Written Before Listen
So Trippie Redd is a rapper who I’ve known about since he blew up. He first came out with “Love Scars” which is actually a song I enjoy. His blend of Emo and rap was different from other people who were doing the same thing. “Poles1469” was also a banger and a half too. I liked Trippie Redds singles but I never gave him the light of day on an album until “LIFE’S A TRIP”. Yeah sure he came out with some of his best songs but everything about that album seemed rather forced or the complete opposite. I never really gave any of his albums a listen after that. So that means I haven’t listened to the first half of this album. Nor will I. I’m reviewing the second half of this, im not reviewing 117 minutes of Trippie Redd music. This is not your usual Trippie Redd album either. He is collaborating with none other than Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker. A guy who keeps his name relevant in the hip hop realm working with artists like Lil Wayne, MGK and many more. This caught my eye. The feature list, the fact that Trippie Redd is no stranger to crossing emo with rap. I decided to give this thing a fair shot.
The Deluxe Trope
I know I’m not the only one that thinks the deluxe trend has to stop. Over the past year we have gotten notable deluxe editions from Lil Uzi Vert,NAV,Carly Rae Jepsen,Eminem,Arianna Grande and Amine. Just to name a few. I’m still confused on why Trippie decided to add this as a deluxe edition to his previous album Pegasus. Like the production credits are different, The features are different, the lengths are different like they are different albums. I don’t understand why the “deluxe edition” tag needed to be added.
Features
So there is only a couple of features on here but an eclectic list to say the least. We have R&B singer blackbear, rapper turned punk singer Machine Gun Kelly, Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and trap metal pioneers Scarlxrd & Zillakami. When it comes to the features, the only one that actually met expectations was Zillakami. Blackbears voice is very cookie cutter for me to really say anything positive about, Machine Gun Kelly’s voice sounds insanely cringey, Chino Moreno did very disappointing with his contribution and I feel like Scarlxrd is kind of overdoing the screaming style nowadays. Even Zillakamis contribution was only ok. Overall, the features were super disappointing.
Travis Barker
So Travis Barker is probably the best thing on this album. Of course there are instances of trap drums like on the opener, “It’s Coming” and the closer but the majority of the drums are done by Barker. Despite the good job by Barker, the drums are completely ruined by everything surrounding it. With songs like “Without You” , “Swimming” and “Frozen Ocean” where Travis doesn’t do a bad job on the drums but it’s ruined by the overly commercial chord progressions and effects. Even then we have tracks like “Sea world”, “Leaders” where the drums are mixed wayyyy too loud for it to be enjoyed. The guitars actually sound sampled at points. I think Travis himself does a good job with the technicality but the way they’re produced makes them terrible in most instances.
Trippie Redd
So Trippie Redd is the absolute worst part of this album. On “Without You”, Trippie literally sounds like he is mumbling on his own saliva with an extra topping of Ableton stock reverb. On “Swimming” Trippie comes up with this terrible refrain that interpolates NEMO out of anything. “Female Shark” not only doesn’t relate to sharks whatsoever but it also has a terrible hook as well. If you know you know. On “Sea World” he actually doesnt do bad but its the gross amount of effects that are added like this super fast ping pong delay, I believe some phaser and effects that make him. Sound underwater….get it? Seaworld? Underwater? yeah. Its terrible. On “Red Sky”, he doesnt sound terrible but maybe thats I’m comparing it to the terrible Machine Gun Kelly feature on here. On “Save Yourself”, he has a good idea of melody and lyrics but the heavy dose of autotune ruins any chance of this being take seriously in the genre of punk or even pop punk. I’m telling you, I feel like he is trying to annoy me. Things get extremely annoying with “Dead Desert” with the most skippable hook I’ve heard in 2021. Luckily the beat and features were at least tolerable. God damn. Trippie, you need to learn how to sing better man.
Favorite Tracks
I don’t think there is one singular track that I can say…”oh well I kind of like that”. If I had to choose one singular track that kind of stood out, it would be “It’s Coming” but even than, I’m not a fan of Trippie’s performance on that song. I honestly still wouldn’t consider it a good track in the slightest.
Verdict
God….this thing is awful. Like really awful. I dont know what happened to Trippie but his edge and aesthetic from his early days are rather gone or oversaturated to the core. Travis Barkers drumming is the only semi-redeeming quality about this mess of an album.
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