Saturation II by Brockhampton

Ever wondered what two great tapes in a row feels like?

Brockhampton is a hip hop boy band, originally formed in Texas, since has been residing on the West Coast, is back with their second (and not last) album this year. This is their second album, third project overall. The group comprises of Kevin Abstract, Ameer Vann, Matt Champion, Jabari Manwa, Kiko Merley, Ashlan Grey, HK, Merlyn Wood, bearface., Robert Ontinient, Romil Hemnani, Dom McLennon, and JOBA.

Damn, what a boy band.

I'll admit, they got a bit under my radar for awhile. I wasn't around for the first singles from All-American Trash,  and I'll also admit, Kevin Abstract fell under my radar as well. So you can imagine my surprise when an album like Saturation comes out, it takes the entire music world by surprise, and also blew me away. I only wish I made a longer review for it, however, a lot of this review will be talking about both albums, mainly because, they're very similar in structure and sound. Not to mention, when you judge a sequel, the first one will be mentioned no matter what. And, to properly nail my thoughts on this, I need to compare it to Saturation.

Saturation II is the tighter but less diverse version of Saturation. 

The thing with Saturation is, it really is the album that is the definitive sound of Brockhampton, it goes from hard and aggressive, to love ballads, to a bipolar jam that's both beautiful and gnarly. However, Saturation II is very much a sequel, in which it captures the same feel, but is also more focused on the flow, so the bipolar moments are tuned down a tad here. Which is totally fine actually, this album is a great example of a "sequel record". You don't get very many of those anymore.

We start this album with the track "GUMMY", which feels like a natural progression of G-Funk West Coast hip hop. I mean at first, we get a gorgeous orchestral sweep, which is interrupted by our good buddy Kevin, spitting a FIRE verse. Then we have the 2nd official member of Brockhampton Ameer Vann, bringing his dirty, grimy voice to the track. Then we have my personal favorite verse, mostly because the flow is so eloquent, Mr. Dom McLennon. This track is the epitome of Brockhampton, a nice groovy beat with cool quirks and weirdness built right in.

Then, we're followed by another banger of a track, "QUEER". It's a track so good, I swear it had 3 sets of hooks, all of which are good. It's another good example of their 90's influence as well, it has a very explosive verse, but slows for the chorus, similar in structure to 90's alternative Rock, but ya know, in reverse. 

Brockhampton has great production in general I think. They haven't made a beat I didn't like. I really gotta give credit to Romil Hemnani, Q3, and bearface. The beats for almost every song on here are damn impressive. I think it shines the most on "TEETH", "JUNKY", "SWEET", and "SUNNY". These are the type of beats I adore this band for. "TEETH" has a neat soul sample, and has a neat one-off verse from Ameer Vann. "JUNKY" uses these super eerie strings, and contains very personal and nice verses from Kevin, Ameer, Merlyn, JOBA, and Matt Champion. I also gotta say, I love the interplay and the sense of togetherness in each track. The only group that does it better is probably Run The Jewels. I just wish they would do it more. "SWEET" is a good weird platform to show off the group's knack at crafting good verses. And "SUNNY" is a great blend of beautiful and weird, with the slick nostalgic production to the howls that give the track a good feeling, needed after the last couple of tracks were showing off struggle, this song shows it'll be okay.

Yeah, I pretty much love this album as much as their last one. I continue to be more and more impressed with them. I just kind of wished they showed off the "lesser known" members more often. This is the tightest group of tracks they've ever released in my opinion, and I have great hopes for Saturation III, when it comes out in like, 4 weeks. 

Favorite tracks: "GUMMY", "QUEER", "TEETH", "JUNKY", "FIGHT", "SWEET", and "SUNNY"

Least favorites: "JELLO" 

9/10