Wow. 2 Chainz did it again. Rap or Go to the League is insanely great. The first track “Forgiven” sets the tone for how this album is going to sound production-wise. I can tell strategically that 2 Chainz chose this song to set the pace for this project. For 2 Chainz, each beat sounds so masterful. I honestly wasn’t expecting for the entire album to sound outstanding. I was worried that it was going to be top-heavy, but it wasn’t in the slightest. Outside of ‘Forgiven’ which is my favorite song on the album, ‘Momma I Hit A Lick’, ‘Rule The World’, and ‘I Said Me’ are the tracks I instantly have to run back after it ends. I cannot emphasize how great the production is on this album. There are so many notable producers on here, it’s hard for me to wrap my head around it. I immediately knew that Pharrell sound when ‘Momma I Hit A Lick’ came on. I shook my head and smiled at the same time due to me knowing that this song what going to be different in a good way. The sample on ‘Rule The World’ couldn’t have been chosen any better. Amerie’s ‘Why Don’t We Fall In Love’ beat carries Ariana’s voice across the song beautifully. It’s also an excellent ode to Amerie herself, as her mesmerizing music has not been forgotten during this age of new R&B. As far as ‘I Said Me’ which samples Lonnie Smith’s ‘A Garden of Peace’, but was famously heard in Jay-Z’s ‘Dead Presidents’ contains a nice chopped rendition to the original. Although 2 Chainz’s lyrical content pretty much remained the same in comparison to his previous work, he’s making sure that his audience knows that he still knows what’s going on in pop culture. In ‘I Said Me’, you can hear him say “I ain’t have no work done like Kendall Jenner”. 2 Chainz also wants us to know “Not to do anything that’ll have our parents bury us”, which can be heard on ‘Forgiven’. Towards the end of that same song, a woman is heard describing what it means to be a black boy transitioning into manhood in a country that still consists of day-to-day blatant racism.
I’ve always been a big fan of Tity Boi, but he really outdid himself with this one. Remaining consistent throughout his entire rap career is extremely hard, however 2 Chainz mastered the art of staying relevant in a music era that changes its sound roughly every 5 years. That is undeniable talent in my eyes.
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