Atlanta, Georgia rapper 2 Chainz finally releasing his 7th studio LP. Coming up as 1/2 of the duo Playaz Circle, they eventually signed to Disturbing tha Peace Records & Def Jam Recordings in the 2000s releasing only 2 albums. He eventually ventured off into a solo career, with the biggest standouts being Pretty Girls 👍 TRΛP MUSIC & Rap or Go to the League. He recently teamed up with Larry June for the collaborative effort Life is Beautiful produced by The Alchemist & has dropped a soundtrack to his new short film.
“Mutual Bonds” was a great drumles intro produced by STREETRUNNER talking about only fucking with people who fuck with him whereas “Not the Same” samples “Silly Love Song” by Enchantment explaining that some things have changed with him in his life. “Thought You Loved Me” fuses chipmunk soul & trap suggesting one would laugh if he was struggling at the moment just before “Sista Wives” featuring Lil Yachty talks about people not respecting them over a Buddah Bless instrumental, which in Yachty’s case is bad timing because of his recent PlaqueBoyMax stream.
YoungBoy Never Broke Again provides the weakest guest appearance on “I Wanna Win” despite the 30 Roc beat & the desire they express of wanting to catch Ws leading into the drumless chipmunk soul crossover “Flow Switcha” talking about his success invoking people. “Free” featuring Vory finds the pair calling for all their incarcerated homies to be let out & once “Deadbeat Moms” talks about those specific kind of mothers being at an all-time high, “The ATL Experience” ends with a tribute to his city sampling The Isley Brothers.
Some of the teasers that we got building up towards Red Clay had me hoping that it was gonna be an improvement from 2 Chainz’ final Def Jam offering Dope Don’t Sell Itself, but his inaugural solo release under The Real U Records’ new distribution deal with none other than EMPIRE honestly reached the same level of mediocrity. It actually starts off stronger than I would’ve thought & I’d like it a lot more if he condensed it down to the first half since those’re the most salvageable tracks of the bunch, the 2nd leg of it is really where the album starts to fall apart.
Score: 2.5/5
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