Kodak Black is a controversial rapper who earned his first Hot 100 entry in 2016 via a feature on a French Montana song. In 2017, he got quite a few more entries, including his first legitimate hit in Tunnel Vision. But Tunnel Vision is a god awful song with terrible lyrics that reference..... some pretty terrible things Kodak did. Later that year, he got another hit from his feature on A Boogie Wit da Hoodies's Drowning which is actually a pretty decent song. It would be great, if it weren't for Kodak's verse. He had a collab with XXXTENTACION which is an abysmal song that thankfully got kinda caught between years.
And now he has two songs in the top 20, one of which is one the album. The other is Wake Up In The Sky with Gucci Mane and Bruno Mars where Kodak is (you guessed it) the worst part of the song. So with those very low expectations, let's just get right into this.
Overview
Should it really be surprising that I don't like this album? I've said before that the strength of a trap/rap album comes down to three basic elements: the production (as it tends to be similar on many of the tracks), the guest verses, and the main performer themselves. Overall the production on this album is good enough. It's mostly pretty generic, but there are certain songs (Gnarly and ZEZE for example) where it's actually pretty good. In terms of the guest verses, we have four of them and all four deliver pretty solid features. But where the album falls apart is with the man behind all of it: Kodak Black. He just isn't a good rapper. His flows are sloppy, he can't stay on beat, his lyrics are pretty bad, and his voice is nasally and practically unlistenable and points.
Individual Song Reviews
1. Testimony: So ten seconds in and we're talking about "demon semen". Any hope I had for this album is officially gone. It doesn't help that Kodak is really off beat here. Speaking of the beat, it's an extremely generic trap beat with some odd sample playing under it. Overall, this is a terrible opener and gives me really low expectations for the rest of this album. 0/5
2. This Forever: This one really shows off how awful and nasally Kodak can be when he really wants to. The beat here isn't half bad, but pretty generic. Also I can barely understand anything he's saying, but knowing Kodak I'm not missing much. This track gets a 0.5/5 due to Kodak's abysmal delivery alone.
3. Identity Theft: So uh in the opening Kodak brags he's not scared to back to jail. And in the first couple lines he brags about not changing in prison and credit card fraud? His voice here is much more tolerable than its been in the past couple songs (but it still sucks), and the beat isn't awful. But yeah those lyrics bring this down to like a 1/5.
4. Gnarly (feat. Lil Pump): The production here is actually really good. Also, Kodak sounds less nasally in the hook but it all fall apart in his verse. There's a weird Ariana Grande reference that I'm not sure why its there. Lil Pump does his typical thing, but next to Kodak he sounds like Kendrick Lamar. So yeah, I think solid production + a decent hook + a not terrible guest verse = 3/5
5. ZEZE (feat. Travis Scott & Offset): I actually like this song a lot. The production is really great, using a steel drum as the main percussion. Travis Scott's pre-chorus is probably the best thing this entire album has to offer. Offset's verse is a tad bit long, but he stays on beat and delivers some solid flows. The only flaw here is Kodak Black himself. I don't mind his hook, but his verse is pretty bad. 4.5/5
6. Take One: This song is just really dull. Kodak sounds whiny, but he's mixed in really quietly so the main thing we're hearing on this is the production. And it's.... fine I guess. The strings arrangement doesn't really fit Kodak but it sounds good enough. However, I don't like the drums(?) that are played over them. Also the song just kinda stops at one point to play gun sound effects. 2/5
7. MoshPit (feat. Juice WRLD): So Kodak is fucking awful here. The production is also pretty mediocre. And Juice WRLD sounds..... actually pretty good. I like his verse quite a bit. He plays more into his lower range which fits him nicely. He redeems the song to a 2/5.
8. Transgression: This beat literally is making me dizzy to listen to. And with how off the beat Kodak is, that's certainly not a good thing. I can't exactly explain why I hate this beat but like listen to the song and you'll see what I mean. Or don't listen to it, because this song is a 0/5.
9. Malcolm X.X.X.: .....Did Kodak really just sample Malcolm X? Apparently he tried to reach out to Malcolm in jail according to this song I guess. But seriously half the song is just Malcolm X, and since in my book less Kodak is always better this is a very good thing. Still though I feel like if I were to dig deeper into these lyrics I would be annoyed. 1/5 for this one.
10. Calling My Spirit: I think I've heard this before but I'm not sure. For some reason Kodak feels the need to reference Tunnel Vision here which just ew to that. I think Kodak is trying to hype himself up here, which is weird because this beat is really depressing. There's like a slow guitar under a really loud trap beat. And god he has so much autotune in the hook. 0/5
11. In The Flesh: This beat is weird. I haven't yet decided whether its good-weird or bad-weird, but I doubt I'll be re-visiting this song anytime soon so I'll probably remain undecided on that. Kodak's voice is lathered in autotune, and he just does not sound good. I guess I'll give this a 1.5/5.
12. Close To The Grave: Wow. I didn't think Kodak could get more off beat than he did in Testimony but he did. Speaking of that beat, its incredibly dull. But holy fuck Kodak is awful here. Like this may be a new career worst performance for him. 0/5
13. From The Cradle: The production here isn't half bad, but Kodak absolutely ruins it. God I'm sounding like a broken record. 0.5/5
14. If I'm Lying, I'm Flyin: This isn't awful. Kodak's flow here is actually pretty good, and the production is also solid enough. His voice still isn't ideal, but at least he's on beat. My standards have gotten really low at this point. However, the lyrics do take this one down a bit. 2.5/5
15. Needing Something: Kodak's diction here is fucking abysmal. I know that seems like a weird thing to complain about, but like it's really awful and really apparent. Due to the quiet beat, we just have to focus on Kodak and he's just doing a terrible job here. 0/5
16. Could Of Been Different: "Could of" and "Could've" aren't the same thing but whatever. Anyways, Kodak actually tries to rap instead of nasal-sing and he's not terrible. Like his voice is still annoying and his lyrics aren't great, but he's got good flow. And the production is pretty good. Maybe I'm just excited to be done with this album and I'm feeling generous, but yeah this isn't half bad. 3.5/5
Final Thoughts
Yeah this album sucked. I'm not sure my individual song reviews quite expressed arguably the biggest flaw in this album: I had to listen to over 45 minutes of Kodak Black.
Rating: 1/10 (Awful)
Best Songs: ZEZE, Could Of Been Different, Gnarly (I guess?)
Worst Songs: Testimony, Transgression, Calling My Spirit, Close To The Grave, Needing Something
Nice post.
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