MY TURN X LIL BABY

And we are back with our fourteenth official review! As promised, the below are our metrics for our reviews. To see our previous review of 3 PIECE SET X CURREN$Y, click here.

FEEL- What type of feelings does the music evoke? 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 do 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! 

MY TURN X LIL BABY

Release Date: 2.28.20

Number of Tracks: 20

Duration: 1 HR

Favorite Track: WE SHOULD, GRACE

2018 was a fantastic year for rap music. A budding superstar, Lil Baby found himself in the AOY conversation with his debut album, Harder Than Ever, which still gets spins in the rotation today. Hailing from hometown Atlanta, GA Lil Baby was an obvious choice for spins by other Atlanta natives, but still has a ways to go in the global market. Originally a mumble/singing rapper, Lil Baby broke away from both those tags with his debut release. Harder Than Ever was such a hit that it may have set the bar too high for the young rapper, but he has shown that he is not afraid to make improvements.

In his first Breakfast Club interview, the only audible words that could be made out from his speech were “Like” and “Literally,” often said together. The media training he received was obvious by his next interview, were his speech (and raps) were much more audible. He also began to focus more on rap and less on the streets, which proved beneficial to his career. Because the bar was set so high, Lil Baby’s fans expected much more from his follow up project, Street Gossip, and the resulting fall in spins saw him take the entire 2019 off.

Thus early 2020 is starting off with a bang, with My Turn, in heavy competition with G Herbo’s PTSD, as both albums saw drops on the same day.

Feel

My Turn feels like an orchestral flow from the streets of Atlanta. Baby has turned his cadence into his greatest strength, as his flow provides a feel that hip hop heads everywhere can appreciate. His passion for the music is evident on My Turn, and that passion corresponds to the feel of the album. While it is definitely not devoid of some skip worthy tracks, the feel and flow is consistent throughout the album.

Lyrics

The area that leave the most to be desired, Lil Baby’s pen skills are still a work in progress. Thankfully, because of the type of artist that he is, his lyrics are not the most important part of his raps, as puzzling as that might sound. My Turn has a decent list of feature artists, with names like Young Thug, Lil Wayne, Gunna, Moneybagg Yo, and Lil Uzi Vert. My Turn’s spot for top feature goes to an artist we here at Oracle Rap Reviews have never heard of before: 42 Dugg. It is important for us to highlight this, because we consider ourselves rap historians, so it is uncommon for us to run across an artist we have never heard of before. We must say, 42 Dugg bodied his feature, with his cadence matching perfectly with Lil Baby’s (Young Thug on We Should was a close 2^nd). Our favorite quotable is below:

“My diamonds hit harder, I ain't in no competition
Not to mention, just a lil' bit richer, can't forget that
Flew here, we got chartered
Shawty, she so raw, I might just let her have my daughter
Naw, I'm trippin', yeah, forget that.”

-       Lil Baby, Forget that

PRODUCTION

Always a strength of ATL projects, the production on My Turn is the marquee attribute of the album. With appearances from Quay, Tay Keith, Hit-Boy, and Murda Beatz, the star studded cast provides the excellent level of production one can expect from an Atlanta rap album. Both Baby and his cast of feature artists ride the beats well, with nothing sounding too out of place, minus the afore mentioned skip worthy tracks.

OVERALL

My Turn is at its core a decent rap album, however its gems can get lost in the sheer volume of tracks. Of the 20 records, only about 10 of them are worthy of a replay, and only 7 of them (We Should, Forget That, Get Ugly, Live Off My Closet, Commercial, Woah, Solid,) are rotation worthy. Still yet, Lil Baby’s continued growth as both a person and an artist are considerable, and this development is evident in My Turn. We must also remember he is still incredibly young at just 25 years old, so he still has a ways to go in his life and career. Nevertheless, My Turn is worth a spin, even if it is just for the production.

3.4.2020 – The Oracle

Edited by MJG Story Creation