Tyga - The Gold Album: 18th Dynasty

Tyga
The Gold Album: 18th Dynasty
2015

When is Tyga at his best? When he is on a dumbed down rap track tailor made for the club and poppin bottles. When He is on Instagram with his 17 year old girlfriend (He's 24). When He is making a duo album with a know woman beater that has nearly zero substance. If these are the places where Tyga is actually successful then his newest album which he has been threatening to leak for months now The Gold Album: 18th Dynasty is him at his worst. The issue with this record is it leaves him completely exposed, there are not really club banging beats or soaring hooks so that means Tyga's hip hop acumen has to pick up the slack. His lyrics have no sense of narrative at all, if it's not about who He's fucking or whoHhe wants to fuck He probably is not going to be rapping about it. "Hard For You" begins with a decent beat but descends into a completely on the nose track with zero sense of self awareness. For someone obsessed with Ancient Egypt as the album suggests his thoughts don't seem to extend past his immediate surrounding.

The real elephant in the room is since Tyga's rift with label mate Drake and the bad blood between the two, why in the world would he make a song like "Down For a Min" which is nothing but a totally Drake ripoff? It may be time to realize that the Kanye stamp of approval lost it's value after Lupe Fiasco. This album is 12 songs and in the hands of a better rapper would be a real chance at making something special. It could have been one on one, Him and you and what you could get into. But The Gold Album: 18th Dynasty is and never will be that, it is throwaway tracks masquerading as important. In a year where Kendrick, J. Cole, Lupe, Tech 9 and others have released stellar albums all of which buck the trend of vibe and mediocrity, Tyga cannot possibly think The Gold Album: 18th Dynasty compares. Avoid this record like the plagues of old.

3 out of 10