When it comes to this guy, musically is a little more experimental than most mainstream rappers. The second song has a little more interesting thump than the opening song. The overall sonic backdrop on the opening track is more sonically diverse. 'STOLE YA FLOW' finds the stage set by furutistic synths. It finds an effective groove that compensates for the lack of lyrical depth. He does remind you that Rhianna i his baby momma, which is worth something.
His vocal accents on "Stay Here 4 Life." feel more like warmed-up Snoop Dogg from the 90s with a Weeknd wanna-be bringing the vocal hook. Lyrially it is more of a vapid pop love song. When it comes to "PLAYA" the problem with this more streamlined r&b approach is it lacks any of the staples that make him unique as a rapper and sound like everyone else on the radio, right down to the beat. "Stop Snitching " breaks the more bland hip-hop trend that the previous song "No Tresspassing" had not been convincing enough to break from.
Then the album gets the creative breakthrough it needs with two solid songs "STFU" and "Punk Rocky" , the latter has a more rock feel, but "STFU' is aggressive neough to open new doors sonically and break from the middle-of-the-road feel the album was getting stuck in. "Air Force" experiments, but is not all that focused or hooky. The Gorillaz appear on "Whiskey". There is a dreamier haze over the backing track. I am just going to write off "Robbery" as a skit/ interlude.
The title is more of a neo-soul track. It works well enough and is the product of heavy THC use. The last song is darker but more fitting subject matter. I will give this album an 8.5. There are a few strong songs, but he is caught in a tug of war of what the record label wants him to do, what it takes to be on the limited diversity of "urban radio", and what he wants to do creatively, so it is the sound of compromise, which is why I rounded it down to an 8.5 as hip-hop should not compromise or it becomes pop music.
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