Juicy J – “The Trippy Tapes” review

Memphis, Tennessee rapper, songwriter, producer & record executive Juicy J celebrating his birthday weekend with his 15th mixtape. Rising to stardom 3 decades earlier as the co-founder of the seminal Three 6 Mafia alongside his Tear Da Club Up Thugs cohorts DJ Paul & the late Lord Infamous, he’s also had the most successful solo career out of everyone in the Mafia whether it be the Taylor Gang Entertainment/Columbia Records-backed Stay Trippy & Rubba Band Business: The Album or more recently Crypto Business & Mental Trillness. The latter & it’s sequel noticeably taking on a more serious tone than some of Juicy’s latest material, taking a good chunk of it’s time coping with Gangsta Boo’s untimely passing. Coming off the mature Ravenite Social Club and the Logic-produced Live & in Color, we’re being treated to the inaugural entry of The Trippy Tapes.

Lex Luger combines some horns & hi-hats during the intro “I Don’t Shoot Dice” explaining that nothing’s nice regarding Juicy prior to “Cold Game” talking about everyone working with the feds these days. “Same Way” gives some advice in the fact that some of our Day 1s won’t be here when the money finally starts coming in leading into “Betta Not” featuring G9nstaB9by finds the 2 moderately talking about spending checks & referring to themselves as heavyweight.

“Trim the Circle” moves forward urging everyone to cut off all the bullshit energy surrounding them just before “Ain’t No Way” calls cap on someone claimin’ to still cop J’s when they can’t even afford their own car. “On da Low” gives off a heavy Memphis vibe talking about smoking dope out in California & keeping it lowkey while “Show Me” clarifies that he doesn’t give a fuck what people say, opting to watch what they be doing instead.

Lil Wyte joins Juicy for “I Smoke Earth” talking about their love of the dankest weed they get their hands on while “Backshots” takes a more sexual approach topically, which isn’t surprising considering the name. “A.D.B.F. (All Dese Bitches Fuckable)” keeps the raunchy subject matter going talking about the sexiness of all the women surrounding him while “Don’t Play With” angrily comes at the throats of those spewing craziness out their mouths.

“Victim” nears the end of the 1st leg talking about the unbelievability of those acting tough on social media only to flip the switch when shit hits the fan while “Speak in Gold” flexes that he manifests checks whenever he opens his mouth. “Day Walker” samples “The Rain” by Oran “Juice” Jonesso he can talk about a hoe his family nor TMZ will ever catch in public by his side while “I Wanna Baby” confesses he has no issues with women who act ratchet.

BeatKing & Wiz Khalifa both appear on “42” delivering an anthem to be played as part of their individual birthday celebrations prior to him trying to bring the “Real N***a Era” back over a Memphis-driven instrumental. “4 da Chat” encourages a stripper to bend it over & throw it back for everyone watching his livestream while “Yeah Dat Thur” talks about his lifestyle, including only blowing gas & carrying a Goyard bag full of money around.

“Last Time” keeps it rollin’ advising to keep a firearm on ya because of the streets being cold blooded while “You Not That” talks about having no one around him unless you’ve got ice in your veins. “Had to Do It” featuring Wiz Khalifa reunites the pair for a song I enjoyed more than “42”, explaining they had to cut their bitches off because they didn’t have a choice while “Shrooms” talks about consuming psilocybin although it’s not really my thing.

It was cool to hear Babyfxce E laying a verse out for Scotty” although I’m personally not the biggest fan of him on top of Juicy having the better performances of the 2 & after “Gofers” spends 110 seconds going at the throats of clout chasers who’ll literally go for anything to receive attention in return, “Like This” poses the question of what these cornballs will do when shit gets low & not having to make any complaints about the cars & house he owns.

“Sneaky” featuring RJtheWeirdo wraps up The Trippy Tapes’ encore turning up the Memphis influences telling a promiscuous woman who can’t keep her legs closed to meet them outside while “Stash” featuring G9ngstaB9by reunites both of them 1 last time letting everyone who wants to book them know that they wait to be paid in full first. The self-produced “Power” featuring La Reezy sends it all off shifting their focus from money to control.

Hearing that Lex Luger producing a vast majority of this inaugural entry of The Trippy Tapes raised my anticipation for it considering how well he & Juicy J have worked with each other in the past, but I wound up a bit divided towards the end result coming away from it. Granted the production’s an improvement over Head on Swivel, although there are some filler that should’ve been included on the sequel & some of the guests are underwhelming.

Score: 3/5

Keep up with @legendswill_never_die on Instagram & @LegendsllLiveOn on Twitter for the best music reviews weekly!

Juicy J – “Ravenite Social Club” review

Memphis, Tennessee rapper, songwriter, producer & record executive Juicy J coming off the Mental Trillness duology to release his 8th solo LP. Rising to stardom in the 90s as the co-founder of the seminal Three 6 Mafia alongside his Tear Da Club Up Thugs cohorts DJ Paul & the late Lord Infamous, he’s also had the most successful solo career out of everyone in the Mafia whether it be the Taylor Gang Entertainment/Columbia Records-backed Stay Trippy & Rubba Band Business: The Album or more recently Crypto Business & Mental Trillness. The latter & it’s sequel noticeably taking on a more serious tone than some of Juicy’s latest material, taking a good chunk of it’s time coping with Gangsta Boo’s untimely passing. Further diverting from the norm, he’s going jazz rap in the Ravenite Social Club.

After the “Provider” intro, the first song “The Higher Ups” further sets the tone of what’s to come hopping over a jazz boom bap instrumental from longtime Griselda affiliate JR Swiftz dissing corporate America whereas “Don’t Go Out” works in some pianos as well as kicks & snares advising not to go out the way Paul Castellano of the Gambino crime family did. “That’s Gangsta” keeps it boom bap explaining how hard it is to be splitting 50/50 with his bitch, but then “Everything All Good” has a warmer trap approach telling us he’s been doing ok.

“Fucked Up Era” hooks up some horns describing what he was living in for the past year & a half or so that resulted in both Mental Trillness albums prior to “Thought It Was” strips the drums completely boasting his luxurious ways of living. “Deserve It” has this orchestral boom bap flare to the beat dedicating it to all the independent shawties ahead of “The Past is the Past” colorfully leaving everything behind him for approximately 116 seconds.

The self-produced “Consequence” mixes these pianos with kicks & snares reminding the listeners of the most valuable lesson a person can learn in their lifetime while “Payment” swaps the keys out in favor of synthesizers admitting The Notorious B.I.G. wasn’t lying when he said “Mo Money, Mo Problems” using his own experiences. “1 in 1,000,000” hops on top of more horns advising what a dangerous lie it is that you don’t have to work just before the soulfully drumless “Suicide Doors” featuring Cordae warns to get a bag before you beef since you’ll need money for war.

“The Bottom Line” continues to chop up the soul samples smoking & drinking 1 for old time’s sake while the 4 minute “To You” pays tribute to Lord Infamous, Koopsta Knicca & Gangsta Boo over Robert Glasper playing piano. “Sometimes” further pushes the closure of the Ravenite Social Club for the night soulfully asking if you needed someone to talk to & no one was there while “Things Changed” promising he’ll be there when his baby falls automatically telling her yes if she ever calls him.

Beginning the deluxe run, the drumlessly jazzy “In Plain Sight” disses the haters for wanting to see him torn down legalizing products to sell at the same price while “Fit the Mode” featuring Project Pat puts a mature spin on trap generally talking about the best thing in the world being a woman by your side. “Could’ve Been Worse” goes boom bap reminding that you only get 1 chance to make it while “Enemy Lines” angrily warns what happens once you cross a specific path.

“Just Listen” jazzily advises everyone who’s still tuning in for them to take care of their business while “Dizzy” drumlessly reflects on spending most of his time denying what the heavens planned & refusing to fake the funk anymore by letting the prophets come true. The final bonus track “Point ‘Em Out” featuring Remy Ma goes trap for a dedication to all the real women & not trying to risk being around the bitches who’re fake.

Both installments of the Mental Trillness duology were greeted to mixed reception although I personally appreciate them for being more introspectively serious than some of Juicy’s past solo material & now that we finally got Ravenite Social Club after 8 months in the making, it could very well be my favorite of his since branching out on his own & he’ll even tell you that himself. It’s a change of pace with its production building upon the sounds of jazz rap, boom bap, drumless & chipmunk soul focusing less on trap taking the overall maturity a step further.

Score: 4.5/5

Keep up with @legendswill_never_die on Instagram & @LegendsllLiveOn on Twitter for the best music reviews weekly!

Juicy J – “Mental Trillness 2” review

This is the 7th full-length solo LP from Memphis rapper, songwriter, producer & record executive Juicy J. Rising to stardom in the 90s as the co-founder of the seminal Three 6 Mafia alongside his Tear Da Club Up Thugs cohorts DJ Paul & the late Lord Infamous, he’s also had the most successful solo career out of everyone in the Mafia whether it be the Taylor Gang Entertainment/Columbia Records-backed Stay Trippy & Rubba Band Business: The Album or more recently Crypto Business & Mental Trillness. The latter noticeably taking on a more serious tone than some of Juicy’s latest material, taking a good chunk of it’s time coping with Gangsta Boo’s untimely passing & was wondering if the sequel here would address personal themes once more.

“Serenity” starts with a drumless instrumental saying goodbye to Hollywood whereas the self-produced “Bury My Problems” continues by banging out a Memphis tinged 2-parter talking about his pain running deep. “Overseas” works in more minimalistic half-time drum machine programming & droning bass to flex his European guap just before “Desperate Measures” eerily asks why you think he scrapes the bowl tryna get all the extras out.

Hi-hats get mixed with chopped & screwed vocals throughout “4 Life” so Da Juice Man can represent his city until he can’t anymore, but then the decent single “Sukihana” featuring Sukihana herself has more of a cloudier trap flare talking about needing a freaky hoe. “My Hood” throws it back to the classic Three 6 sound advising the newer Memphis artists who been pimpin’ leading into the ominous “He Did” discussing those online claimin’ sets getting checked by goons.

“Fired Up” starts the 2nd leg of the album in the form of a 2-minute smoke break for everyone listening that’s working a 9-5 while “Dig” serves as a playful dedication to hard working bitches. “Cut Back” brings back the signature Memphis sound instrumentally talking about trying to get his life together while “Money Flippa” featuring Project Pat taking a soulful turn to the beat telling everyone to get their grind & shine right.

Nearing the LP’s final quarter, “Switched Up” chops up soul samples once again airing out those who turned on him while “On the Way” featuring both IDontKnowJeffery & Xavier Wulf of the East Memphis Boyz brings 2 generations of the Memphis scene together fondly. Xavier sticks around for the penultimate track “All It Takes” smoothly talking about your girl running to dudes like them & lastly, “Suffering from Realness” concludes Mental Trillness 2 morbidly boasting that he’s too real.

The predecessor last spring was a bit of a breath of fresh air that Juicy’s solo output needed since it was starting to feel repetitive lyrically & the Mental Trillnesssequel plays to the strengths from the album that we got from him over 13 months ago already. He tones down the amount of guests only by a couple notches, it’s mostly self-produced in comparison to producing a little over half last time & addresses further personal issues on the mic.

Score: 4/5

Keep up with @legendswill_never_die on Instagram & @LegendsllLiveOn on Twitter for the best music reviews weekly!