One of the most explosive rappers to be apart of the Chicago Drill scene drops another average release.
Montana of 300’s remixes during the peak of the Chicago Drill movement were legendary. The biggest highlight of the bunch was his “Chiraq” remix, completely blowing away everyone else that jumped on the track. The beat was one of the hottest out, and to be completely outdone by a then barely known rapper was insanity. As his hyped increased, so did demand for a debut. As he would soon prove however, his talent lied solely in remixes.
A massive flaw for him has always been his own production, always winding up cheap feeling. Even after his debut, he was still killing remixes but still couldn’t hold it down for his own albums. This isn’t necessarily a terrible thing, many rappers fall into this space such as King Los. Yet this new album may be his worst yet.
To claim Rap God from a rapper that could never put together a complete release is laughable. On this release, all his flaws shine. For one, each track overstays it’s welcome. There is no possible reason these songs couldn’t be cut down. They all end around the four minute mark, some stretching to six or more minutes, when they easily should have been two to three minutes. Anytime a slightly enjoyable track comes on, it continues to drone to the point where it becomes a nuisance.
This album is twenty-five tracks as well. This wouldn’t be an issue if every song was listenable, but they’re not. It’s a nearly two hour listen, and being mostly featureless truly dulls the experience. Especially with his ear for underwhelming beats, it becomes a blur quickly.
The only truly good beat lies within the song “Bape.” It feels like a Pharrell or Kanye style beat, which is probably a conscious decision due to the title of the track. While he has lifeless flows for the majority of the album, this song he completely shows out. It gives the style fans have been dying for, a truly energized and hard track.
Unfortunately that’s the only bright spot. The bulk of the tracklist is songs about having sex with women. Sparingly these tracks could be fine, but they’re everywhere and hilariously uncomfortable. On these tracks he’ll talk about being the woman’s side piece as if it’s a flex, or making women cum until they cry. Who these tracks are for is a complete head scratcher.
Most of his bars are sloppy references. One song he’ll say, “She give me brain I get geeked, Just call me Screech.” On another he’ll have “Them cheeks stupid cheddar my craft/Kraft proves I’m better.” There’s too many poorly done bars to count, every song is packed with them. Worst part is that “Bape” proved he could still put together a strong track, but for whatever reason he doesn’t on the rest of the album.
On the intro to this album, he says that he trying to use this album as a teaching moment to others. There are spots of that on the album, “Mama” is one track in particular that does this well. He discusses his love for his mother, which in turn hopefully reminds others to love their moms. It is a touching moment, despite him being a weak singer.
His track “The Boy Never Sold His Soul” is an anti music industry track. He discusses the modern slavery that comes with signing to a major label, and every reason to avoid it. This track is an odd choice though. While the sentiment may be true, Montana on the track sounds completely disconnected & uninvested. He sounds like everyone in the game right now, so does it really mean anything if the one delivering the message feels like a clone?
That track along with many others shows his unprompted love for randomly using a guitar. A solo is tacked on the end of the track for whatever reason, and this happens multiple times throughout the tracklist. The most jarring performance is on “Wheels Fall Off,” which sounds like a dad rock anthem. His screams on the hook are so poorly strung together it sounds like parody.
For someone claiming Rap God, an album he had been hyping for quite awhile as his final, he does a horrible job of proving it. He has a bar on here where he says, “If I’m not the Rap God then I’m his twin,” which feels like even he is unconfident in his own statement. What fans loved about Montana is absent here, instead providing what you could find in any random playlist. If he does decide to continue as a rapper, he better not waste anyone’s time ever again.