From A Birds Eye View
At long last Cordae formerly known as YBN Cordae arrived earlier this year about three to four weeks at the time of writing. How is it? It’s fine. I had very high expectations for this album and while it did not meet said expectations it’s still worth your time. The very first positive right off the bat is how quick this album goes by. It comes in at about twenty minutes of an hour and if you take off the bonus track titled “Gifted” that came out back in 2020 in August the album is less than forty minutes. All in all, not too bad. However, there is one problem with this album and for me this project could have been more. Not in terms of quantity but quality because while all of the songs here are good there are some that are great. In turn this led to me waiting for “that song” as opposed to listening more actively on a repeated listen.
But to go back to the positives again because this album has a significantly better flow and overall transition which I think is overlooked. Not once did I find myself looking at my phone waiting for the next track on my first listen instead I found myself bopping my head at a nice steady pace while making myself something to eat because once I finished my initial listen, I was ready to take on the day. However, I did not find myself saying “Man I want to hear this whole album again” but, I did find myself wanting to listen to specific tracks again. However, this can be a positive as well because this project has at one song or a set of songs that everyone can enjoy. In turn, giving it significant mass appeal which makes this album a good introduction to Cordae and his wide catalog of music. This is in part thanks to this album's phenomenal production which again makes this album flow smoothly and fit almost any mood or setting whether you are making yourself breakfast or going on a drive. For example, I know for a fact that I will be listening to “Champagne Glasses”, “C Carter” and “Momma's Hood” on repeat for the foreseeable future. Especially "Momma's Hood" and "C Carter" due to the more personal and honest stories that these two tracks tell. Plus all three of these tracks sound even better when played on a good speaker.
To conclude this album is by no means bad by any structure of the imagination it could have been better and while I often don’t enjoy using the word “feel” to describe my thoughts here I feel as though some things were missing from this project despite its mass appeal and phenomenal production. For example, I don't see myself revisiting the track "Want from me" unless I want to listen to this album as a whole or if a friend had it on their playlist. In fact I believe that after one listen you will experience everything this project has to offer. However, his last album took me over a week to fully digest and dissect in order to get the full experience because I found myself wanting to analyze every single track. But a final positive I would say is this album's excellent features ranging from Gunna, Lil Wayne and Freddie Gibbs all of whom deliver solid flows over the tracks that feature them. For example, Lily Wayne's verse on "Sinister" and Freddie Gibbs on "Champagne Glasses" are definitely some of my personal favorites with Gibbs delivering simple bars with great execution. Then there is Wayne delivering bar after bar with a crescendo tempo. Once again all in all this album is worth listening to and definitely a good introduction to Cordae’s music. I would give this album a solid 8 out of 10.
