This is the 3rd EP from Toronto, Ontario, Canada rapper Smiley. Beginning as a member of the Garden Gang, he would go on to drop his debut mixtape Buy or Bye in the spring of 2018 followed by 2 EPs & even a couple more tapes before local superstar Drake signed him to OVO Sound a little over 3 years ago already. As for his OVO debut Buy or Bye 2, it didn’t really do all that much in catching my interest or standing out enough to the point where I’d go back to it & I Did What I Did wasn’t doing any favors. In spite of Kendrick Lamar performing last night & tonight in the label’s city, Smiley’s advising to Don’t Box Me In.
“Budge” wasn’t that good of a single bragging over a piano-trap instrumental that his trap house was doing the same numbers as the NFL when I doubt that whereas “6SideKids” cloudily talks about feeling bored on tour. “2 Mazza” featuring Drake has gotta be one of the more salvageable moments on the EP from the Boi-1da beat to even Smiley’s mentor barely outperforming him leading into the atmospheric “Kept Snowin’” tediously speaking on the racks making him feel good.
Why G pops up on “Trapman” for a subpar trap collab prior to Icewear Vezzo saving the best feature on the EP for “Money Feen” talking about their overly obsessive desire for money. “Big Dog” featuring Baka Not Nice whose weird case still makes people wonder why he’s around takes a nosedive again hilariously referring to themselves as bosses & after “Wave the Flag” adds insult to injury talking about not making it worse since he learned from the best, Pooh Beatz samples Sean Leon during “Spill the Tell” until Smiley derails it by making them “put out your hand like Wii”.
“Bob Curry” cloudily starts the deluxe run boldly asks if anybody wants smoke when the guy who have him a deal’s still taking Ls while “Oliver North” continues with a comatose tribute to his city. “Ratchet Baby” featuring Roy Wood$ finds the 2 talking about preferring some nastiness in their women while “Faddah” pleads for all the time he’s lost to come back when that isn’t happening. The final bonus track “Not a Fan” ends the EP with him talking about being a “guyser” whatever that means.
Last summer, it was mentioned when I had reviewed I Did What I Did that Smiley was by far the weakest link compared to the rest of the OVO roster & Don’t Box Me In solidifies that even further. I appreciate the fact he wanted to go for a different direction compared to his earlier material, but that doesn’t mean I found a lot of his performances boring compared to almost half of the guests on top of the production for a good run of the 36 minutes coming off as mostly uninteresting.
Score: 1.5/5
Keep up with @legendswill_never_die on Instagram & @LegendsllLiveOn on Twitter for the best music reviews weekly!
Legends Will Never Die 