Bop or Flop February 2019

Father of 4 – Offset

Father of 4 is Kiari Kendrell Cephus, known professionally as Offset’s, first solo album, making  him the final member of Migos to release a solo album. This one blows Takeoff and Quavo out of the water.

Father of 4 landed at number four No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and Out of all the Migos solo projects, Offset’s Father of 4 scores the second-best debut week. ; Quavo’s Quavo Huncho picked up 99,000 equivalent album units in its first week, while Takeoff’s The Last Rocket moved 49,000 album equivalent units.

In the past few months, Offset married rapper Cardi B., had a child with her, and suffered major drama surrounding his split with her, finally reuniting. With all of the recent drama was the hype directed towards Father of 4 worth the wait? It’s not everyday that you promote your album with a video of your super famous wifey giving birth.

My biggest problem with the majority of the Migos albums is that there are one or two really great songs , and the rest just sound the same. In the 16 song album Offset features artists such as Travis Scott, 21 Savage, Cardi B., J. Cole, and Gunna, all increasingly popular names in the rap game. As someone who doesn’t typically love the Migos music, I think this album is different from their other efforts. With almost every song on Father of 4, Offset offers surprises by bringing different sounds, vibes, and reasons behind each song. The title track is about the struggles and sacrifices Offset has gone through for his children, what he wishes he would have done and what he hopes he can do. The beat is slow, starting with Big Rube speaking what sounds like a poem. When the beat finally drops a minute and 15 seconds in, it speeds up only a little and Offset comes in with heavy autotune using a lighter voice in more of a singing tone. But other songs such as “Wild Wild West” featuring Gunna has a faster beat with a harsher rapping tone. Here Offset speaks of violence, big booties, money and drugs. The flows and messages behind these songs are almost polar opposites, and that theme is apparent throughout the whole album.

Favorite song – “After Dark”

Least favorite song – “Father of 4”

Bop or Flop – Bop

Flop-to-Bop Scale – 8

Thank You, Next – Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande’s fifth studio album, her second to be released in the last seven months, Thank you, next provides a totally different Ariana than the previous Sweetener did. Following a year filled with heartbreak, drama and loss, Ariana comes out swearing off relationships in a Twitter post after the death of rapper and ex boyfriend Mac Miller and breaking off an engagement with now ex Pete Davidson.

On thank you, next, Ariana’s vibe is independent, bold, strong, feminine energy, and I am here for it. I was never a huge fan of the girly Cat from Icarly, or the pink tutus and innocent attitude Ariana, and the newfound persona represented in “break up with your girlfriend, I’m bored” is the kind of Ariana I’d like to see more of.

Although songs like “break up with your girlfriend, im bored” and “7 rings” satisfy my need for bada– feminine energy, talking about tattoos, being a savage, making her own money, and talking about sex, which as far as female pop artists go isn’t that common, but other songs were bland and irritating. For example, “ghostin” drove me insane because the beat never dropped. The lyrics were portraying Ariana to be a softy and very emotional, which just reminds me of typical female pop songs.

I’m not typically a huge fan of pop music like Ariana usually produces, but thank you, next brings a different aspect of pop to the table, and I didn’t completely hate it. Not to mention Ariana does it all without a single feature, reaching number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart with the biggest streaming week ever for a pop album. Go you girl.

Favorite Song –  “breakup with your girlfriend, im bored”

Least favorite song –  “ghostin”

Bop or Flop – Bop

Flop-to-Bop Scale – 5

Harverd Dropout – Lil Pump

On Lil Pump’s second studio album since his debut in October of 2017, he has been on one hell of a roller coaster. I don’t even remember how he blew up. I think I just woke up one morning and there was this man with colorful dreads and face tattoos all over my Instagram feed, yelling his trademark “ESSKEETIT.”

The next thing I know, “Gucci gang” is all over the internet and everyone is posting this buffoon. His obnoxious attitude and absurd habits make him all that much harder to hate. Have you ever met a dog that was so stupid it was kinda adorable, and it was hard not to love it? That’s what Lil Pump reminds me off, just less cute and on way more drugs than a dog would be.

But the purposely misspelled and highly anticipated Harverd Dropout could have been worse. Pump makes good choices in features for this album, including Offset, Lil’ Wayne, Lil’ Uzi Vert, of course Smokepurpp, and others. Still, I feel like he did not utilize them to their potential.

All of the songs stick true to Lil Pump, with the funky beats, choppy flow and ridiculous lyrics, but the tracks lack the individuality of his feature artists. That was the most disappointing part of this album to me. Pump had so much potential to make different sounding music with the talent, but they all have the same vibe and pretty much the same message. I spent 15 minutes reading the lyrics to every song on this album, and there is not a single one where Lil Pump isn’t flexing his money, talking about doing drugs, and calling women degrading names. But hey, that vibe works for him, and as long as you don’t read too much into the lyrics, it’s not terrible.

Favorite song – “ion”

Least favorite song – “stripper name”

Bop or Flop – Bop

Flop-to-Bop Scale – 6