Top by NBA YoungBoy was released Sept. 11, the first I’d ever heard of the album was on Instagram and there was controversy on the album cover because it looks exactly like Roddy Ricchs’ album cover that was released a while before YoungBoy dropped his.
I hadn’t ever really listened to YoungBoy but a couple of the songs were being talked about so I assumed maybe it’s a decent listen. Then I actually listened to it, definitely not even close to being rap I would listen to but I took a chance on it, thinking maybe it would grow on me. Some of the songs stand out a little more. “Right Foot Creep” stood out because of the bass guitar on the beat, I love rap beats that incorporate a guitar.
“Kacey Talk” is another song that made a good impression on me, another guitar centered beat also I like the flow of this song over all of the others, this is probably my favorite song on Top. Through the whole album YoungBoy only features two other rappers, both of them are legends in the game, at least to me they are, he features Lil Wayne and Snoop Dogg. Both of them have impacted rap in major ways. I was surprised to see Snoop featured because he’s all about lyrical rap and not mumble rap. Same with Lil Wayne but somehow he got both of them to agree to be on his album. YoungBoy references a Tupac verse in his song “I’m Up” he says, “picture me rolling” which is a Tupac song, that caught my attention because I’m an avid Tupac listener. It also sounds like in the same song that YoungBoy samples a Quavo verse. Quavo is the lead rapper of the Migos.
One song on the album I really can’t ever find myself being fond of is, “Dirty Stick,” the lyrics barely fit the flow of the beat it just sounds to choppy and out of place. Again, YoungBoys music is not really the rap I would choose to listen to regularly but some of these songs change my mind a bit and I wouldn’t mind listening to him if someone I knew turned his music on.
Overall, Top was a decent listen, most of the lyrics are all gang related so not the best messages in the songs but that’s how a lot of rap is. All of the songs sound the same YoungBoy isn’t one of the versatile rappers, he only has one way of rapping so a lot of his music sounds the same.
