Hello, everyone … so, this wasn’t originally going to be its own individual review. I was going to make it a mini review … but then I saw just how much critical acclaim this is getting, and I decided I should make it its own review. It seemed like the first album of 2023 where I think to myself, ‘This is going to be on almost every Best Albums of 2023 list that I look at, isn’t it?’ So, I decided to make it its own review … and then it took a long time to finally get it posted, as I was also working on lots of other reviews, but now it’s finally posted—and my favourite songs of last year as well as my Lana Del Rey review still haven’t been posted, but they’re coming.

Now, it’s worth mentioning that just because an album is one of the most critically acclaimed of its year doesn’t automatically mean that I will love it, or even that I’ll like it. I mean, I’ll probably like it … and there’s a pretty good chance I’ll love it, but I can think of some examples of super critically acclaimed albums that are among the most critically acclaimed of the year they came out that I personally don’t like that much.

Going back to last year, there were three in particular that stood out to me in that way … okay, maybe more, but the ‘big 3’, I guess were Ants From Up There by Black Country, New Road, Hellfire by black midi, and Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You by Big Thief, the latter of which I wouldn’t consider myself a fan of … and that’s not to say it’s a ‘bad’ album, it’s just that I personally don’t like listening to it that much … and that’s okay. Just because so many people love it so much doesn’t mean I have to. As for the other two, they both made my top 50 favourite albums of 2022, but neither as high on the list as you might expect; Hellfire didn’t make the top 40, and while Ants From Up There was as high as #14, considering just how much critical acclaim that album got (probably the most critically acclaimed album of 2022 and the most ‘obvious’ choice for the best album of the year), #14 might seem shockingly low.

So, why am I saying all this? Well, to say that despite all the critical acclaim this album has been getting, I can’t say I had super high expectations going into this album. I had high expectations, but was I really going into this album thinking it’ll be anywhere near my album of the year? No. I mean, it’s extremely rare I’m going into any album expecting it to be in my top three or even my top five albums of the year, but I wasn’t even super confident I would love this album.

Now, I want to be super careful saying this next thing, because I don’t want anyone to feel judged here. But going into this album, I kind of had this feeling that a lot of the critical acclaim is just because of who the artists are. Am I saying that most people giving this positive reviews are just doing it because it’s by two super critically acclaimed artists? No. And am I saying that I’m totally unbiased? No. And am I saying biased music opinions are anywhere near the biggest problem in the world? Not at all. I’m just saying that I felt like this wouldn’t be getting as much critical acclaim as it is if JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown hadn’t gotten as much critical acclaim in the past … even before I heard the album.

So, now you might be wondering how I feel about these artists’ music, and honestly I can’t really answer that right now because I haven’t really listened to much from either of them. It’s something that I want to do, but I haven’t really gotten around to it. But I did go back to one album from each of these artists before listening to this album … one being Danny Brown’s amazing 2016 album, Atrocity Exhibition, and the other being JPEGMAFIA’s 2021 album, LP!, and … yes, I pretty much know that album is going to go down as a classic, and it’s already a modern classic, often considered the best album of 2021 … and it’s not that I don’t like the album, but I don’t love it, and I struggle to understand why it’s considered one of the best albums of the decade. Maybe there’s something in the lyrics that I’m missing (as I’m not very good at understanding lyrics), but some of the production holds it back for me, even though I do like a lot of the production on that album. So, yeah, overall, while “HAZARD DUTY PAY!” is probably one of my favourite songs of 2021, the album as a whole just didn’t click for me the way it did for so many people.

Anyway, I want to finally talk about this album … like I said, I think this will be making a ton of year-end best albums lists at the end of this year … but do I think it’ll make my list?

Well … I don’t think so. And part of that is due to me not fully understanding it—take my analyzation of the lyrics with a huge grain of salt—but while I like a lot of the production and flows, as a whole album it didn’t really blow my mind or anything. 

In other words, it’s an album that I like but don’t love.

Now, before I talk more about the album, it’s worth mentioning that quite a few paragraphs at the start of this review were written before I heard the album (the first draft of those paragraphs, that is), and that was months ago. Yes, this review was very delayed. I’m mentioning this because I said I wasn’t super confident I’d love this album, and it turns out I don’t love this album.

The album opens with the song, “Lean Beef Patty”, which features a high-pitched sample in the background that gets pretty annoying, and I’m not a huge fan of the mixing on this track, but JPEGMAFIA’s verse features some really good lyrics, for example, the line, ‘If I tweet then delete then I meant it.’ Danny Brown’s flow here is good, and overall I like this track, but it feels like something’s missing, and as a result I don’t love the track.

I like the loud synths on the next track, “Steppa Pig”, and there are some good lines in here, but something feels missing from this track, and I can’t quite place what it is, but it feels kind of underwhelming, even though I do like this song overall. Maybe it’s something in the flows? I’m not sure.

So, overall, I can’t really say I love the first two tracks here, but if you want to know a song on this album that I do love, that would be track three, which is the title track. This seems to be a sarcastic song making fun of people who dismiss different kinds of music as ‘not real music’ or whatever. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with not liking certain kinds of music, but that doesn’t make it ‘not real music’. And it’s especially funny to me, considering I used to be like that … honestly, I used to be like that with rap music, as I would always say, ‘rap music sucks … it doesn’t count as music.’ That has definitely changed.

Overall, the title track is a fun song with a great use of samples, awesome flows, and powerful drums that sound fantastic in the mix!

The next track, “Garbage Pale Kids”, features samples from commercials, and believe it or not, it leads to a really great instrumental when combined with the drums! I also really like the distorted guitar in the instrumental part of the song. Now, keep in mind that, like I said earlier, I’m bad at analyzing song lyrics, so take this with a grain of salt, but if I’m being honest, JPEGMAFIA’s verse feels kind of … honestly, I’m not sure what the word is that I’m looking for. But at the end of his verse, he says, ‘You can’t be broke and over thirty, gettin’ your ass beat where you sleep at. Come on, bro.’ I’m not entirely sure what he’s trying to say here, so maybe I sound totally stupid saying this, but it kind of sounds like someone blaming someone else for not having much money while having no context of why, which I’m sure isn’t what Peggy was trying to do here … but it just feels kind of off-putting? Again, I’m not saying there was bad intent here, and I’m sure I’m missing something here, I’m just saying it’s kind of off-putting to me.

“Fentanyl Tester” is kind of a banger, with some great flows, and the next track, “Burfict!”, features a great use of a horn sample for the instrumental, which sounds absolutely fantastic! That being said, the ‘playing the role of the villain’ lyrics don’t really fit with the instrumental in my opinion—for example, JPEGMAFIA calling himself toxic—obviously those ‘playing the villain’ lyrics aren’t meant literally, but for some reason when combined with the instrumental it doesn’t really work for me, and I’m not entirely sure why.

I really like the two-part song, “Shut Yo Bitch Ass Up / Muddy Waters”, both parts of which feature great flows and great usages of samples, but the following “Orange Juice Jones” I don’t like as much, partially because Danny Brown’s flow sounds kind of awkward over the instrumental—and JPEGMAFIA’s verse does a little bit, too.

“Kingdom Hearts Key” has some good sampling in it, but Danny’s and JPEGMAFIA’s vocals sound drowned out in the mix. I don’t notice that with redveil’s guest verse though, which is a nice addition at the end of the track.

I really like the mixing in “God Loves You”, and both rappers’ flows are great here. Danny’s verse is full of very sexually explicit lyrics, and some of the lines I find kind of cringey, but I’ve heard much cringier, and I still like this song overall. 

“Run The Jewels” is another song with some great samples, and it’s a great song that’s only about a minute long, but both rappers’ flows are great, and the production is really good.

The last few tracks are kind of underwhelming, and overall … well, I can’t help but feel like if these artists were less critically acclaimed already, this album wouldn’t be getting nearly as much critical acclaim as it is. Maybe I’m wrong about that, but I doubt it. And that’s not just because I personally don’t love the album.

But how do I feel about the album overall? Well, I can’t really say I love it. I mean, I mostly like the production, and I like a lot of the flows. I’m not very good at analyzing lyrics, and I don’t really understand what most of the lyrics here mean, so maybe that’s part of why I don’t love this album. I mean, I’m sure the lyrics that might seem problematic (for example, when Danny says, ‘They cannot breathe, I make ‘em all suffocate’) aren’t meant literally … I’m sure there’s a deeper meaning, so, as always, feel free to let me know in the comments if you have anything you want to say about the album. But it’s lines like that that are part of what holds this album back for me.

But overall … I mean, I don’t dislike this album. I mostly do like it—I’ll give it a 7/10. But it’s not an album that I think I’ll be going back to a ton, and it’s not going to be among my favourites of this year.

And yeah, I know I didn’t go super in-depth on this album … I’ve been wanting to get this review out for a while now, and I didn’t want to take extra time to look into every lyric super deeply, so, just take this review with a grain of salt. It’s an album that I don’t fully understand, and I’ll totally acknowledge that. It just wasn’t fully my cup of tea.

I still like the album, though, and there are a few songs here that I love!

And with that, thanks for reading!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “SCARING THE HOES”, “Shut Yo Bitch Ass Up / Muddy Waters”, “God Loves You”, “Run The Jewels”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Jack Harlow Combo Meal”