“Sremmlife 2” courtesy Amazon.com.
At nearly every party these days, one can presumably find loud rap music blasting in the background in such a fashion that all lyrics are inaudible, and the only thing partygoers can discern is the loud bass.
This fall, that music will likely be the new Rae Sremmurd record, “Sremmlife 2,” a highly anticipated follow-up to the first installment in the “Sremmlife” series.
Students last year will most likely remember the largely-hyped Rae Sremmurd concert held at The Lyric in the fall. Tickets were selling for hundreds of dollars online, and the event was packed to capacity with an audience looking for a loud party, but not necessarily good music.
And that, in a way, is all that should be expected of Tupelo rap duo Rae Sremmurd.
However, don’t look over the project completely. There is a reason this brand of rap is proving to be so popular right now. Most of the album is essentially one non-stop, raging party. The beats just make you want to smash something, then jump off your kitchen table into a sea of fellow Ole Miss students. I get it. Kids are really into this kind of stuff nowadays. But we can’t deny the brutal truth that this music is just complete and absolute trash.
The lyrics are unnecessarily vulgar, most of the songs sound exactly the same and the only thing differentiating this album from any other mainstream hip-hop project out there is that Fetty Wap isn’t featured.
The tone is set for the album early on with the opening track “Start a Party.” First of all, is there a more blatantly obvious song title to choose? And just as obvious as the title is the content and sonic approach of the song. Rolling hi-hats, off-kiltered 808s and screeching rap vocals full of teenage angst fill the track, and almost instantly it feels like it is time to set something on fire. But is this feeling sustained throughout the whole project?
The answer is a simple no. Three songs into the album, and I’m already bored of what they are trying to do. There is just no way of sustaining such a high level of energy across all 11 tracks.
It’s clear tracks like “By Chance” and “Look Alive” try and capitalize on a more wavy and atmospheric tone, but ultimately fail, given the fact that the group is still trying to uphold the party vibe through those tracks. The two styles just don’t mix.
Then on the opposite side of the spectrum, there are songs like “Shake it Fast” and “Set the Roof,” which are hilariously stereotypical in their sound and message. It amazes me artists are still able to make projects like this and actually succeed. Lil’ Wayne has been doing this exact same thing for the past couple years, and yet the mainstream still enjoys it.
The last four tracks of the album take a much more chill and whiny route, which doesn’t help the overall quality of the album, let alone merit taking any time to review them.
The bottom line here is this project is simply what you can expect from Rae Sremmurd, who’ll always be just another group that struck it big with some generic trap beats. I am happy they have been able to see success, but sadly, their triumph is diluted by repetitive songs and vocals that fall short of reaching full potential.
