Review Summary: "One day I'ma pour my heart out on the beat. But for now, I'm just living young, I'm living free."
Does growing up just change your body? Or also your soul? Ugh, I wish I could just stay the same forever.
On
Hyperyouth, rap duo Joey Valence & Brae deliver more of what made them a success to begin with: fun, bouncy rap songs that are by no means meant to be taken seriously. There are goofy, tongue-in-cheek lyrics throughout that tow the line between fun and entertaining and downright stupid, and they thankfully lean more on the entertaining side.
However, what sets
Hyperyouth apart from JVB’s last two albums are the unexpected detours into mature, more introspective lyricism. Songs like
Party’s Over,
Live Right, and
Disco Tomorrow feature lyrical themes such as growing up, finding your true passion, and gratefulness for the careers they have and the success they’ve found. As much as I respect JVB experimenting with these newer themes and showing the world they’re not just a goofy tribute to 80’s era Beastie Boys, they unfortunately result in the album having an awkward flow, and the tonal changes between songs are often jarring.
One of
Hyperyouth’s primary faults is that it’s very front-loaded. The majority of tracks I’d consider my favorite, such as
See U Dance (which has a noteworthy feature from Rebecca Black), the aforementioned
Live Right, and
Bust Down, are all in the first half of the album. The second half of
Hyperyouth, while not necessarily bad, fails to reach the same peaks as the first half, and some songs like
The Party Song and
Go Hard have hooks that are borderline annoying (hearing the line “I like to go out, I like to party party. I like to get wild, I like to party party” gets pretty old pretty fast). I’d be remiss, however, not to single out the album’s closer:
Disco Tomorrow. The song features JVB’s lyricism at its absolute best and most mature, and ends with a beat drop that absolutely
slaps and serves as the perfect way to close
Hyperyouth.
But then, if I change, will they still love me? Will I still love them? Will I still love myself?
Joey Valance & Brae prove they can still drop bangers to dance and party to, while simultaneously showing the world that they’re capable of more than just that. While the album suffers from inconsistent flow and a couple songs that would’ve been better suited as B-sides, it’s still a great time that I’d recommend to any fan of rap/hip-hop. Crack open a beer and/or light a joint, kick back, and turn the speaker up, and you’ll be in for a very amusing (and slightly introspective) 45 minutes of music.
3.5 out of 5
