This album was getting lots of praise from people online claiming Yachty was changing the music game with this new album. With 24 song writers on board and 11 producers, their is less of an organic band feel in play than you might be lead to believe. The opening track feels like a cross between Pink Floyd and Curtis Mayfield, but in terms of song writing abilities in play not as impressive as either influence. Is it better than most other rap efforts in this regard? Yes. But most hip hop these days is pretty shitty so that is a low bar. Even with 24 songwriters, there are moments like "the Ride" where they come up with an idea and ride it's groove , but never take it any where from there. There are some people who are just going to be impressed by the fact there are sounds on this album that are not trap related, there are plenty of stupid people in the world so this does surprise me.
His voice is draped in layers of effects, so we will never know even three songs in if he can actually sing. The vocal tracks are likely horrible out of key as it sounds like things are cut and pasted every where and reined into place with auto tune. There entire album is not psychedelic there is more of an indie pop feel to "Running out of Time". Though it also barrows heavily from 70s funk. "Pretty" is r&b run through a gauntlet of effects , making not unlike what Frank Ocean does, though Ocean does not hide in the mix. I might prefer his trap stuff since it is darker. The more spoken word sections could have been left off the album. 'the Zone" sounds like less inspired Outkast. Which is an improvement for Yachty. After the first song nothing has lived up to the sonic promise, that he might be capable of more. The are going for a lo-fi garage electronic feel through out the album. This is a less slick way of doing things , so not business as usual. If you told me this was an AI making music that blended Yachty with Pink Floyd I would believe. However this milks the soul that this sort of thing should have out of it.
"Drive Me Crazy" works off more of neo soul feel. Not the first song this album that has been bolstered by the female vocals that guest on it. It discos in one place without the song having to go any where aside from the groove it opens with. There is more of a live band feeling to "'I've Officially Lost Vision" It is one of the album's best song, or aside the from the first song, one of the only songs that is also a fully formed song, is another way to think of it. They log into the same formula that has been the pulse of this album once more for 'say Something". "paint the sky" is a reminder that you can collect cool sounds, but it is better to write a cool song, which this only flirts with in concept. It sounds like the chorus is where the song finally figures out how to get started rather than the chorus that hooks you in.
"Should I B?" sounds like a continuation of the previous song. Rather than rapping their is sing song cadence to the vocals. Once again 24 songwriters prove incapable of writing an ending to the song. "the Alchemist" falls out of the previous song, the beat picks up, but in a haphazard way, leaving the shift the songs takes sounding like poor editing. If you have 24 song writers , your transitions should be smooth. The last song has more of a Gorillaz feel to it. It creeps more than bumps. I will give this album an 7.5 as it tries, not something I can picture myself listening to on a more regular basis as if I am in the mood for this sort of thing , I already own all the Prince and Marvin Gaye album, both of which are better than experimenting with soul. His 24 songwriters are not on their level.
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