The Good:
When I saw the title of In My Opinion, I was expecting to hear a weak album. The name just screams cockiness and a lack of creativity. And it was by some dude named Rich Kidd, I was even more put off. But then I heard it.
Rich Kidd doesn't have the most meaningful lyrics all the time, but his flow is ridiculous. With a deep voice and a quick delivery, he manages to make every song better.
And that's another thing about Rich Kidd--he self-produced all of In My Opinion. And it's very well produced, taking in multiple different influences to create a clearly unique mixtape.
Take "On My Face" for instance. It has African drums turning to an electronic breakdown before combining both of them. This makes for a crazy beat. It's really just a journey, never knowing exactly what comes next.
This also happens to be one his most meaningful songs, admitting just how hard he's been having it while trying to pursue his career. Really makes me think about his name.
Even his interludes are extremely interesting. The interlude "Can't Buy You Love" is probably one of the most intriguing, having a lengthy chorus to begin it with a Supremes-mixed-with-Aretha-Franklin group repeating, "Money can't buy you love." That made me think twice about his name.
Before I listened to In My Opinion, I didn't think I would like his mixtape. How stupid do I feel? Not only was he a pretty creative rapper, but an even more creative producer. And he had great flow and pretty good rhymes, too. Just teaches you never to judge a book by its cover, kids!
Take "On My Face" for instance. It has African drums turning to an electronic breakdown before combining both of them. This makes for a crazy beat. It's really just a journey, never knowing exactly what comes next.
This also happens to be one his most meaningful songs, admitting just how hard he's been having it while trying to pursue his career. Really makes me think about his name.
 |
| Rich Kidd must've called in the Dream Girls. |
The Bad:
That's right, Kendick Lamar came out with a mixtape just days after 11Fest. But in non-Kendrick fashion, it's absolutely horrible. It sounds like he digressed to his 16-year-old self again. One of the cans thrown on stage must have hit him in the head and made him a bad rapper.
Psych! While Hub City Threat is a new release from the Compton artist, it's not a new mixtape. This was actually 16-year-old Kendrick Lamar's mixtape that was just discovered and released to the general public. And let me tell you, age has been very good to Kendrick.
You know the song "Backseat Freestyle?" You know, the one where Kendrick pretends to be 17 again and freestyles? And you know how it would be really bad if he was being serious, due to the fact that the premise is that of him being able to "fuck the world for 72 hours?" Well, imagine a whole mixtape of that--a serious 16-year-old being ratchet as hell.
It has exactly what you would expect from a 16-year-old, too. It has a couple songs with the beats from other, more popular songs of the time, such as "Go DJ" and "Drop It Like It's Hot." The latter is actually pretty entertaing, like a more rap-based version of Snoop Dogg's version. But when it features a chorus of "For my niggas that know right, K-Dot is hot," then it's hard to actually take him seriously.
And his songs are very clearly written by a 16-year-old. They're sex-fueled, alcohol-fueled and drug-fueled, just like any teenager's thoughts.
It's an interesting listen, though. Knowing what Kendrick is now--a poetic master of storytelling--it's astonishing to think that he was once not awesome. And also, with good kid, m.A.A.d city being Kendrick's anti-drug epiphany when he was 17, it gives the listener a look into Lamar's life before it all.
He's actually not horrible, though. As far as teenagers go, he's pretty good. His voice sounds more like a young Juelz Santana and his flow is pretty interesting. It's just unsettling knowing how little of his potential he was living up to at the time. Thank Based God he's living up to him.
The Re-dic-yu-lus:
Names like Young g da beast are exactly why I write Stack That Cheese. It's so beautifully bad that it's perfect. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if there's another Young g da beast out there, which makes it even better.
And it makes me even happier when the rapper is just as bad as his name. And Young g makes me very happy.
Speaking of "Backseat Freestyle," Young g has a cover of it entitled "Backseat Gstyle." What's even crazier than the title is that Kendrick purposefully sucking is better than Young g actually trying. For one, Young g is almost incomprehensible. He also copies a lot of Kendrick's transitions, but just follows those transitions with much worse lines. Such as his line, "I got 25 lighters on my dresser, yes sir / That old-school mix got a nigga feeling player." And that was actually supposed to rhyme.
He also covers Tyga's "Rack City." And once again, Young g is incomprehensible and worse than the original.
But Young g also has some original songs. Such as "mind state og." The beat is alright, but a little too bubbly for Young g's style. Young g's flow doesn't even match up with the song. I wish I could quote a bad line by him, but I don't think you understand how hard it is to hear him. He's that bad.
I didn't really expect anything better from a guy named Young g da beast. Okay, I at least thought he would know how to work recording equipment and wouldn't rap while playing chubby bunny. But no, Young g couldn't even do that.
Speaking of "Backseat Freestyle," Young g has a cover of it entitled "Backseat Gstyle." What's even crazier than the title is that Kendrick purposefully sucking is better than Young g actually trying. For one, Young g is almost incomprehensible. He also copies a lot of Kendrick's transitions, but just follows those transitions with much worse lines. Such as his line, "I got 25 lighters on my dresser, yes sir / That old-school mix got a nigga feeling player." And that was actually supposed to rhyme.
He also covers Tyga's "Rack City." And once again, Young g is incomprehensible and worse than the original.
But Young g also has some original songs. Such as "mind state og." The beat is alright, but a little too bubbly for Young g's style. Young g's flow doesn't even match up with the song. I wish I could quote a bad line by him, but I don't think you understand how hard it is to hear him. He's that bad.
I didn't really expect anything better from a guy named Young g da beast. Okay, I at least thought he would know how to work recording equipment and wouldn't rap while playing chubby bunny. But no, Young g couldn't even do that.
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