YBN Almighty Jay – “Battling My Spirit” review

YBN Almighty Jay is a 21 year old rapper from Houston, Texas who came up as a founding member of the now defunct YBN collective. Dude has dropped a handful of singles in the span of 6 years & has now whipped up a 20 minute EP as his first official project.

The opener “Get Rich in the Hood” talks about going out like Suge before going out like Pac over an acoustic guitar & a dizzying backdrop whereas the next track “Big Check” shows off his wealth over a drab beat. The song “Murder in My Eyes” talks about how all his homies balling over an instrumental trying to rip off the aesthetics of Travis Scott’s previous album ASTROWORLD while the title track is easily the best off the entire EP, as Jay confesses that he looks at his family different & the dejecting tone of the beat is perfect.

The song “Drank Sealed” talks about going from a futon to a mansion over a guitar & some hi-hats while the track “Bring Out the Hoochies” is a mediocre attempt at making a strip club anthem. The song “Shoutout to My Dentist” talks about being flashy over a buoyant instrumental & then the closer “Red Light Special” talks about not having time for affairs over a syrupy beat.

Other than the title track, I hardly got anything out of this EP at the end of the day & I really don’t see what makes YBN Almighty Jay an appealing artist. His songwriting is insipid, the flows are pretty basic & the production is incredibly generic.

Score: 1/5