YG - My Life 4Hunnid: Review
YG has always been one of the more interesting pieces of the world of hip-hop as he came in as one of the few new rappers to a slight modern approach to G-funk Hip-Hop. But as the popularity grows, the output starts to become more prevalent for the time. Following two successful and great albums, YG had some hiccups along the way with Stay Dangerous and 4Real 4Real and it continues on My Life 4hunnid...predominantly on the second half.
Lyrically, YG never loses his touch with his aggressive confidence and storytelling. Unfortunately his most recent projects never have a good mix of the two, and now you are either getting one or the other. There is a little mix of that new dumbed down music for play. On “SWAG,” his slow choppy flow with echoes is poorly executed and an albatross amongst most of the track list. It’s simple and uninteresting instrumental doesn’t help either.
The mediocrity continues with YG forcing more of himself, like on the subsequent track where he takes that Drake-like sing rap flow. If that wasn’t he has Lil Tjay featured on the track, one of the more mundane hip-hop artists of the new school. This goes the same for the track “Thug Kry,” which had a promising opening but derails once Calboy and Lil Mosey take a jab at a verse. A lot of YG’s flows continue to stay consistent and interesting even when we are given tracks like, “War Scars,” which is elevated after Tayx2 turns on the snooze fest.
Through the thick of it, however, YG isn’t completely devoid of delivering quality tracks and there are a few to mention like “Blood Walk,” featuring Lil Wayne and D3szn. It adds a rare good verse from Lil Wayne in a way that adds more oomph to the groovy percussion combo on the instrumental. Remember the crip walk? This ain’t that, as it isn’t a real dance move, but a semblance of his life and associations.
The album’s first third is the true shining point of this otherwise modest release from YG. He returns to similar sounds before the downward spiral into a more modern trap with very little west coast grit.
The grit only comes near end when YG goes about to make another statement. In continuation with “FDT” (F*ck Donald Trump), YG comes in with “FTP” (F*ck The Police), a sentiment spread because of the egotistical system that allows some police officers to gather themselves and act like they are the hierarchy. Though the divide between good and bad officers is scarce that all it takes is a bad apple to become an image for all, and the media doesn’t help. YG’s use of his medium to decry the systematic racism that allows these officers to get away with many atrocities.
YG uses his narrative to tell his listeners and many how the other side feels when a less aggressive use can be done. Philando Castillo told the officer that he has a license and there was a firearm where the license and registration was. Even moving at a slow pace to give the officer a sense of calm, the officer still shoots him. The qualifications to become an officer definitely vary state to state but with training that makes them trigger happy when scared doesn’t help either.
As a person - profiled due to the hoodie up at the time of Trayvon the sentiment is slightly there with the track, even when it feels slightly off amongst the other collection of tracks. But the statement lays bare for us to get the full message through.
There is little misdirection near the middle but YG still finds enough footing to put out a solid release. My Life 4hunnid is a marginally better album than Stay Dangerous but still can’t amass the quality of his previous album and the first two in his discography.