Wednesday 28 February 2018

Migos "Culture" (2017)


I wasn't moved by their break out hit Versace at all but having heard the Migos mentioned so often recently I figured I would give the American Hip Hop trio a try. I didn't expect much but walk away really surprised with how much I enjoyed this record. Its one half dope beats and another half comedy as these soon-to-be-dated over stylized trendy vocal sounds utterly dorky and ridiculous to the point where I find myself chuckling away at the "skrt skrt" noises and other comical sounds they conjure up, not to mention a rap from Lil Uzi Vert who sounds slightly concussed in his rhymes.

The production here, handled by many hands, is tight, crisp and modern. A spacious approach leaves lots of room for the excessive reverberations to bounces around in the space between instruments. Trap influenced hi-hat grooves rattle away over sub base kicks that snappy snares pop off of. Simplistic short melodies play steadily on pianos and similar synthetic sounds with occasional symphonic strings and the like in the backdrop. The tempo is steady and track after track sounds sharp, slick, laid back and oddly relaxing with a slight air of danger and eeriness on a handful of numbers. Its just the right atmosphere for the Migos to do their thing.

Lyrically... the verses are lacking substance, not a lot of the lines stuck with me beyond acknowledging the excessive braggadocio however I felt these modern and triplet flows were pulled of really well, lots of the vocals resonate in the atmosphere and the use of auto tune and pitch shifting effects felt aesthetically pleasing. Some of the records most memorable lines were essentially borderline gibberish but the delivery kept getting them wedged in my mind however the most fun was with the strange sound effect alike vocals making "pew pew pew" and other strange noises over the shoulder of the rapper on the mic. It amused me greatly.

Rating: 6/10
Favorite Tracks: Bad And Boujee, Deadz