Trippie Redd - LIFE'S A TRIP

Trippie Redd
LIEF'S A TRIP
2018
Spotify

For most people I bet this is the first time you are being introduced to Trippie Redd. If you can imagine a Post Malone type, but somewhat grungier and a little less pop. From looking at him you would figure Trippie Redd is just another Soundcloud rapper, and in a way you are right, but He is more of a Soundcloud R&B singer. His music is based in the tenants of trap: infectious hook, specific drums and repetition, but from there He spins off into a thousand different directions. Is he a rapper, singer, producer or something else entirely? It's often hard to tell on this album. At it's best his music has this haunting gritty quality, his signature moans and screams peppered throughout. It becomes exactly what He is looking for: a trip. Yet those moments are not the norm on LIFE'S A TRIP and Trippie feels like He is making a move for the middle. Instead of going all out and giving us a beautiful mess like his first mixtape He feels more unsure and willing to fall back on easy tracks. You have to be ready to feel uncomfortable when going into a Trippie Redd record, like his feature on the Alison Wonderland record. It was werid and off putting but that was also the point. This is just sort of some Post Malone copy and paste. He doesn't say anything worthwhile enough in his raps to feel fresha dn fun, but the singing also ins't interesting enough to make you stay around, it's an odd experience to say the least.

By about three or four songs in you feel like you've gotten the point, but there is still so much more album to go. The thing about this album is there are flashes of greatness peppered throughout. "BANG!" is a real standout and gets you hooked from the first notes. It has this instrumental closer that is stupendous but the very next song "How You Feel" goes in completely different and completely strange direction. There is this theme with Soundcloud rappers of wanting to be rockstars, like early 2000s or 1990s level rock star. We see it all the time in fashion and music like the recent Kid Cudi and Kanye collaboration Kids See Ghosts. To date I've never heard it work well. This isn't to  say that someone should stay in their lane, but I just don't think that they have figured out how to square these two ideas together. Trippie Redd is close to something and really does have a vibe that could be all his own, He just doesn't capture it perfectly on this album. He's young and He's new so let's not count him out just yet, but don't expect your friends to like him.

6.0 out of 10