Meek Mill – Dreams and Nightmares

RoyalTy Rating: 6.5 Crowns

Dreams and Nightmares album artwork

Meek Mill’s Dreams and Nightmares album falls closer to a nightmare than a dream. Brief moments of ingenuity and conceptual strengths are heavily offset by lackluster efforts and predictable cadences.

The title track “Dreams and Nightmares” summarizes everything Meek discusses on records. He adequately displays how a young male from the hood has dreams fulfilled by rap successes before the track takes a drastic turn for the worse. Understandably so, Meek attempted to draw stark contrast between dreams and nightmares and sufficiently succeeds. “Dreams and Nighmares” fails after angelic piano keys transitions to a devilish bass drop, and Meek begins shouting at maximum vocal capacities. His voice is already borderline and increasing the volume is far too intense.

The paradoxical title of “In God We Trust” leads listeners to believe it will be structured after his “dream” theme, but he proceeds to paint more pictures of destruction.  It seems like Meek fell in love with the title and felt obligated to include it on the album. Once again, thematically, Meek missed the mark, but displays a vicious flow.

“So for 100 keys, think what my click will do/I’m talkin’ clappin toaster, bullets will hit your roof/They hit his body he went in shock, no Pikachu.”

Meek’s subject bank is painfully limited. He’s readily defined by monetary braggadocio statements, bad yellow chicks, drugs and a team of shooters ready to do dirt. There’s nothing more to his lyrics. Given that he raps to the same cadence on almost every song, any one of his verses can be substituted for another with no notable difference. It ruins the quality of songs like “Maybach Curtains” and “Lay Up,” whose star studded casts anchor the tracks.

“Lay UP” or “Maybach Curtains” could have easily replaced “Amen,” “Burn” and “Young & Getting’ It” as radio singles. The feature power of Nas, Wale, Trey Songz and John Legend easily overshadow Big Sean and Kirko Bangz given the song’s industry sound.

One underrated facet of Meek’ style rests in his storytelling ability. Regardless of point of view, Meeks knows how to phrase, and stage events in a climatic fashion. He allows listeners to visualize words. Meek continues to develop the success of his Dreamchasers “Tony Story” with the sequel “Tony Story, Pt. 2,” and relays parts of his own tribulations on “Traumatized.” He discusses personal pain and addresses the man that killed his father with eerie distaste.

“Hope you hear me, I’mma kill you n***a/To let you kno that I don’t feel you n***a/Yeah, you ripped my family apart and made my momma cry/So when I see you, n***a it’s gon’ be a homicide/Cuz I was only a toddler, you left me traumatized.”

Overall, Meek Mill’s project was less than admirable. Lack of versatility, incomplete theming, and a couple of poorly executed punchlines inhibits the maximum effect of his passion and energy. Ironically, his nightmare’s makes the album worth listening to, and his dreams weigh the project down with their ubiquitous placing. A listener can sleep on this Dreams and Nightmares project and not have missed much.

B.o.b – F*ck Em We Ball

RoyalTy Rating: 8 Crowns

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Undoubtedly, B.o.B is one of rap’s most versatile artists. He possesses capacity that transcends rap borders and delivers hits in multiple genres. His tolerable singing and ability to play guitar coupled with pop, industry appeal grants exploration of many musical avenues, yet F*ck Em We Ball caters directly to his rap fan base.

Apparently, B.o.B notices the current trends of rap. He hasn’t ratcheted down his energetic bars. Instead, he’s pared them with heavy, booming, rap-ready professional beats–a change that makes provisions for B.o.B to experiment. Super producers Mike Will, Sonny Digital and others help B.o.B evolve his sound. Metaphors, similes and smoothly transitioning punch lines solidify F*ck Em We Ball as it delivers exactly what fans anticipated.

B.o.B starts by paying homage to recently reelected Barack Obama, on the opening skit, before doing some campaigning of his own. “Champaign” aggressively asserts B.o.B’s new sound as he develops a metaphor comparing his rap grind to an election campaign while toying with the reference of presidential kush.

“Dynomite,” “Still In This Bitch” and “F*ck Em We Ball” continue establishing B.o.B’s newly incorporated facets. Fortunately, B.o.B hasn’t completely fallen into the allure of trap beats. He still incorporates eurogate laced, spatial sounding song qualities often associated with smoking on the project. “Be There” and “Roll One Up” have very chill vibes and show B.o.b’s range. He doesn’t always have to bombard listeners with “Beast Mode” like flows, and gives listeners music they can feel while he paints visual pictures. At times he seems less like a rapper and more like narrator relaying a sequence of events, especially on songs directed towards women like ”Greedy Love” and “Spend It.”

“Swagger on infinity/If you feelin it, get with it bitch/I’m doin that thing so diligent/I’ll go dumb on that pussy, make that clitoris go illiterate/How inconsiderate?” B.o.B threads a cleverly woven internal rhyme to close verse one before piano strokes introduce the hook on “Spend It.”

“Hell of a Night” might be the sleeper track of F*ck Em We Ball. It’s fusion of characteristics and extravagant production fulfills every requirement of a quality song. An  anthem style hook, uptemto bombastic party beat, a smooth flow make for a lethal combination. B.o.B playfully initiates the track with DJ scratching before he rocks the beat.

B.o.B creates a variety of music, but little caters to the club scene. “Best Friend” is a mediocre attempt. The components of success of are in place but weren’t packaged correctly as the hook lacks cohesion. It didn’t glue twerk music’s signature handclap to the dance motivated beat, but shows promise towards immediate improvement.

Although he experiments rapping over heavy beats, he didn’t allow these endeavors to overload and sour F*ck Em We Ball. B.o.B ‘s intangibles keep his projects from sounding monotonous because he balances savage bars against vibe music.  It would have been nice to hear B.o.B. do a story track, as he’s done in the past, or show listeners diversity displayed on his album, but F*ck Em We Ball is defined by B.o.B’s progress. He’s no longer allowing pop beats to diminish the wordplay of entertaining bars.

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Wale – Folarin

RoyalTy Rating: 8 Crowns

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Rap’s relationship connoisseur, Wale, delivers a well-balanced opus with his Folarin mixtape. The project embodies a variety of productions that give different feels, ranging from soulful remedies to bass-booming club music. Unlike the rest of his posse, Wale has never been one to overload his music with bass, and asserts a formula similar to the construction of his past project: More About Nothing.

Essentially, Wale stays true to the identity he wishes to assert in rap. He hasn’t deviated from discussing encounters with women, the trials of relationships, and how relentless ambition brings success. He explains on “Change Up” that his lyrics haven’t changed, but the scope of his reach has. Wale also explains on “Chun Li” that other rappers haven’t paralleled his status because “ either n****s aren’t fly or they can’t rap.”

As usual, wordplay Wale manages to sneak in a couple of bass-booming industry hits, mostly cosigned by Atlanta natives. Travis Porter appears on “One Eyed Kitten” to provide their signature twerk feel; 2 Chainz delivers an energetically boastful flow on “GetMeDoe,” a call and response concert hyping anthem; and Trinidad Jame$ offers an “All Gold Everything” imitated verse that explains the meaning of “Flat Out.”

“Cool Off” serves as Wale’s platform to impart another relationship instructional detailing the heat of confrontation, while he relays toxic qualities to women in the song “Bad.”

Randomly placed soulful songs offer a change of pace. Brass instruments develop “Streetrunner’s” sound, and a jazzy saxophone structures the melody of “The Right One.”

Additionally, innovative concepts sneak into this body of work. Wale conveys a complete, extended metaphor on “Georgetown Press” comparing the defensive pressure of Georgetown University’s basketball team to the struggle of rising out of the trap. “School Daze” serves as another play on words as Wale relates nostalgic high school situations before chanting an ode to Ambition’s “Legendary.”

“Back to Ballin” is the most questionable song on the project. An appearance from French Montana serves more as a liability than an asset, as his redundant subject matter and choppy style sours the track. Adding that to Wale’s dumb downed delivery creates a bad combination, although it’s mildly catchy.

“Forward,” a cosigning intro paying homage to Wale’s successes, and addressing how much of Wale’s subject matter is overlooked,  sets the stage for Wale to display why it’s important to stay true to your values and not allow the industry to compromise style and individuality for hits. Although the project is solid, there’s something missing. The ”it” factor wasn’t present, even though its loaded with quality songs. Wale caters to fans who appreciate his music for different reasons. He offsets passionate lyrics that ladies love, with club hits that men respect.  His self-proclaimed “scholarship flow” is in full effect as the double M genius continues striving to produce deeper subject matter.

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CyHi The Prynce – Ivy League Kickback

RoyalTy Rating: 7 Crowns

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It’s hard to pinpoint why Cyhi hasn’t garnered much fame outside of Georgia. People respect his lyrics, but up to this point, he doesn’t have a smash radio single or a track that sets the club on fire. So, instead of placing his fate in the hands of radio personnel and DJ’s, Cyhi attempts to get his music directly into people’s home the by catering the Ivy League Kickback to laid back party atmospheres.

“Kick Back Music” initiates the festivity appropriately. The aura emitted from deep, nonchalant bass tones completely encompasses kickback vibes. Cyhi’s slew of if-then statements makes for an entertaining listen as he quickly relays some components of a kickback. The rest of the picture is further developed on “Kick Back,” where Cyhi addresses any questions. In summary, a kickback is music, mingling, alcohol and drugs.

“Mary Jane” serves as a personification of Cyhi’s relationship with marijuana. Personifying marijuana allows Cyhi to relay a few weed tales that reinforces his love of marijuana. After all, he’s apparently not “Far Removed” from trafficking grams in his trap “Round the Corner.”

“Start a War” possibly is the best track. Fans grossly underrate Cyhi’s story rapping ability. His lyrics paint a panoramic view depicting how his friend was murdered for serving a dummy brick. Cyhi feels as if he could start a war while failing to cope with his loss.

Apart from trap tales, Cyhi hasn’t lost witty lines. “Big Head B*tches” is loaded with wordplay embedded in his reminder to all the boujee girls with overblown confidence.

“I told her I’d give her the world if she’d take off her clothes/So I went to Office Depot and bought that b*tch a globe.

The middle section of the Ivy League Kickback attempts to ratchet up the atmosphere before the rear end attempts to throttle down activity.

Granted the ratio of guys and girls is relatively balanced, every kickback has a song with potential to elevate kickbacks into a full blown party. “Whoa,” featuring a hook sampled from Big Sean’s verse on “Mercy,” serves as this song. Its healthy bass tone combined with lyrics that promote ass shaking just might cause a kickback to transform into a house party.

“Pillow Talking” and “Occupy Your Mind” slowly kills off commotion to signify an end of the kickback.

Although the vibe is adequately encompassed, the Ivy League Kickback doesn’t come without a few glaring faults. Cyhi’s experimental “I’m Catching Feelings” urgently needs a feature for the hook. Prefacing the song saying “I ain’t really no good singer” doesn’t excuse his lack of vocals and utter waste of a smooth beat.

“Sexy” is a wasteful filler song, a slightly remixed “A-Town” fails to enhance the opus, and

Cyhi should deviate the quirky tendency to structure cliché, elementary sounding songs as exhibited on “Favorite Things”.  Lastly, “We Drink, We Smoke” should have been omitted from the Ivy League Kickback because it appeared on his previous mixtape the Ivy League Club.

Overall, The Ivy League Kickback, is a solid project. It strengths outnumber it’s weaknesses and the kickback themed songs have plenty of replay value. It wouldn’t be surprising to hear one or two of these songs at your next kickback.

Favorite Tracks: Start a War, Whoa, Far Removed

Least Favorite Tracks” Sexy, I’m Catching Feelings

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Word of the Day: milquetoast

Pronunciation: [milk-tohst]

Definition(s): a very timid, unassertive, spineless person, especially one who is easily dominated or intimidated

Part of Speech: noun

Sentence: A milquetoast is a person that’s afraid to ask for a raise.

Synonyms: weakling, coward, invertebrate