Review Summary: In the strive for prosperity, little victories count.
If 2013 was the year of overwrote
Yeezus comparisons, then let me christen 2016 the year of overwrote
The Life of Pablo comparisons. If critical thought found it difficult to handle a litany of consciously minimal hip-hop albums, then it sure as sh
it isn't going to stand for the ensuing trend of consciously disjointed, semi-autobiographical, statement albums. In what can best be described as an attempt to avoid being eclipsed by A$AP Rocky's cultural specter, A$AP Ferg has decided it best to make a
...Pablo-lite album. As opposed to
Trap Lord, which did everything you would expect an album called
Trap Lord would do,
Always Strive and Prosper is restless and ambitious. It wants to be more than just an album of bangers that are ostensibly about how hard said bangers bang; it wants to talk about family, friends, and the virtue of humility. The issue is that Ferg's not equipped to perform in such a way, being a rapper whose inherent utility outshines his desire to be too musically inventive. So what we get with
Always Strive and Prosper is something that confidently tries to exist outside of its confines and definitions but ends up just being an overlong mess of styles with unfunny skits to boot. If it weren't for the fact Kanye already did this thing back in February, I'd probably be a little less harsh in my assessment. Consider though that
Always Strive and Prosper misses far more often and hits far fewer times than
The Life of Pablo; that's a serious lack of substance for an album that claims to have ditched trap so that it can allow for this so-called maturity.
It's also unimpressive considering that, in consciously trying different things, "New Level" and "Let it Bang", two of the most generic trap bangers to be found on the record, become two of the album's most prosperous achievements. Compared to the litany of poor features who serve little other purpose than to pad out Ferg's storytelling (Big Sean, Lil Uzi Vert, everyone on "Yammy Gag" who isn't A$AP Rocky or A$AP Yams' mother), Future and ScHoolboy Q seem absolutely necessary with their given features, adding to the ridiculous fun of it all by delivering some unhinged and genuinely smirk inducing verses ('
I just dip and dab with the semi-tucked / you on the red carpet surrounded by pop stars trying to act tough'). Ferg can't be chastised too aggressively for deciding against making just another trap album, and that's something that encourages magnanimity considering the effort he has devoted. Of course, if the overly sincere "Strive" and "I Love You" are anything to go off of, this isn't a sound I'd actively encourage Ferg to explore. There's much positive that can be said for a guy who literally branded himself with trap's genericness choosing instead to rap of his girlfriend asking, '
why you gotta say things that make me sound so small? / ... where's the respect?.' But in overstuffing his sophomore- and supposed breakthrough- record with an assortment of ideas that don't exactly lend themselves to any consistent vision,
Always Strive and Prosper seems wont to emerge a noble failure. The problem with the
Yeezus comparisons- besides their inaccuracy and laziness- was that they gave some unreasonable measure by which to view all rap albums that had any club mobility. All of a sudden, every rap album had to somehow reference the aesthetic- if it didn't, then it sank, a victory for the critic.
The Life of Pablo comparisons are easy, though; they're just shorthand for, 'your album's a complete and utter mess.' Ferg can rest assured though that his album is nowhere near as disjointed as
...Pablo in sound or ambition. That might not be much of a win, but in the strive for prosperity, little victories count.
