[rayword45]

Day 76: 10 Day by Chance The Rapper (Album Choice: Phillip S)

I'm dedicating the next 3 reviews to Chance. It's per the recommendation of the album chooser that I listen to the debut EP of this artist before anything, since it was released in his high school days, but I don't have convenient access to that one at the moment. I have very convenient access to this mixtape on the other hand and just about one risky hour to spare. Let's go.

Something worth noting. I despise 99 percent of Chicago Hip-Hop that I hear. Reason for this? 99 percent of the Chicago Hip-Hop that I hear is Trap Rap. I don't like to make generalizations about whole genres or subgenres usually but Trap has got to be one of the stupidest genres of all time. I await some redeeming Trap.

As for this, it's decidedly not trap, which is very pleasing. Instead of 808s and earache from the affected synths, these beats are mostly old style jazzy boom bap, which is definitely a preferred style of mine. Very mellow album, this one. On occasion the synths are a bit too cheesy () and then when he tries to move into slow songs the whole thing reeks of schmaltz (Nostalgia) but otherwise the production is good and simple. Oh, another exception, Fuck You Tahm Bout is horrible, that's all. The beat is painfully dumb, and the lyrics are as smart as the title indicates, with what seems like an attempt to go hardo.

Luckily after that are the last 3 songs which are all great, equal parts emotional and mellowed. Glad that this didn't turn out to be frontloaded, the album squandered a bit in the middle and I wasn't exactly blown away by the first few songs anyways.

Oh yeah, the lyrics. Considering the majority of this was written in high school I'd say it was pretty solid. It's not fantastic and there are some downright laughable bars here and there but this shows great potential. Anyways, in conclusion, I really shouldn't end with a sentence with in conclusion.

Best Track: Prom Night
Rating: 6/10