Houston, Texas veteran Trae tha Truth celebrating his 45th birthday with his 17th studio LP. A member of the Screwed Up Click collective, he would go on to join the Guerilla Maab & ABN with over a dozen solo efforts under his belt. Stuck in Motion & Crowd Control were both received mixed-to-negatively in the past couple years, hoping of making up for the lackluster reception of his most recent outputs by channeling all the pain he’s endured onto Angel pushing it back from it’s initial May release.
The intro opens up with Trae singing his heart out over bare pianos of losing faith & needing a savior whereas “All This Time” passionately admits to feeling like the world around him wants him deleted. “Letter 2 Truth 2” brings a drumlessly cloudier vibe instrumentally speaking to his daughter until “Alright” featuring Lecrae blends some synths & gospel choir vocals for a religiously themed direction in terms of subject.
“Where Did You Go?” gives off a cloudy trap feeling addressing the people he wishes he could see for the last time just before “The Gathering” featuring Vory finds the 2 talking about feeling like they’ve been on the edge lately & other going as far to thinking they were finished. “Lord Know” speaks of everything he’s been going through in recent years being the type of shit to give you grey hairs leading into the gospel-trap crossover “Amen” talking about his being head down because he was praying.
Chance the Rapper joins Trae on “Thank You” turning the gospel influences up even higher giving their praises to God for everything he’s done for them while “Daddy Miss You” strips the drums & pens an open letter to his daughter on the road telling her how much he misses her. Kocky Ka makes for the weakest of the 2 guests on the “Alone” remix despite Lil Poppa’s verse being no issue, but then the acoustic trap fusion “Out Here” talks about people being a joke lately.
“I’m Human” pushes the 2nd leg further responding back to the people who’ve turned on him & suggesting some of it might have to do with his own mistakes he’s taking accountability for while “Reaching Arms” advises not to blow the only few chances you got at making it over a drumless gospel flip. “Bet on Me” radiates a sample-woven trap energy in terms of the beat talking about everything being heavy on him while “Ain’t tha Truth” featuring Hunxho asks what the deal is with the cap.
Dave East & Trae get together during “Down on Me” talking about needing to get better over a trap instrumental with sped-up sampling & after “All Luv” featuring Jeremih takes a trap soul route always standing up for something different, “Before I Die” atmospherically finds himself with the foot on the gas taking aim at the individuals who think they know what his eyes have seen.
“I’m In” laughs off those who think they’re bigger than the program & getting honest of this becoming his moment of revenge on ‘em while “S.4.T.W. (Struggle 4 the World)” suggests the idea of their hardships being for entertainment purposes only & to stand on business if it’s pressure. “Let It Go” caps off Angel with a drumless soul flip not needing the pain because he’s big alone along for you to wake up.
For at least several months, Trae tha Truth has been saying for the past several months that Restless could have competition for the #1 spot in his discography & I can completely understand what he meant by that since it’s far well conceived than his last couple dudes. Heavily inspired by his daughter & the journey they’ve taken together, it all made for the most deeply introspective he’s been in his almost 3 decade career.
Score: 4/5
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