Whitney Peyton – “Side Effects” review

Whitney Peyton is a 29 year old MC from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who rose to prominence in the underground by releasing 3 albums, 2 mixtapes & 4 EPs all independently. She recently signed to Burbank, California powerhouse Suburban Noize Records at the beginning of the decade with my favorite full-length of hers Alpha, going on to leave afterwards to form Alpha Howse & made her debut under the imprint The Audacity only 14 months ago. But now, she’s returning to take us in a trip for her 6th official full-length.

“Leave Me Alone” featuring Enkay47 is a woozy trap opener advising not to bother either one of them since they don’t know who to trust whereas “Make Some Room” gives off more an electronic flare instrumentally getting flirtatious on the lyrical end. “Sometimes” featuring Astray takes the cavernous route so both of them admit they have moments where they just wanna run away, but then “Make Up Ya Mind” featuring Grieves comes through with a more stripped-back approach talking about a relationship where he doesn’t want her to be herself & gets mad when she’s with other guys.

C-Lance’s boom bap production “Climber” might be my favorite beat on the whole album calling out those with no shine who want to climb to the top, but then “Takes One to Know One” delivers the worst feature from Futuristic despite the acoustic trap instrumental & the subject matter of being headcases. “Full Moon” featuring Bag of Tricks Cat works in some heavy synthesizers talking about how something don’t feel right leading into “Get It from My Mom” featuring Reverie paying tribute to their mothers with a trap metal beat from Godsynth.

The song “Into the Fire” draws closer to the end of the album by jumping on top of a moody trap instrumental encouraging everyone that’s listening to live for the moment while the penultimate track “Be Mine” returns to more pop rap turf telling her significant other to take care of themselves & that your heart has to be yours first. “Ring Around the Rosé” is a cloudy closer to tie up Whitney’s 6th album albeit 2nd under her independent imprint by declaring it doesn’t have to be the way it is anymore.

The Audacity although I didn’t enjoy it as much as Alpha still had its highlights & undeniably marked a new chapter in Whitney’s career, but I actually might like Side Effects a tad bit more than the AH debut she put out over a year ago at this point. Only a couple features that under-performed like the predecessor, except the 2 biggest differences are that the production’s better & she has a brand new confidence.

Score: 3.5/5

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Whitney Peyton – “The Audacity” review

This is the 5th full-length album from Philly emcee Whitney Peyton. Rising to prominence in the underground in 2007 & off her full-length debut The Remedy only a few years after, she would go on to release 3 albums as well as 2 mixtapes & 4 EPs all in the last 12 years. Last we heard from her was a couple months before the pandemic broke out when she dropped Alpha under Suburban Noize Records & that just further cemented her status as a force to be reckoned with. But now in light of her starting up her own label Alpha Howse, she’s returning in the form of The Audacity.

“Give It Gas” opens up the album with a suspenseful trap instrumental talking about being back in her ways whereas “Ding Dong” goes full-blown Detroit trap to deliver a party anthem. C-Mob tags along for the cloudy “Suck It Up” produced by Godsynth reminding us all how important mental health is with both MCs putting their own perspectives out there just before the Mega Ran-assisted “Don’t Even Ask” takes things into more braggadocio territory & the instrumental that Godsynth brings to the table here in comparison to the joint we heard earlier has a much more vibrant aesthetic to it.

Meanwhile on “Outta My System”, we have Whitney Peyton on top of a trap beat from C-Lance surprisingly talking about flushing an ex out leading into Reverie coming into the picture for the thunderous “Slippin’” to declare that you’ll never catch them taking Ls. “Over & Over” works in some impressive rock influences talking about being a puppet to her own emotions while the actual closer “Bad Bitch” with Melissa Marie take it back to the MySpace days in terms of sound for the ladies to go wild too. We are then treated to “On My Way to Phoenix” off of Bag of Cat Tricks’ last EP Milk & Vodka as well as the “Give It Gas” remix as bonus tracks.

I’ve been wondering for the last 2 years how Whitney would follow-up what I consider to be her finest hour & I think this new album just further proves that she’ll find great success with Alpha Howse down the line. It’s really cool to hear how every cut has it’s own different vibe & lyrically, she still sounds as hungry as she did in ‘09 when she was starting out.

Score: 3.5/5

Whitney Peyton – “Alpha” review

Whitney Peyton is a 25 year old MC from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who rose to prominence in the underground by releasing 3 albums, 2 mixtapes & 4 EPs all independently. She recently signed to Burbank, California powerhouse Suburban Noize Records this past fall & to ring in the new decade, she’s making her Subnoize debut with her 4th studio album.

Things kick off with “Villain”, where Whitney compares herself to a bad guy over a suspenseful instrumental. The next song “Double Up” flexes over a nocturnal trap beat while the song “Enemy” sees Whitney teaming up with her Keyed Up cohort Gina Fritz to detail a break up that she went through over a cavernous instrumental. The track “I Got It” fires back at everyone who doubted Whitney over a dark, rubbery trap beat while the song “Kick It” is intoxicating anthem about mellowing out.

The track “No Time” is a fun, vibrant club banger where was the song “Better Be” talks about how this dude shouldn’t be lying over a woozy instrumental. The track “Smile” is a beautiful positivity anthem while the song “Like You Mean It” talks about her haters over spacey trap beat. The album then finishes with “Not the Same”, where Whitney talks about her new life competition over a bass-heavy instrumental.

For years I’ve been Whitney to come through with that 1 album that’d solidify her place in the game & I think she finally did it on this one. Her lyricism has gotten better with time, the passion is there, the production is off the wall & it’s a great representation of who she is & where she’s at now. Really looking forward to see what she does with Subnoize in the future.

Score: 4/5