Lil Xan - Total Xanarchy

Lil Xan
Total Xanarchy
2018
Spotify

Lil Xan seemed to garner more publicity from his recent assertion that "Tupac's music was boring" than any sort of music that He has made. The 21 year old sad boy looks like He's lived his entire life on the street. His lyrics are equally as bleak trying to suppress his Xanax addiction and bemoaning all his friends dying a la Lil Uzi Vert. The thing about Lil Xan though is even though He is living his real authentic life the reason people like him is the gimmick, whether He knows it or not. It seems like a lot of Soundcloud rappers these days mistake morbid fascination with authentic love. You want to watch and listen to Lil Xan to see what He says next, but no one is going out of their way to claim Lil Xan is that new hotness. The whole album is produced extremely well, really capturing that murky trap style. "Diamonds" has about one line repeated throughout the entire track, so if repetition is not your thing you are going to need to avoid this album like a plague. This starts to get annoying after awhile as each song sounds almost exactly like the last. It makes you long for the features like 2 Chainz and Rae Sremmurd to actually bring something new to the table. When Xan does rap outright like on "Moonlight" the holes in his game become more and more evident. The 21 year old has so little to say because his experiences are limited as all hell. Yet the vibe, the bass, the whole thing still has a certain something that is as fascinating as it is annoying.

It would be incorrect to categorize Lil Xan as just another sad rapper, because his music falls far closer to melancholy and disassociated. You keep waiting for him to shift gears, give you something else, but the only way He does it is through his features. YG even gives a pretty stellar performance on "Round Here" loosing the G-Funk style for a moments to play around in the trap pool.  You have to look at this record for what it is, a new form of sticking your finger up to the man. Weed is damn near legal, everyone drinks so what can young people do to say "fuck you" to the world? Take Xanax and make trap music. The point of this music is to make people say " I don't get it" and laugh at their lack of swag. You're not supposed to get it, get it? "Color Blind" however has some of the best production on the record with this breathing beat that consumes everything in it's path. If it was just an instrumental it would absolutely bang, but Xan kind of ruins it once He opens his mouth. It's hard to say Lil Xan has potential, because that is going too far, but in terms of a reaction to ebing put in the box society wants you in Lil Xan is bucking that idea to the max. Whether that approach leads to long time success, only time will tell.

5.9 out of 10