladies Man” interlude, “P.P.A. (Pretty Pussy Award)” featuring Fabolous has this sweet vocal sample chop throughout as the trio tell the special women in their life exactly what they deserve while “Oprah & Gayle” featuring Benny the Butcher moves on from the romantic themes in favor of dropping nothing but bars for 5 minutes over an exuberant DJ Toomp beat. Havoc’s sampling throughout “Shame” is absolutely crazy promising to leave your homies’ brains on you that is until “Bars” ruggedly talks about the disease they have.
After the “No Fent” interlude, “Godzilla” featuring Vory asks what’s a gorilla to the titular kaiju with the hi-hats being added after Vory’s sung-verse while “Crown Snatcher” talks about being exactly that over an explosive Murda Beatz instrumental. “Can’t Believe You featuring Rick Ross tackles the theme of untrustworthiness on top of a soulful STREETRUNNER beat & after the “Never Was Lost” interlude, the Dem Jointz-lazed closer “Moonlight” profoundly asks why we don’t run away referencing Mayweather Promotions founder Floyd Mayweather.
Truthfully: I had put ColleGrove eponymous debut on one my top 10 worst albums of 2016 list and it hasn’t grown on me a little bit over the course of the past 7 years since, but Welcome 2 ColleGrove is way more cohesive than the predecessor. The production’s tighter, you get a better look at their chemistry since the original had 2 Chainz solo joints on there & the features all give solid performances along the way.
Score: 4/5
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