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On the long-awaited debut, Lucki brings his most ambitious work to date. Spanning twenty-four tracks & nearly an hour, Lucki puts everything on the line with this release. Speaking on current relationships & furthering drug addictions, Lucki recounts his own lifestyle & how its pushed his life in every way imaginable.
Slowly building & changing his style with each release, it feels like Flawless Like Me is something of a final form. His flow & voice changed slightly with each release, but here it feels like its come to a boiling point. On this release, his newest flow feels more confident than ever, with his vocal tonality masterfully used on each track to convey his emotions. His voice constantly shaky on some tracks, confidently jaded on others.
One thing becomes clear on this release from the start is how the focus is further than ever off of the production. “Made My Day” sees his vocal more front & center than ever, with every line feeling like a stand out. Its a singular verse, but every line feels IG caption ready or primed to be its own hook. Yet he unloads his arsenal all through this one track, making for an immediate highlight.
Lucki – Made My Day
Its possible he takes this influence from the newer Detroit trap, which is more punchline focused, which can be seen on the track with Babyface Ray. The duo see each other on an anthemic track, with horns ringing through as they pull through with their broad range of drug flexes. With another collaboration within a year, the two continue the current hot streak.
The album feels like a complete payoff thanks to tracks like “Kapital Denim,” which sees him working with one of his greatest influences. Featuring Future, the two’s lyrics match up perfectly due to their endless lyrics about lean. Both able to capture their own pain & transfer them into flexes is a talent unique solely to them. Being his biggest feature to date, the track has the possibility to become his most mainstream song yet.
For those critics who may look at how he’s pivoted from his lyrical style in his early years, that headier style gets to rear its head on tracks like “Life Mocks Art.” Playing off the term of “Life imitating art,” he plays with the mirrorlike relationship he carries with his music. He recognizes how nothing he raps about is fiction, and that his lifestyle is even larger than his raps. This self-reflection shows up in some of his recent music, but nothing as strong as this one.
Lucki – Life Mocks Art
A downside to this album might feel on the production end. There are tracks from high profile producers such as Tay Keith & Cash Cobain, but they don’t feel as recognizable as his work with his usual collaborators. The influence of long running productions from the likes of F1lthy & Plu2o Nash are clearly missing, but they are traded for these boisterous horns that feel like a product of early 2010s trap. Clearly an artist choice on his end, and one that appears to have paid off to separate this album from any of his other works.
While the run up until this point has been one of doubt for many early adopters, those who have stuck through with Lucki may truly see the pay off with this album. Lucki’s growth year over year has evolved him into an artist that can’t be mistaken for any other, with a catalog so deep that any listener is bound to come out with a favorite. With this constant run of releases, he’s crafted one of the most unique discographies to ever grace Chicago.