Review Summary: quality trap
Blueface is a rapper from Los Angeles, California, who rose to fame with his music on the internet in 2018 due to his rushed delivery style. His first mixtape,
Famous Cryp, was released just before his rise to stardom, and contains three of the songs he became known for, which are
Dead Locs,
Respect My Cryppin, and
Thotiana. He would eventually garner the attention of major label Cash Money Records, and begin developing more expensively produced music with well-known names in the trap scene on the tracklists. But
Famous Cryp shows Blueface at his most authentic; that is, Blueface and no one else spitting his *** over Soundcloud trap beats.
Blueface became known for what seems to the untrained ear as "rushing the beat". To explain this more thoroughly, when Blueface is delivering a line intended for eight beats, he likes to finish the line on beat seven, then spend the entire last beat delivering an ad lib or a hook. For example, on the track
Dead Locs, Blueface will expend every eighth beat to saying "on the Dead Locs" while making sure he's fitting eight beats worth of lyrics into the first seven beats. This rather unorthodox style, accompanied with his relatively higher-pitched and oftentimes throaty vocals (his voice has often been compared to Courage the Cowardly Dog), makes for a very unique sounding flow.
All eight songs follow a short and simple chorus-verse-chorus structure, with no tracks exceeding two minutes and thirty seconds. These short track lengths prevent any one beat from growing stale, and likely appeal to the younger audience the music is intended for who undoubtedly suffer from shortened attention spans. Although the beats used are dark, spacey, and minimalistic, the lyrics are cocky, witty, and sometimes downright hilarious, which creates an enjoyable contrast. A personal favorite couplet of mine comes from the title track: "I tell her when to shut the *** up and lick testicles (Yeah aight) / Yeah aight, bitch, don't forget the vegetables (lick them balls)".
Trap music is at its best when it's trying to be funny and isn't taking itself too seriously. Unfortunately, the more famous a trap artist becomes, the more seriously they take their music, which in turn diminishes the quality. Blueface's recent debut album
Find the Beat showcases the artist doing just that – finding the beat – which means losing a big chunk of what made him special in the first place. Although OG Blueface fans will always have
Famous Cryp, I'm sure that many of us wish he would have rushed the beat a little longer before rushing into stardom.
