At least he wasn't left off "Bad and Boujee"
Lil Uzi Vert is a hip hop artist from Philadelphia, seeming to pop out of no where, ever since his appearance on the 2016 XXL Freshmen List. He was known for his "mumble rap" triplet flow, his colorful Kool-Aid-esque hair, and his rather unique art style. Uzi to me, has always been a dude who I knew could possibly make decent music, but has consistently let me down.
However, that was seeming to change with his breakout huge single "XO TOUR Llif3", a very dark turn for Uzi. Before this single, there was a hinge of darkness to his character, but this was the first time he actually explored it, and made it a freakin' banger.
So, I'd figure I'd check out this alb- wait, excuse me, tape out. With Uzi, if I had to give him any credit for, is that his production has always felt extremely colorful, though very soulless. Like, a lot of these remind me of Lean Wayne or something. They're beats that would fuel a trippy cartoon that has no meaning. And I feel like that continues on this tape.
The first track "Two" is a great example. The production is extremely creative. And this was co-produced by Uzi too? Ooooo look at you. I like the slight accordion waving with the bass. The thing that kills me the most, and I can say that for most of the tracks here, Uzi's rapping and "singing" just doesn't do it for me. The lyrics can get so laughably bad it takes me out, and his "singing" makes me want to skip the song a couple minutes in.
I think the only time his singing really works for me is in "The Way Life Goes" and of course, "XO Tour Llif3". Uzi's voice actually comes off somewhat passionate, and it really works for the track. Is it a coincidence it so happens he talks about his ex in both songs? Perhaps, but I'd like to think this is something that Uzi is decent at. Honestly if he did a whole album of break-up songs, I'd be down for it.
The downfall of this album though, is the flow and the shallowness. I'm very aware this is supposed to be a tape, but distributed as an album. Like, I saw that this is his "debut studio album", I almost didn't believe it at first. The only song I felt was up to that accord was probably "Neon Guts" featuring Pharrell. And the album just kind of ends. "XO Tour Llif3" just feels tacked on, like how "Hotline Bling" was tacked on the back of Views. (VERY AWARE YOU'RE DOING THAT SO YOUR FIRST WEEK SALES ARE GREAT.)
Pretty much after "UnFazed" featuring The Weeknd, the whole album just straight up falls apart. Any redeeming factors just fall to the wayside in favor of filling this fucking album with whatever leftovers they could recover. This feels like he was actually trying to make an album, then halfway he got too excited then released whatever the hell he had. Hence why I feel like most of these tracks feel soulless.
I know this album's production is like sweet Fruity Pebbles, but it's also been soaking in milk for twenty minutes, which is the amount of time I felt they could've cut this album down to. I will say though, I feel out of this project, Uzi has finally progressed. His production is a bit more varied, he's starting to delve into personal song topics, and it's obviously working for him.
Overall, I didn't hate this, but I didn't really enjoy it all that much either. It's very much a "let's put on some new lit shit for this party" type of tape. It's unfocused, shallow, and isn't enough to win me over on this guy. This is definitely not his Lil Boat equivalent.
Favorite Tracks: "XO Tour Llif3", "The Way Life Goes", and "Neon Guts"
Least favorites: "Sauce It Up" and "Pretty Mami" are some of the worst tracks this year.
4/10
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