Review Summary: Woof? More like ooof
It is impossible not to speak of Ameer Vann without mentioning the controversies that he has been through; from allegations both from past partners and bandmates. That said, he was without a doubt an essential part of what made his previous band Brockhampton so special in the period they released the SATURATION trilogy.
I must admit that hearing his laidback flow again really felt good, but i am also conflicted because that might be one of the few positive things i have to say about this project. The album consists of 11 songs, and the runtime is only about 20 minutes, but strangely enough it feels so much longer, even if it starts off with some promise, it really feels like a drag.
The opening track begins with the line "Listen to me with open heart and open mind / I speak to God almost every night", which naturally piques the listeners interest, at least when one knows of the artists turbulent history. Could this really be an abum of soulsearching and forgiveness? Hell if i know, but it doesnt do anything interesting with it. The song is just a minute long and proves from the get go that Ameer without a good producer or BH behind him seems to fail hard when it comes to song structure. Short songs arent a bad thing, but the way he does it leaves a lot to be desired. At the end of the song one of my biggest gripes with this album starts to show: Ameer or someone who produced this with him really likes using a pitch down and slow down effect on his voice and this really got grating throughout the songs on this.
On the second track "In The Bulding" we almost see a glimmer of hope and the beat and his flow is almost reminiscent of the 1990s single tracks he was on in BH. The rest of the album for me is so bland i cant find anything noteworthy to mention.
He almost does something interesting on the track "Good Boy" and "Shawty" sounds like something that could have been on a Kevin Abstract album, but even in the few moments on here he could have done something special the fact that the songs are so short really bites him in his ass. Matt Champion, who was also his bandmate also released his first album this year and this also contained short songs, but what he did right was making something memorable, even if he wasnt rapping. Even Kevin Abstracts last effort was interesting in its own flawed way as it confused listeners who expected something completely different from what they got.
I didnt go into this album with a bad mindset. I liked his previous singles "Keep your Distance" and "IDFIATOK". Heck, i also liked some cuts from the Emmanuel EP. It all comes down to how uninspired, bland and underdeveloped this whole thing feels. I have listened to this a couple of times now without having anything more to say. And yeah, the album artwork looks like that NAS Magic album.
