Juice WRLD – “The Party Never Ends” review

This is the 5th & final full-length studio LP from Chicago, Illinois rapper & singer/songwriter Juice WRLD. Quickly becoming a prominent face in the emo rap trend in the spring of 2018 off the strength of his commercial debut Goodbye & Good Riddance, this was followed up the next year with the sophomore album Death Race for Love & Juice sadly passed away after his 21st birthday from a drug overdose. Now even though I personally found both of those albums to be average at best before his untimely death, they eventually grew on me & the kid was undeniably talented. Case in point: “Lucid Dreams” & his astonishing 1-hour Tim Westwood freestyle. Legends Never Die during the summer of the COVID-19 lockdowns was a cool little tribute & 3 years after Fighting Demons tied-in with his Into the Abyss documentary nicely, The Party Never Ends is finally seeing the light of day.

The title track begins by hopping over a psychedelic trap instrumental getting the party started whereas “Misfit” gets on his emo rap shit talking about not fitting in. “All Girls Are the Same 2 (Insecure)” featuring Nicki Minaj is this pointless sequel to one of Juice’s biggest hits, but then the bassy “Lace It” featuring Eminem makes up for it reflecting heavily on substance abuse & Eminem giving one of his best guest verse in recent memory discussing the recent deaths of many rappers due to drug overdose.

“Cuffed” produced by from benny blanco, Cashmere Cat & longtime collaborator Nick Mira of Internet Money Records joyously celebrates Juice’s accomplishments as result of his position as an artist up until the point of his death while the cloudy trap joint “KTM Drip” talks about letting in the drugs that’re knocking on his door. “Love Letter” goes for a trippier direction to the beat once more telling the woman that’s on his mind that he wants to be with her forever just before “Condone It” tackles the lifestyle that he lived over this woozy Boi-1da instrumental.

The Kid Laroi who recently starred in the A24 Films teen flick Y2K hops on the mic throughout the entirety of “Goodbye” heading for a minimal sound & looking back on the time that he spent with his late mentor while the guitar-driven “Party By Myself” talks about nothin’ else numbing his pain like the pills & the weed. “Adore You” addresses his issues with love & drugs over more guitars while “Celebrate” featuring Offset has one of the best beats on the album thanks to Metro Boomin’ mixing Raf Simons & Rick Owens together

“Jeffrey” pushes further towards the 2nd half hooking up a rubbery bassline chillin’ with killers referencing Jeffrey Dahmer while “Barbarian” reuses the instrumental of “Red Dead” by Yung Bans, doing it better by professing his affection for codeine referencing WWE Hall of Famer Mike Tyson. “Best Friend” featuring Fall Out Boy tediously fuses trap, pop rap & a hint of pop rock for a duet asking their soulmates if they could put a yellow diamond ring on their left hands while the upbeat “Floor It” boasts about his drug use as well as expensive materialism & his girlfriend at the time of him recording it referencing 14-time WWE world champion, 4-time WWE tag team champion, WWE Intercontinental Champion & WWE United States Champion Randy Orton.

The song “Oxycodone” has a cool rap rock flare courtesy of Purps talking about the drug addiction that he sadly lost his life to & Spend It” finishes the final body of work in Juice WRLD’s discography showcasing his wealth & the slow vibes that Zaytoven laced make it feel bittersweet. “Empty Out Your Pockets” though initially premiered during Fortnite’s Remix event falling back after needing millions over pianos & hi-hats until it was later added as an official bonus cut.

Shy of the 5-year anniversary of his tragic death in less than a couple weeks, The Party Never Ends fills the void for fans who grew up alongside the beloved rapper’s melancholy melodies in the form of misfit music running at 54 minutes. The familiar themes of doomed love, vicious cycles, numbing out & fighting demons sung in an anguished warble matched with the production blending emo rap, trap & pop rap ensures that the Chicago artist’s legacy will live on forever.

Score: 3.5/5

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

Juice WRLD – “Fighting Demons” review

Juice WRLD was a 21 year old rapper from Chicago, Illinois who quickly becoming a prominent face in the emo rap trend in the spring of 2018 off the strength of his commercial debut Goodbye & Good Riddance. This was followed up the next year with the sophomore album Death Race for Love but unfortunately, Juice passed away later that same year from a drug overdose. Now even though I personally found both of those albums to be average at best before his untimely death, they eventually grew on me & the kid was undeniably talented. Case in point: “Lucid Dreams” & his astonishing 1-hour Tim Westwood freestyle. Legends Never Die from last summer was a cool little tribute to Juice also but with the 2 year anniversary of his death passing by earlier this week, his estate is dropping his 2nd posthumous album albeit 4th overall.

“Burn” is an bittersweet opener produced by Metro Boomin’ opening up about Juice’s drug addiction whereas “Already Dead” finds Nick Mira of Internet Money Records working in some pianos & the dude is essentially foreshadowing his own death through the lyrics. Gezin keeps the heat going with “You Don’t Understand” talking about never giving a fuck about anything, but then the Justin Bieber-duet “Wandered to LA” just seems like a forced attempt at a radio hit & that’s not Juice’s fault at all.

After the “Eminem Speaks” interlude, we have T-Minus taking the album in a more cavernous direction on “Rockstar in His Prime” with Juice rightfully comparing himself as such leading into Take a Daytrip sampling “High School” by iON LIL GUT for “Doom” which speaks on looking for self destruction. “Go Hard” has one of the weaker instrumentals on the album even though I like that Juice’s basically paying tribute to Ally Lotti & after the “Juice Speaks” interlude, “Not Enough” is a badass rap rock tune about failed relationships.

Polo G & Trippie Redd tag along for “Feline” referencing the WWE’s 2nd flagship program Friday Night SmackDown on the Fox Corporation’s flagship property while “Relocate” almost has a country trap vibe to it talking about his success. After the “Juice Speaks 2” interlude, “From My Window” continues to fuse guitars with snares talking about living like Rambo whereas “Until the Plug Comes Back Around” has a more trippier sound once more detailing drug addiction.

The song “Girl of My Dreams” with SUGA is a pretty awkward romance ballad while the penultimate track “Feel Alone” sees Danny Wolf bringing in some somber guitar chords with Juice talking about depression. And to finish off the album, “My Life in a Nutshell” goes into a more cloudier route noting the fact that people knew him for his music & not his struggles before he passed.

I was honestly a bit worried about how this album was gonna turn out, but I ended up enjoying it quite a bit & it’s definitely one of the better posthumous outings I’ve heard all year. Only a couple of the joints on here seem cobbled together, but the rest is just fully fleshed out AND they’re actually enjoyable for the most part.

Score: 3.5/5

Juice WRLD – “Legends Never Die” review

This is the 1st posthumous outing & 3rd full-length album overall from Chicago, Illinois rapper Juice WRLD. Quickly becoming a prominent face in the emo rap trend in 2018 off the strength of his commercial debut Goodbye & Good Riddance, he tragically passed away late last year just 9 months after the release of his sophomore effort Death Race for Love. Now even though I personally found both of those albums to be average at best, the kid was undeniably talented as proven on songs like “Lucid Dreams” & his astonishing 1-hour Tim Westwood freestyle. But just 7 months after Juice’s passing, his estate is coming together with Legends Never Die.

After a spoken word intro, the first song “Conversations” talks about his demons over a spacious Ronny J beat while the track “Titanic” compares himself to that of a sinking ship over a cavernous DY instrumental. The song “Bad Energy” talks about flushing out all the negativity in him over a skeletal instrumental while the track “Righteous” talks about how his anxiety’s the size of a planet over a melancholic beat from longtime collaborator Nick Mira of Internet Money Records.

The song “Blood On My Jeans” is an endearing tribute to his girlfriend Ally Lotti with an acoustic trap beat from Gezin while the track “Tell Me U Luv Me” finds him begging Ally to tell him everything will be ok on top of an instrumental with a bit of a dancehall influence to it. The song “Hate on the Other Side” by Polo G & The Kid LAROI seems out of place since Juice has very little appearance on it whatsoever & the Marshmello production is just kinda plain to me.

After the “Get Through It” interlude, the track “Life’s a Mess” with Halsey is an awkward rapper/pop singer duet that we’ve all seen done a million times already while the song “Come & Go” feeds into another pop rap cliche as Juice goes in on top of an EDM instrumental. The song “I Want It” talks about love over some more acoustic trap production while the track “Fighting Demons” needs no further explanation over a keyboard-inflicted beat.

The song “Wishing Well” talks about how he deals with fame over a glossy instrumental while the track “Screw Juice” tells the listener if he made it as far as he did, they can as well & the beat on here is just monstrous. The track “Up Up & Away” talks about getting high over an acoustic instrumental & after The Man, The Myth, The Legend” instrumental, the song “Stay High” talks about balance over a moody beat.

The track “Can’t Die” talks about how Ally changed his life over a synth-heavy instrumental from DY & before the album finishes off with the “Juice WRLD Speaks from Heaven” outro, the final song “Man of the Year” is a tearjerking celebration of life over a rap rock instrumental from Skrillex of all fucking people.

This is just a tad bit better than the latest Pop Smoke album Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon. It was clearly put together out of passion rather than just money, but there are slightly more hits than misses during the 55 minutes of this final product.

Score: 3/5

Juice WRLD – “Death Race for Love” review

Juice WRLD is a 20 year old rapper from Chicago, Illinois who started blowing up just about a year ago due to the release of his debut album Goodbye & Good Riddance. I personally thought it was just average, because I feel like he’s pretty much Post Malone making Lil Uzi Vert & Trippie Redd songs. He then followed it up with a VERY awkward collab tape with Future called WRLD on Drugs but now, he’s returning with his sophomore album.

It all starts off with “Empty”, where Juice vents about being lonely over a piano & clap driven instrumental. The next song “Maze” talks about losing his sanity over a somber trap beat from Boi-1da while the track “HeEmotions” talks about another day in the life of Juice WRLD over a gloomy beat from Hit-Boy. After the “Demonz” interlude, the song “Fast” talks about his new life, but it literally sounds like a Post Malone joint down to the Louis Bell & Ging instrumental.

The track “Hear Me Calling” talks about a breakup over an infectiously rhythmic Purps instrumental while the song “Big” gets boastful over a spacey Hit-Boy beat. The track “Robbery” is another breakup tune except this one feels forced & corny while the song “Flaws & Sins” talks about seeing light through the darkness over a bland beat. The track “Feeling” is pretty much a boring rehash of the opener while the song “Syphilis” is a sex ode with an eerie trap beat from Cardo.

The track “Who Shot Cupid?” details more ex-girlfriend shit with a beautiful acoustic-driven instrumental from Purps while the song “Ring Ring” is about doing drugs with a dime a dozen beat. The track “Desire” is on some stalker shit over an atmospheric Purps beat while the song “Out My Way” gets back on the braggadocious tip over an abrasive Hit-Boy beat.

“The Bees Knees” is a fiery club banger while the song “ON GOD” with Young Thug sees the 2 talking about being in their bags over some prominent hi-hats. The track “10 Feet” is a boring diatribe about being high while the song “Won’t Let Go” talks about the girl of his dreams over a Purps beat with some rubbery bass.

The track “She’s the One” is a trippy follow-up to the previous joint while the song “Rider” sees Juice telling this chick to prove her loyalty to him over a generic beat. The album then finishes off with “Make Believe”, where Juice talks about how he say this breakup coming over a Boi-1da instrumental that beautifully uses the same sample that J Dilla used on “Runnin’” by The Pharcyde.

This wasn’t as bad as I thought it was gonna be, but it’s still a mixed bag. The production has gotten better & Juice is only as half melodramatic this time around, but it really didn’t need to be 22 tracks & 72 minutes long.

Score: 2.5/5

Juice WRLD – “Too Soon..” review

Juice WRLD is a 19 year old rapper from Chicago, Illinois who started blowing up just recently due to the release of his debut album Goodbye & Good Riddance just last month. I personally thought it was just average, because I feel like he’s pretty much Post Malone making Lil Uzi Vert & Trippie Redd songs. However, he’s now giving us a 2-track EP in the light of the surprising & devastating murder of XXXTENTACION earlier this week.

The first track “legends :(” is a heartwarming tribute to X & even Lil Peep (who passed away last November) over a somber trap beat & the other one “rich & blind :(” is basically a message to everyone who’s recently lost someone over a moody beat.

I still don’t care for Juice WRLD’s recent album admittedly, but I gotta give credit where it’s due. Not just because he sounds less like Post on here, but I think he refines the emo rap style a little bit on here in the terms of lyrics & production. However, I would’ve loved to hear 3 more tracks from it

Score: 3.5/5