TRYING TO FIND MY NEXT THRILL X COUSIN STIZZ

And we are back with our fourth official review! As promised, the below are our metrics for our reviews. To see our previous review of MR. MIDNIGHT X LARRY JUNE X CARDO, click here.

FEEL- What type of feelings do the music invoke? What does it make you want to do?

LYRICS- Are there bars?

PRODUCTION- Does the artist ride the beats? Does their cadence match the production? Does the production fit well with the project?

OVERALL- How many tracks to we like compared to the number of tracks on the project?

Feel free to use the above for your own reference as you go through the music and let us know what you think! 

COUSIN STIZZ: TRYING TO FIND MY NEXT THRILL 

Release Date: August 14^th, 2019

Number of Tracks: 14

Duration: 43 minutes 

Favorite Track: “RR,” Cousin Stizz

The year was 2017, and to no one’s surprise I found myself once again heavily involved with yet another installment of NBA 2K. 2K18 specifically was an installment that featured a curated playlist by a top musician, but the series had long since been responsible for putting me on some of my favorite artists to date. From The Cool Kids in 2009, to Cyhi Da Prince in 2011, 2017 arrived with one Cousin Stizz with the song, “Living Like Khaled.” It was such a smooth track that I was left with no choice but to do my research on Cousin Stizz, to find he was the author of many more bangers. And despite his cult like following, his 2019 album release was anticipated by many, with myself included. 

FEEL

“Trying to Find My Next Thrill” can be seen as a chill album, without much room for versatility, with the lone exception being the track “Perfect,” featuring City Girls. Perfect is the only real “turn up,” track and is not consistent with the rest of the album. “Stizzy,” as he calls himself, really excels at the tracks that are meant for a good car ride without too much attention placed on content or lyrics. The album does this well for significant stretches, but tends to loose it’s way in others. In my opinion, tracks 3-6 flow well together, but are then interrupted by tracks 7 and 9. Tracks 10-14 return to prominence and close the album out with that same smooth vibe.

LYRICS

As previously suggested, Cousin Stizz, while a great artist in his own right, does not stand out in terms of lyrics. He raps about what most rappers rap about, covering topics such as drugs, women, and projects. I can tell that Stizzy put an emphasis on this for this album however, as he attempts to be more transparent about his journey on tracks like “Traumatized,” and “The Message.” Additionally, the album does not boast many features, and of those I only recognized two in City Girls and Freddie Gibbs, the latter of which we are very familiar with. Our favorite quotable are below:

“Ride wit me bitch I’m PERFECT.” – Cousin Stizz x Perfect 

“Keep supplying – ain’t none of us worried bout the feature prices.” – Cousin Stizz x Beamin’

“God-level weight put on my shoulders- I grew up and got colder 

Memories in my cup, hell nah I ain’t sober.” – Cousin Stizz x RR

PRODUCTION 

The flow of the album is where Stizz shines the most, as there are long stretches in which the album rides, meaning his cadence and flow match perfectly with the production. I did not hear any tags from any of the leading producers, but that is not to say there were not any. The production itself is not overly complicated, and can easily be classified as simplistic, if not for Stizzy’s flow, which effectively amplify their impact. 

OVERALL

My first reaction to the album was disappointment, but an album can never be fully reviewed based on the initial listen, and I found my feelings changed after several spins. The album is however, very hit or miss. When it rides it rides, but when it does not, or hits one of those patches I mentioned earlier (like tracks 1, 7, and 9), it definitely highlights the tracks that are passable. The positives provided by Trying To Find My Next Thrill are found in Stizz’s flow, with limited feature artists that further showcases his talent, and it has a classical feel which builds on his strengths. The negatives encompass a few experiment tracks that fail miserably, (Off With YA Head! and Jump Out The Phone, especially) and these present an inconsistency across the album. Nevertheless, the good outweighs the bad on this project, resulting in Trying To Find My Next Thrill a heavy portion of my current rotation. It is worth a listen for any rap fan, and while Stizz’s core fans may find mixed reviews of their own, it scores a 10 out of 14 for us.

-        The Oracle

Edited by MJG Story Creation