Joshua T Grimm

Sample Music Review Article: One of the Atlanta scene’s up and coming hip-hop figures, Kap G has been busy the last few years. He has released a variety of EPs, and is rather prolific with his mixtapes. His hit single “Girlfriend” has been making its rounds. Perhaps this is why I perked up when he released his second studio album. The verdict? Ehhh, we’ll see. The album’s tracks have the steady thrum of a trap album, even though it always seems on the verge of busting out into boom-bap. It’s a very tight album, kept to a concise 12 tracks, each lasting no longer than three and a half minutes. In the first three songs on the album (“Ain’t Worried,” “Want My M’s,” and “Dazanii”), he can barely be understood without a lyrical guide in hand. But this is perhaps where Kap G’s musical prowess is strongest, and where the influence of Southern hip-hop trap scene is most keenly felt - his bars become instrumental in themselves, melding with the beat and almost becoming part of the bass line. From “Dazanii,” however, his singing and rhyming rise from the humid and the hazy into clarity and articulation. By the time the album has rolled on over to “JFK,” you can almost begin to sing along on the first try. And then, as soon as you begin to feel that you are able to listen clearly, Kap G’s lyrics sink back into obscurity, getting back into bed with the beat with “Welfare.” But what about his actual lyrics? What kind of songwriter is Kap G trying to be in 2018? “Ain’t Worried” is a drunk song, and it’s positively amazing. In the chorus, he is constantly trying to calm a woman down, and his reassurance is both harmlessly flattering as well as aggressively sexual (“Slide in you a bit like a third braid / Feel like I’m talking to a mermaid / Heard you got pressure I ain’t worried”). Although his intentions are clear, Kap G still seems to understand some boundaries and want to respect them (“Ask a lot of questions like a survey / Why you askin questions in the first place”). It is a celebration of his upcoming wealth and status, as well as the women who follow it, but it doesn’t have the same possessiveness that has been the lately-controversial marker of a sizeable portion of the hip-hop genre. It is, in essence, somewhat Millennial in its outlook - informed, restrained, and yet viciously hedonistic. Perhaps it is this starting track that makes “Want My M’s” so funny, and yet ever so slightly disappointing. He celebrates his newfound wealth, and like “Ain’t Worried,” his money makes him the next ‘Mr.-Steal-Yo-Girl.’ He’s going from his moderate success to his millions, as is so utterly apparent from his choruses. As fun as this song can be, it is really easy to become fatigued by the songwriting of “I want my M’s,” especially this spectacular rhyme scheme in the final bridge: “And I want them M’s dog … That rap shit got me rich dog We ain’t never had shit dog Turn myself to a big dog I ain’t got no time to waste dog” “Dazanii” and “Money Phone” run into some of the same problems. “Dazanii” has its braggy, assertive “look-at-me” verses, but there’s little to tantalize. ​(memes the whole thirst thing​) The chorus feels a little clunky at times. His slurred lyricism does not suit the sparse bars, although it does recover during his verses. Considering that the hooks “Squat made the beat” and “Go griz” will haunt the rest of the album also begins to grate on the listener. “Money Phone” feels like a lyrical remix of “Want My M’s,” without the fun. Although perhaps that is the intention - the underlying feeling of Kap G’s “found-fame/wealth” songs is that he is a little ambushed by his success, and while the ambition to go further is there, he doesn’t sound as sure of himself as he should. What is perhaps most interesting to me about “No Kap” is its distinct Millennial feel. Kap G has his share of struggles to ascend the ladder, but there is a different kind of ambition. He is both amazed that he has made it as far as he has, as he is ready to ascend to make his millions. His treatment of women is also notable. The women around him come to him, and he seems to bask in their attention, while the underlying motivation for their attraction seems to bewilder him. By the way, did you catch his reference to Venmo in “Money Phone”?