Written Before Listen
Polo G is an American rapper known for his melodic appraoch to conscious hip hop. He is one of the most successful rappers out of Chicago as of recent and has a massive following. He recently dropped his third album titled “Hall Of Fame” and as you already know, I’m reviewing it. With that being said. I hope this album is good.
Production
Polo G doesn’t go outside of his comfort zone much. It’s to the point where Polo G is getting nicknamed Piano G (G stands for guitar). Polo G always raps over a piano loop or guitar loop with underwhelming trap drums. Surely there are songs with exceptions. The song “Gang Gang” does have a usual chord progression but the instrument is now more of a digital bell sound. “Zooted Freestyle” actually has a weird key sound that isn’t a piano or guitar. The song “Losses” has a Wheezy beat with a sample so that was also a switch but the biggest switches were the drill song on “Clueless” and the Afro-Dance song “For The Love Of New York”. Other than that, Polo G sticks to his usual piano and guitar.
Lyrics
Polo G is not an ignorant rapper. A lot of his rapping has substance about street life and mental health. He is a therapist for the streets and his lyrics has always been his strongest suit. Especially on the closer “Bloody Canvas” where he tells an extremely vivid story about a murder. Overall, he delivers what he usually delivers and luckily strong lyrics is an occurrence for him.
Features
As a 20 track album, half of the tracks have features. The song “No Return” have two strong features with The Kid Laroi and Lil Durk which is surprising because I’m not big on either. We have “GANG GANG” with Lil Wayne and he somewhat came and went. “Go Part 1” features Polo’s biggest influence G Herbo and their chemistry is there for real. Right after, Rod Wave appears on “Heart Of A Giant” and Rod Wave basically does his usual. “Party Lyfe” features none other than DaBaby and they create one of the most formulaic pop rap tracks I’ve heard in the span of 2021. “Losses” follows right after and features an underwhelming Young Thug verse. Luckily the features pick up with Nicki Minaj on “For the Love Of New York” and Fivio and Pop Smoke on “Clueless”. Other than that, the features were almost as underwhelming as the production was.
Performance
Polo G has always been the best part of his albums. Luckily, the same applies for this album. There is barely a time where Polo G sounds bad but the songs where he underperforms are easily the worst tracks of all. Polo G can go off with so much force but the generic beat accompanying him dilutes his performance and unfortunately that applies to most songs here.
Favorite Tracks
I liked “No Return”. I think the hook and verses are too strong for a bad beat to take over. The drill cut is a switch that we desperately needed and “Bloody Canvas” is too good to dislike. I respect Polo G as a rapper but it seems like every song has the same exact format
Verdict
I wasn’t big on this album. When it comes to a less than good album, it’s usually the artist coming at fault but this time, Polo G is the best part of this album. It’s the features and production that ruin this album.
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