Tag: King Von

King Von – “Grandson: The Album” review

This is the 2nd posthumous full-length album albeit 3rd & final overall from late Chicago, Illinois rapper King Von. Emerging as a Lil Durk protege signing to Only the Family Entertainment, I wasn’t really too big on his music at first truthfully since Grandson: The Mixtape & LeVon James were both pretty mild. However, he really blew me away once his full-length debut Welcome to O’Block came out over a year ago & a half on Devil’s Night. But as soon as he finally won me over, he was tragically murdered a week later in broad daylight. Von’s last posthumous outing What It Means to Be King was a bit of a mixed bag due to the consistent production yet overloaded with features, so I was a bit curious going into the official sequel to Grandson.

“Don’t Miss” starts off the album by wanting a guy who drew a foul stretched over a synth-drill instrumental from ATL Jacob to my surprise whereas “Real Oppy” featuring G Herbo finds the pair calling out those who be snitching accompanied by pianos & hi-hats. “Hitman” gives off a creepier trap vibe thanks to the Chopsquad DJ talking about being a marksman, but then “Phil Jackson” featuring Polo G discusses calling the shots so Scott Storch can remind us of his talents on the keys & IllaDaProducer supplying the hi-hats.

On the other hand, “Robberies” gives off a more stripped back trap feel admitting something ain’t right to him just before “From the Hood” featuring Durk layers these hi-hats on top of a cinematic loop talking about the Chi-Town slums. “Pressure” shifts gears into more orchestral turf declaring that O’Block can’t be stopped leading into “Jimmy” ominously telling the story of the titular character knowing death’s around the corner.

“Heartless” featuring Tee Grizzley has a more atmospheric trap approach so they can explain that they grew up without a heart considering the cities both MCs hail from while “Jealous” featuring BreezyLYN & Tink has a drearier instrumental from Wheezy talking about being the realest every though Breezy’s verse punched under his weight. The tensional drill beat on “Act Up” is something I enjoy cautioning not to act up around him while the moody “Think I’m a Hoe” addresses those who thought he was a bitch.

Moving on from there, “All We Do is Drill” resurrects the Chicago drill sound once more promising to score first time they slide while “Gangland” featuring 42 Dugg gives off a shimmery trap instrumental from Southside repping the street life. The track “Out of the Streets” featuring Hotboii & Moneybagg Yo has a peppier groove trying to make it out of the trenches alive even though both features mid while the final song “When I Die” until the “Family Dedication 2” outro foreshadows his own fucking death in a powerful fashion.

So we have 2 posthumous full-lengths from Von thus far & I gotta as it that I came away from Grandson: The Album liking it more than I thought I would although by a small margin. The production’s as tight, I love how OtF toned it down with the features in comparison to What It Means to Be King & he channels the same energy that he brought onto that debut tape in bigger capacity.

Score: 3.5/5

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King Von – “What It Means to Be King” review

King Von was a 26 year old rapper from Chicago, Illinois who came up as a Lil Durk protege. Now I wasn’t big on his mixtapes Grandson: The Mixtape or LeVon James at first, but he really blew me away once his full-length debut Welcome to O’Block came out a little over a year ago on Devil’s Night. But as soon as he finally won me over, he was tragically murdered a week later in broad daylight. So it was only a matter of time before Only the Family Entertainment put out a posthumous album albeit Von’s 2nd overall.

“Where I’m From” opens up the album with Chopsquad DJ mixing some pianos & snares as Von addresses Patoon’s death whereas “War” has a more dramatic tone sonically talking about his mob ties. G Herbo tags along for “FaceTime” to spit that gun talk on top of a rubbery bass-line & some murky choir vocals provided by Hitmaka leading into the 21 Savage-assisted “Don’t Play That” taking a more cloudier route talking about what they usually do with their day.

Meanwhile on “Straight to It”, we have Fivio Foreign assisting Von in cooking up a combative drill banger just before “Trust Nothing” with MoneyBagg Yo finds the 2 talking about bitches tripping about shit that has nothing to do with them over a thunderous trap beat with some piano chords. “Evil Twins” showcases some amazing back & forth chemistry with Lil Durk accompanied by an atmospheric backdrop, but then “Too Real” goes into a hazier direction talking about how legit he was.

“Rich Gangsta” with Tee Grizzley pretty much speaks for itself as far as the content goes even though it has one of the weaker instrumentals on the album until the synth-laced “Mad” picks things back up with Von angrily calling out those who envied him prior to his murder. “My Fault” incorporates some rich keyboard melodies as A Boogie wit da Hoodie assists Von in a decent romance ballad & the electronic undertones of “Change My Life” are a nice change of pace addressing a lover who thinks she was his wife.

Following that, “Hard to Trust” is an Asian Doll tribute that goes well down to TM88’s production until Dreezy’s verse comes in towards the backend of it while “Get Back” with Boss Top & DQFrmDaO fails at it’s attempt at a Chicago drill anthem. “Get It Done” with OMB Peezy kinda has a Detroit trap vibe to the instrumental with the pair delivering some mediocre gangsta raps while “Chase the Bag” references the WWE’s 2nd flagship program Friday Night SmackDown on the Fox Corporation’s flagship property.

The track “Go N Get Em” sees Boss Top returning for a chilling look at how murderous they can be while the final song “Grandson for President” is pretty much a remix of the classic Crime Mob single “Knuck If You Buck”. The outro “Family Dedication” though ends the album with a moving spoken word bit paying tribute to all of Von’s loved ones.

For a posthumous album, I’m actually kinda torn on it. There’s nothing really wrong with King Von’s verses or a good portion of the production, but the feature-list is just so oddly picked out with their contributions ranging from focused at best to pointless & phoned in at worst.

Score: 2.5/5