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three months pass...
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it's overlong and the guests are predictable, they kinda gave it the default 'big 2021 rap album' treatment. the best songs are the ones that hew close to his roots (like "gnf" and the herbo song above), but since polo is so talented, the major label-iest moves actually work–i really dig the dababy-featuring radio play, for example.
― the mai tai quinn (voodoo chili), Monday, 21 June 2021 22:44 (two years ago) link
it's a pretty good album. i like most of the tracks, honestly. like, yeah, the a&r fingerprints are there in all the catchy guitar loops and strategically (tho sometimes bafflingly, as noted above) configured guest contributions, but hardly anything on it feels outside of his wheelhouse and he pulls it off well. kinda like how the massive, seemingly instant success he semi-stumbled upon with "rapstar" initially baffled* b/c it wasn't rly that different from many songs he had done previously
re: that song, i don't think it will ever go down as among my favorite of his tracks but it is definitely a good song and it's only grown on me. sort of a random landmark in his career but still worthy of being his first smash
opening and closing tracks both great. as far as the guitar-loop sonics go, i'm glad for "broken guitars" switching things up a bit on that front. nonetheless i do count some of the more predictably produced tracks among my faves, including guest-free ones like "black hearted" and "so real". i'm sure the sort of vulnerability he exhibits on the latter will register to some ears as corny but for me it can be subtly uplifting
the one song that completely pulled me out of the experience was "for the love of new york," the one with nicki minaj -- sounded so out of place that at first i thought the album must have ended and either i'd crossed into bonus tracks or something else altogether had started playing. but nope! i can't help but wonder if it was even originally intended for this album.
anyway yeah. good album!
(* at least it baffled ppl like me who know/like his music but aren't v plugged into the social media stuff that is such a big part of how younger folks experience pop music now, and thus had no idea about the pent-up hype the song had built until it came out)
― dyl, Wednesday, 23 June 2021 06:53 (two years ago) link
three months pass...