“Don’t be Dumb” is heavily story driven, detailing different versions of Rocky throughout the last few years with his six main characters, represented on the album cover designed by Tim Burton. Burton was a massive inspiration for the rapper, and had a strong hand over the visual direction of the project. Rocky’s alter egos each offer insight into a moment of his life. Chronologically, the first character is Shithead, which actually explores Rocky’s experiences with his friends as a young adult in Harlem, New York circa 2013. The next persona is Dummie, the one representing the stylistic choices from “Testing” and Rocky’s willingness to explore his creativity. We then get into Babushka Boi, the character that embodies his love for fashion design and self expression, referencing his usage of the babushka scarf at the LACMA Art and Film Gala in late 2018. He also shortly released a song and music video with this aesthetic, both which previewed the sonic identity “Don’t be Dumb” would take on.

The next character is Rugahand, whose design takes direct inspiration from Rocky’s performance at the Rolling Loud Miami in 2023, during which the rapper sang a few songs that teased his new musical direction. Mr. Mayers is the father persona, representing a focus on raising his family above all else. The last and perhaps most crucial character to this era is Gr1m, who appears to be the main character considering how many times he is depicted in music videos. He is important because his name is a direct link to Rocky’s ghetto futurism and German expressionism ideals, both of which heavily inspire the album. With the former, the concept is blending retro styles with futuristic ones through the lens of ghetto. German expressionism associates itself with the album because of Rocky’s deep appreciation for the aesthetic, which is the reason why he reached out to Tim Burton in the first place.

All these characters and aesthetics like European fashion, ghetto futurism and German expressionism come together to create the story that is “Don’t be Dumb”. In the opening track “ORDER OF PROTECTION”, Rocky explains his absence from the music scene and what he’s been up to since “Testing”. It’s a decent opener, but it’s a little tame and boring. The sound and energy immediately pick up with the following track “HELICOPTER.” It’s a fast paced, hype trap song that excites the audience for the album going forward. After a quick skit about his creative vision, heavy synths lead us into “STOLE YA FLOW”, a subtle diss-track about Drake. The instrumental is dense and nasty, but that doesn’t take away from the enjoyment.

“STAY HERE 4 LIFE” is a smooth, lighter track about being in love. The following “PLAYA” is also more laid back production-wise. It has a similar sound to Kendrick Lamar’s “Silent Hill”, which could be attributed to producer Thundercat being featured on both albums. “NO TRESPASSING” has some interesting ad-libs and sound effects, while “STOP SNITCHING” features some of Rocky’s most solid rapping flows on the album. The project gets noticeably more experimental as it goes on, with the second half taking many creative liberties.

“STFU” is a snarky clap-back at his haters and nosey fans over a grimy, aggressive beat. The single “PUNK ROCKY” is inspired by indie rock and it sounds very nice. “AIR FORCE (BLACK DEMARCO)” has really cool electronic synths and a fast-paced instrumental alongside a sharp and focused flow. It contains an unexpected, ethereal beat change about a minute in to give the track some breathing room. Then, it’s right back to the chaos. “WHISKEY (RELEASE ME)” features Gorillaz and Westside Gunn, and introduces jazz rap into the album’s sonic identity and continues to be explored in the following track, “ROBBERY,” which is my personal favorite. This surprising song has a soundscape reminiscent of a 1920s dive bar, where Rocky and Doechii conduct a theatrical robbery while rapping almost seductively over piano and horns. Jazz rap is at its finest here, and Doechii was an immaculate choice for a feature. 

“DON’T BE DUMB / TRIP BABY” is an interesting two-parter that unfortunately falls a little flat on the second half. The first disc concludes with a will.i.am and Jessica Pratt featuring on “THE END,” a somewhat weak, pessimistic closer with a flaccid instrumental. There are four bonus tracks on side two. Overall, the album is a very enjoyable listen and while not his best work, it’s a worthy addition to ASAP Rocky’s discography. 

The post The Return of ASAP Rocky, “Don’t be Dumb” Album Review appeared first on KRUI Radio.

With a behemoth 30 song track list typical of the modern day streaming error, MUSIC suffers from a lack of quality control and cohesion. This can be seen on similar sounding tracks such as “OVERLY” and “DIS 1 GOT IT”. The song “TOXIC” sounds like a cheap rehash of the previous single “BACKROOMS”. For an album that has been in the works for so long, MUSIC surprisingly has lackluster mixing. It shows with things like the bizarre extended intro sequence that sounds like it could’ve been ripped off of YouTube video outro on what’s currently the album’s most popular track “EVIL J0RDAN”.

Additionally, outside of a few guest appearances, most of the features on the record are middling or drag down the project at times. An A-list artist such as Playboi Carti should be capable of producing a more diverse and creative set of collaborations than three Travis Scott features, two Lil Uzi Vert features, three Kendrick Lamar features, two Future features and a repetitive feature from The Weeknd. Even though Carti is not known for being a profound lyricist, MUSIC lacks those sparing moments of introspection that added more depth to his previous projects.

Despite being a very flawed project, MUSIC has some highlights when it focuses on expanding the sounds of Whole Lotta Red. “POP OUT” is raw, sonically unhinged, and one of the most explosive and thrilling tracks to open an album. The songs “CRANK” and “COCAINE NOSE” feel like the evolved final form of the punk-rap sound. Kendrick Lamar makes an unexpectedly fun appearance as a hypeman on “MOJO JOJO”. However, another Kendrick Lamar collab “GOOD CREDIT” pales in comparison to his collaborations with Baby Keem and is slightly underwhelming due to a dull production choice and Carti’s lethargic vocal delivery.

Out of all the various genre forays on the album, Playboi Carti is at his best when tapping into electronic and sample based sounds. The spacey production on “OLYMPIAN” and “I SEEEEEE YOU BABY BOI” is hypnotic and serves as a perfect medium for his raspy melodies. Playboi Carti delivers his finest performance on “OPM BABI” by using an eclectic vocal delivery and surrounding himself with thrilling, unrelenting gunshot effects and hype producer tags courtesy of Atlanta legend DJ Swamp Izzo. Another stellar performance on the album comes over a fun creative sample of the Rich Kidz song “Bend Over” on “LIKE WEEZY”. These sounds suit Playboi Carti well and one can only hope he continues to explore these lanes on future projects instead of rehashing cheap thrills that have already run their course in mainstream music.

Official Maurice Crawford Score: 6.8/10

The post Playboi Carti May Not Be the “MUSIC” appeared first on KRUI Radio.

On 2093, Yeat throws this previous formula out the window, and decides to show the world his distinct vision of hip-hop’s future. That vision is centered around techno, with trance and industrial influences. While this vision sounds incredible on paper, Yeat doesn’t quite maximize the potential of this sound.

2093 consists of futuristic synths and many other sounds that are associated with genres far out from what has traditionally been seen considered rap. The pulsating base on tracks like “Breathe” and “Riot & Set it off” could have seamlessly fit in on Mandy, Indiana’s I’ve Seen a Way. “1093” has a beautiful melody that wouldn’t sound foreign on a Nine Inch Nails project. Even though “Bought The Earth” is a decent piece of psychedelic hip-hop, but it sounds like a Travis Scott throwaway. Additionally, the 30-second cinematic intros and outros on various tracks across the album reek of musical pseudo-intellectualism. It just comes across as clichéd.

Despite the many creative peaks on the record, proper curation is once again the Yeat’s Achilles heel. In the streaming era, many artists have put out longer projects to boost sales numbers and algorithm interaction. This has dragged down the quality and potential of many projects like Whole Lotta Red or Certified Lover Boy.

Unfortunately, 2093 is the newest member of an exclusive list of “could’ve been” classics. The length of this 22-track behemoth tends to bring down the special qualities of this album and make it drag along. For some reason, this has been a recurring theme in his discography, and it has been quite frustrating to witness. Perhaps he should have taken notes from Ken Carson’s A Great Chaos. If this album could have been cut down to at least 18 tracks, much more of the project’s full potential could have been realized.  

The length of the project is just one amongst various elements that weighed this project down. An aspect worth noting is Yeat’s lethargic delivery throughout the vast majority of this project. One of the most interesting aspects of his music has been his unorthodox and experimental vocals. On Aftërlyfe, it felt like you could never expect what was coming next. That unpredictability resulted in memorable vocal takes such as those on “Heavyweight” and “Split” that are ingrained in my mind to this day. Those unconventional deliveries were strongly needed and would have made 2093 worth its length.

Even though there are some truly incredible moments on this record, the romanticized idea of what this album could have been is much more enthralling than the project we received. Perhaps younger generations may consider the album as a classic, and a blueprint of what’s to come, while I end up on the wrong side of history. In the meantime, until Yeat is able to grasp the depth of his untapped potential over the length of a full project, I am going to have to settle for only adding a select few of his songs to my playlists. 

Official Maurice Crawford Score: 6.4/10

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