6.5/10
Favorite Track: "INTRO" Least Favorite: "Raw Shit (Feat. Migos)"
DaBaby’s rise to stardom in 2019 came out of nowhere. Riding off the back of his freshman project; Baby on Baby, he seemed like one of the more promising rappers in the 2019 XXL freshman class. He had me convinced, and after listening to KIRK he still does for the most part. I just don’t think he can do what he’s doing forever. DaBaby’s new sophomore project is an album characterized by car shaking 808’s and that’s about it. As far as production goes these baselines are the only thing that is memorable about any of the beats on these tracks. The formula becomes pretty clear after the album's first few cuts; copy the same heavy 808 into every track but add ONE new element everytime. The production never comes off as offensive but rather safe, just too safe. It’s boring. However, I don’t think it breaks the album. More often than not on this thing DaBaby’s charisma, infectious flows, and funny quotables make up for the lack of instrumentals. With the quality that we get from the intro track; “INTRO”, this album was set on a course for anything but what we actually got. The soul inspired cut features a NSYNC sample, and some introspective and heartfelt lyrical themes such as, the loss of his grandmother and father. With this theme being presented so early I would have thought DaBaby would have taken the opportunity to dedicate a bulk of the album to themes of death, and loss. Instead, the lyricism on this album sticks to woman, guns, cars, and braggadocio, which I don’t take issue with in the slightest, I just think the death of his father would have been a bit more compelling of a story. Another huge highlight for me was “GOSPEL”. Baby somehow manages to milk a quality feature out of Chance in 2019 which is impressive in itself, and he fits into the track perfectly. Overall, on KIRK DaBaby presents himself as a one trick pony. More often than not however, that one trick can carry a track pretty far. His soft spot for boring and bland trap beats on this project makes the listen a little choppy but through and through, there are more bangers on here than duds. That just happens to be thanks to the artist’s creativity as a rapper and not a songwriter.
Comentários