Review Summary: 00-7 my scope, Sub-Zero Mortal Kombat my wrist (yea)
I had this phase around December 2016 where I fell victim to the then currently trending SoundCloud rappers. I was pretty selective with who I listened to, but they were all cut from the same cloth essentially. I fell in love with their shallow, narcissistic, callous natures. I wanted to feel numb, brain-dead, like my only issue was wondering which of my hoes I was gonna rail some cocaine with when 3 AM hits. I found Ski through his frequent collaborator, XXXTENTACION, on arguably X's best performance (RIP ROACH "EAST SIDE SOULJA", check it out it's murderous). Ski doesn't exactly fall into the aforementioned category of wallowing druggie rap. He owns the degeneracy, like a kingpin or whatever. You could argue that this mentality isn't as unique in hip hop, and the self deprecation and depressed personas are more interesting but this bangs way harder.
XXXTENTACION is known for abrasiveness, and as consequence of sharing the aesthetic and participating in the shaping "Members Only" movement alongside him, Ski has a distorted element to his music as well. It's less aggressive, less metal, but more psychedelic, more traditional. There are moments where it's overbearing, like some wasted, drugged out symphony per Sosa's "Back From The Dead 2", but in a good way. One particularly notable moment is on the opening track, "I LIKE BRICKS", which turns out to be somewhat symbolic of the album's formula. The bass builds up at the bridge of the song to the point where it sounds straight out of an ear rape meme as Ski monotonously recites how he doesn't like his money green, then the beat breaks down and he starts spitting like a madman. His wordplay is nothing super notable, but it's catchy, it's charismatic, and it's fast as hell.
The rest of the album doesn't consistently maintain "I LIKE BRICKS"'s level of quality, mostly due to the seemingly compilation esque nature of the album. It's to be expected from a beginning artist, especially due to him being a Soundcloud rapper, but it's disjointing and can ruin the flow when songs don't sound like they were recorded at the same time. This is mostly evident on "Freaky Fred". The beat is more than adequate, emulating a track you'd hear playing over a Mario Kart level, but ghostly and sparse, fading in and out of consciousness as Ski flows over it. Unfortunately Ski's flow is harmed the lower fidelity of the recording, making his voice sound out of place with the other songs on the tape.
The production is at it's best when the lower end is given the space to shine. The bass, alongside with Ski Mask's bars both weave in and out with each other, doing some kind of wasted ass tango. The duality is extremely entertaining. Whether he's spitting over a subtle but prominent bassline, per "Where's the Blow!" or aggressively flowing over a beat that's almost at a wall of sound level like "RIP ROACH", the dynamic works.
All in all this slaps and I'm extremely excited to see what the future holds for Ski. He has inalienable talent and appeal in his voice and his production niche. Once he gets a grasp on cohesion, there wont be any stopping yung voorhees.
