Testing – Legends Will Never Die

Trippie Redd is a 20 year old rapper from Canton, Ohio who blew up in 2017 with the release of his debut mixtape A Love Letter to You, which was followed up with a mediocre sequel several months later. He later released his debut album LIFE’S A TRIP last summer as well as A Love Letter to You 3 last November & now, he’s commemorating the 1 year anniversary of LIFE’S A TRIP with his sophomore album.

It all starts off with the title track, where Trippie tells this chick he needs to focus on himself over a Diplo instrumental kin to Avicii’s “Wake Me Up”. The next song “Snake Skin” is an anti-suicide anthem with a dreamy trap beat while the track “Be Yourself” is an self-empowering sequel to “I Know How to Self Destruct” with a cloudy beat. The song “I Try” vents about what’s on his mind over a piano with some hi-hats while the track “They Afraid of You” is more of a Playboi Carti joint since he’s the only person on here with a verse & he uses his signature baby voice to discuss fake love over a mellow trap beat.

The song “Immortal” with The Game of all people sees the 2 talking about feeling invincible over a soulful instrumental while the track “Throw It Away” might be towards Alyek$ & the beat is pretty druggy. The song “Keep Ya Head Up” pretty much speaks for itself over a relaxing instrumental from Murda Beatz & Ging while the track “Riot” gets into fight mode over a beat with some acoustic passages.

The song “Mac 10” sounds like a leftover from Lil Duke’s latest mixtape Blue Devil 2 since there’s little to no Trippie presence whatsoever while the track “Everything BoZ” with Coi Leray sees the 2 getting boastful over a dreary beat. The song “Under Enemy Arms” talks about his wealth & naysayers over a triumphant beat while the penultimate track “Lil Wayne” in no way references back to the legendary Louisiana rapper of the same name whatsoever & the beat on here is bland as Hell. The album then finishes fittingly with “Signing Off”, where Trippie talks about not having time for bullshit over a nondescript instrumental.

Overall, this was just decent. Trippie is definitely one of the best voices in the emo rap trend & the instrumentals sound a lot better than they did on LIFE’S A TRIP, but quite a few tracks really could’ve been fleshed out more.

Score: 3/5

While he’s been dropping a project every 2 years since 2011, A$AP Mob member A$AP Rocky had a noticeably quiet 2017. However, he’s been trolling the public eye with his 3rd full-length album up until this point with some awful “dummy” singles & alas here we are.

The album starts off with “Distorted Records”, where Rocky brags about his place in the current hip hop landscape over a glitchy yet bass heavy instrumental. The “A$AP Forever” remix sees Rocky paying homage to the Mob while KiD CuDi’s verse talks about overcoming his depression over some symphonic strings with thunderous drums while the next song “Tony Tone” is a humble brag over a psychedelic guitar that FNZ hooked up while the track “Fukk Sleep” with FKA twigs sees the 2 talking about going from being poor to being successful over a murky electronic beat while the track “Praise the Lord (Da Shine)” with Skepta vividly talks about criminal activity over a bouncy woodwind beat.

The song “Calldrop” does have a beautiful acoustic guitar, I just wish it was structured better. Also, I found the Kodak Black feature to be pretty redundant. The song “Buck Shots” gets confrontational over a synth-heavy trap beat & while I do like the Playboi Carti’s verse as much as Rocky’s, the Smooky MarGielaa verse doesn’t really do much for me. while the track “Gunz N Butta” talks about wealth over a cloudy trap beat with a prominent chopped & screwed sample of “Ridin’ Clean” by Juicy J throughout. The song “Brotha Man” with Frank Ocean sees the 2 talking about fighting for something over a beautiful instrumental with prominent keyboards & occasional strings while the song “OG Beeper” reflects on his drug dealing past over a dinky yet bouncy beat.

The song “Kid$ Turned Out Fine” tells the world just that over an laidback electric guitar & hi-hats while the track “Hun43rd” talks about hustling over a cloudy synthesizers. The song “Changes” talks about an ex over an acoustic guitar that gets more layered as it progresses. There’s also a point where it switches up into something more atmospheric for about a minute & it’s not too bad either. The penultimate track “Black Tux, White Collar” talks about shining through it all over a cloudy trap beat from none other than Clams Casino & then the album finishes off with “Purity”, where he & Frank Ocean talk about finding a peace of mind over an acoustic guitar.

Like most people, I was pretty worried about this album based on a vast majority of the singles Rocky dropped leading up to this but at the end of the day, I think he came through. It’s definitely more experimental than his past efforts & yet, it’s just as equally fun as his last 2 albums

Score: 3.5/5

Tag: Testing

Trippie Redd – “!” review

A$AP Rocky – “TESTING” review