Valee - GOOD Job EP

Valee

GOOD Job EP

2018

Spotify

Valee is the newest signing to Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music with GOOD Job being his debut EP with the label. You are not going to get a lot of music on this record because Valee likes to keep it super concise. Not a single track crosses over the three minute mark, letting these trap beats with an 808 base. Songs like "I Got Whatever" are so sparese both lyrically and musically that there is very little to latch on to. Valee goes off on these rhyming tangents where He will quickly spit a few bars, but then slip into ad-libs and trap singing. Valee isn't part of the Chance sphere of influence in Chicago, clearly evidence by this record. The entire thing feels like a sleepwalk until Pusha T comes in on "Miami", but Valee's singing kind of ruins the whole thing. I mean I am a fan of music that allows some space and breath but Valee is just silent for so much of this record that you have no idea who He is or what He is about. The subjects He broaches are the usual trap tropes evidence by Miami being about which clubs He plans to go to when He visits. Bitches, Clothes, Money and Cars are about the only thing He can muster the strength to talk about which are so incredibly boring at this point. Yet there is something interesting about these beats. Deep down there is this really interesting production pulling the most out of your speakers. The thumping bass on "Skinny" is infectious, but god the lyrics are fucking painful. 

It would be different if Valee's delivery saved this record, or was halfway decent at all but it is this breathy nonsense that is just brutal. I think He might say "Gucci" more than Gucci Mane does which is quite the achievement for a 14 minute EP. Valee also has the line "I fucked your gal/in the hotel" which has probably been said no fewer than 10 million times in hip hop. It's really telling that Pusha T's verse really soars while all of Valee's fall flat, in the hands of a really good rapper these beats could absolutely soar, but with Valee they stink. You have this experience where because the beats are so good you want to love this music, but then Valee comes in and it sucks you right out of the track. The one good line He has is "Bitch your head boring so you get a D in it" which is mediocre at best. There is also something about the way Valee says "bitch" on "Skinny" that sounds so vile and degrading. GOOD Job has some potential but good god Valee has got to get a lot fucking better if He is ever going to break through. You just can't really imagine anyone truly being into this shit. 

2.0 out of 10