Albums
2 Chainz — So Help Me God
So Help Me God doesn’t feel as though it expanded on 2 Chainz’s discography at all. With uninventive beats and dime-a-dozen flows, this album barely exceeds B-sides quality. There are a few strong moments on the album, from “Feel a Way” featuring a beautiful hook from Brent Faiyaz and a strange verse from Kanye, to “Ziploc” which sports a bombastic Kevin Gates verse. 2 Chainz is known for his albums aging well, but off the first several listens, it’s hard to be impressed by this one.
Future & Lil Uzi Vert — Pluto x Baby Pluto
Labeled as mid by hip-hop Twitter, this album may not have lived up to expectations, but it still provides some bops, albeit mindless ones. “Sleeping on the Floor” and “Drankin and Smokin” are early highlights, with dexterous flows and an ice-skating delivery featured on each. Future and Uzi can produce a banger better than almost anyone, and this album is a testament to that ability.
Kodak Black — Bill Israel
Kodak gave us exactly what we were hoping for from him: Fun Florida trap beats coupled with his unique voice. Kodak’s flow on ‘I Wanna Live’ is reminiscent of his style on ‘Patty Cake’, which is arguably his best song behind ‘No Flockin’. Even though Kodak has been through multiple prison sentences in the past few years, he keeps his funny lyricism throughout “Bill Israel.” For example, my favorite line on the album is “New AP, Flood/Water on my butt like a tub. Some of my favorite songs on the album are ‘Remember the Times’, ‘Pimpin Ain’t Eazy’, and ‘Dummy Green’, which could possibly be a shot at the garbage man Danny Green. While the project is a fun listen, Tory Lanez is a feature, which reduces replay value. Fuck all 4 feet and 8 inches of Tory Lanez.
Goodie Mob — Survival Kit
The legendary Atlanta rap group reunited for their first album in seven years and it showed. Survival Kit felt more like a collection of songs rather than their previous albums with clear, creative visions. They were able to secure the rare Big Boy and Andre 3000 features, which were unsurprisingly on different songs. Ceelo Green was a bright point on the rather bland project. Some highlight tracks are “Frontline” and “Back2Back.”