The first song I heard by King Los was a remix called Whoopin’ Ass. I only listened to it because it had Tory Lanez on it. Luckily, King Los turned out to be really fucking good at rapping. I eventually listened to his mixtape Becoming King. I think I might’ve liked it. I can’t really remember tho. I just remember it being too long. He also dropped Broken Silence with Mark Battles. That shit was terrible. Okay, it wasn’t that bad, but it was bad enough. Then he dropped Zero Gravity II. On the cover of Zero Gravity II, King Los is wearing a hat with the words “Turn Up” written on it in gold. I think you can figure out how that mixtape was without my help. King Los is an incredible rapper. He is not an incredible musician. If he’s just rapping one verse, he will murder you. He is insane. BUT. If he is making a song… He pretty much has what I like to call Eminem syndrome. He doesn’t pick very good beats and the hooks on his songs are fucking atrocious. He’s such a good rapper tho. This album seems like he’s taking a more serious approach to his music tho. Hopefully he can pull it off. That album cover is pretty terrible tho. It makes sense I guess, but he shouldn’t have chosen a plain white background and his name in the bottom right corner doesn’t look good at all. It’s not that big of a deal tho. I’ll take this one over the Zero Gravity II cover any day.

Track 1: War Feat. Marsha Ambrosius (Prod. Anomaly & Da Internz)

Wow. The artwork for this song is fucking great. That’s quite an improvement from the album cover. This beat is dope. The drums sound great over this sample. Los is rappin’ from the perspective of one of his homies. He basically just sounds like someone who was born and raised in the hood. His flow is dope af. He sounds great over this beat. “Got the devil with a gun against my brain like choose a side.” This is a pretty great way to start the album off. I’m only one verse in, but that verse was fucking great. The way he portrays the struggle of trying to remain faithful while living in a harsh environment is what Jesus Piece by The Game should have done. He did a fantastic job with that verse. The hook is dope. Goddamn. GODDAMN! Los just went the fuck in on that second verse. His flow… Man… Fuck! This verse is fucking crazy! He fucking killed that shit! Marsha Ambrosius closed it out. Man. That was fucking great. This beat is fucking great and the hook thankfully doesn’t suck. The verses are fucking great. I don’t know how anyone could argue with that. He fuckin’ went in. I definitely fuck with this song. This is dope af. 5/5

Track 2: Ghetto Boy (Prod. Da Internz)

This song has a beat box inspired beat. It’s alright. I guess. Damn. His delivery on this track so far is fuckin’ hard. I’m less than half a minute in so far. The beat isn’t anything special, but the way he’s kinda yellin’ over this simple, calm beat really keeps things interesting. Okay, the beat just switched up. It got pretty hard. It’s still not great, but it’s dope. Goddamn. He’s screamin’ like a motherfucker. He sounds crazy. I coulda done without the electric guitar part. That was pretty bad. It’s not bad enough to ruin shit tho. Damn. Los’ flow on this second verse is great. He’s pretty much just describing the hood. “No sunshine or feeling better (the ghetto) / Watch em all scatter they’ll kill each other (the ghetto) / If yo daddy dead, can’t make him proud in (the ghetto) / Damn little boy, how you make it out of (the ghetto)” The hook is alright. The beat’s cool I guess. It’s definitely not horrible, but I really coulda done without the rock inspired guitar sections. King Los went the fuck in on the verses. I loved his flow and delivery. The subject matter isn’t exactly “original,” but he did a pretty good job with it. I fuck with this song. This song is dope. 4/5

Track 3: Black & White (Interlude) Feat. Poo Bear

Someone’s singin’. Is that King Los? It sounds alright. If it weren’t for the background vocals it really wouldn’t sound that good. The instrumental is fantastic. It’s really fucking smooth. I hope they use it in the next song. Poo Bear is harmonizing with King Los I think. It actually sounds pretty good. This isn’t presented as a full song, so I don’t know if I should give it a rating. I did enjoy it tho.

Track 4: God, Money, War (Prod. Da Internz)

This beat is real laid back. I fuck with it. It’s actually pretty dope. The sample is from a song called Grown Up Calls by Toro y Moi. Damn. Los is goin’ in. “Mouths full of foul words but never put the hours in to get ours / Hours curse us, reverse ourselves / ‘Cause cowards verse us but we verse ourselves.” His flow really isn’t crazy on this verse, but it works. It definitely isn’t bad. “War ain’t color blind but love is & medicine isn’t healing but a hug is.” When did positivity become so important to Hip Hop? I’m definitely not complaining, but it just feels like a lot of artists are focused on spreading positivity rather than portraying themselves as heartless gangstas. Well… Maybe not a lot… I can really only think of two other artists that are all about being happy and positive (Kendrick Lamar & Dizzy Wright). I may be forgetting some. So maybe it hasn’t really swept over all of Hip Hop, but it definitely seems like it’s becoming kind of popular. It could be a coincidence. I don’t know. He said “medicine isn’t healing but a hug is.” That’s really corny, but I really like the message. I could understand how some people might be turned off by that tho. Hugs. Yeah. That’s really corny. I can look past that tho. It seems kind of ignorant for me to focus on the cornyness of that one line and not look at the message behind it. “I said God, save us, money, slave us / War, left bodies on the floor, good gracious.” I guess if you’re against religion you might have a problem with that. I’m not super religious or anything, but I can appreciate what he’s trying to say. I don’t really identify with a specific religion anymore, but I do believe in God. Atheists and/or people against religion shouldn’t take it as someone trying to force God upon them. Just replace the word “God” with “love.” That’s pretty much what he means. The beat switched up for the second verse. His flow is goin’ insane right now. “And them triggers pop every second & I miss my pops every second / So I’m never second, never second guess me on the second hand / Every second count / ‘Cause if I’m second than that’s still a blessing / ‘Cause you took a second just to check me out.” Damn. The beat just got even better. Goddamn. The way it switched up… OOHHHH.

YOOO. THIS FUCKIN’ BEAT IS INSANE! IT JUST SWITCHED UP FOR THE THIRD VERSE AND LOS’ FLOW IS FUCKING PHENOMENAL. This production is insane. His flow was crazy too. Wow. I definitely fuck with this song. Everything about this song is great. The bars, the beat, the flow, the message, the delivery, etc. This song is dope af. 5/5

Track 5: Lil Black Boy

I couldn’t find any production credits for this song, so I’m just gonna assume that Da Internz did it. This beat is dope af. It sounds kind of familiar. The song opens up with the sound of King Los playing with a child. He’s teaching him letters. It’s a baby tho. He don’t know what’s goin’ on. Okay he’s goin’ in now. He’s just talkin’ about how much he loves this “lil black boy.” The beat is dope, but it sounds kind of sad. It’s really soft and light and it has these nice bells that come in during the hook. He’s basically talkin’ about how fucked up it is that a lot of black children don’t have father figures. “How could you plant seed and not return for harvest / We are missing concerning fathers & that reminds me of burning crosses.” This is dope af. Yeah, I definitely fuck with this. He really does a great job of displaying the sadness that this subject should be addressed with. The beat fits this song perfectly. His verses are very poetic. This is great. He did a fantastic job with this topic. I can’t really point out anything wrong with this track. I fuck with this. This is dope af. 5/5

Track 6: Black Blood Feat. Isaiah Rashad & Kent Jamz (Prod. J Holt)

Okay, it’s pretty obvious at this point that this album got a lot of inspiration from Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly. He has both of the major themes (positivity & black pride) down and the production has been pretty smooth for the most part. One of the few differences is the lack of funk inspired production, but that isn’t a bad thing. None of that stuff is bad. I just thought it was something that I should point out. Woah. This guy Kent Jamz has a weird voice. It doesn’t sound bad at all, but it’s… It’s just weird. It sounds good tho. I like it. Ah… Ah shit… No… This… Come on… No… Why? Why doesn’t Isaiah Rashad have a rap verse? Why is he just singin’? He doesn’t sound bad or anything, but when I saw his name on the track list I wanted to hear him go in. His verse isn’t bad, but I’m just a little disappointed. They’re just singin’ about fucked up shit that they’ve seen in the hood. “I know the black blood make the grass grow in the ghetto.” That’s kind of a fucked up statement, but I think it’s the attitude that a lot of black people have even if they haven’t grown up in the hood.  Los’ is singin’ his verse now. He’s singin’ about the fucked up shit that happened to him in the hood. “They killed my pop when I was just sixteen / They took my innocence away from me.” I think the placement of this song right after Lil Black Boy makes a lot of sense. King Los’ verse on this song is great. The way he transitioned from singin’ into a quick and energetic verse was great. His delivery is dope af. Same goes for the flow. I think it’s really dope how they’re singin’ and rappin’ about this incredibly dark subject over such a happy and cheerful beat. I definitely fuck with this song. I’m a little disappointed by Isaiah Rashad’s verse, but it wasn’t bad at all. It just wasn’t really what I wanted. I fuck with this song tho. It’s dope. 4/5

Track 7: Glory To The Lord Feat. R. Kelly (Prod. Da Internz)

There’s a very soft beat playin’ right now with some female vocals. Okay, Los is goin’ in right now. Damn. I don’t know about this… “Plus I got my homies getting rich / glory to the Lord / At the club like ‘Glory to the Lord, glory to the Lord.'” Well that shit got annoying fast. He said “Glory to the Lord” ten fucking times in that first verse. Oh no… That’s not the verse. That’s the hook. No. Nope. That’s… What the fuck? Why is the hook so goddamn long? I shouldn’t be getting the hook mixed up with the verse like that. If that’s the hook then why is R. Kelly on this bitch? Don’t tell me you gave R. Kelly a verse on this song… He keeps saying “glory to the Lord.” That shit is annoying. This song isn’t anything special sonically. I guess it’s not terrible. The first verse wasn’t really that bad, but I’m not really feelin’ the concept of this song. I guess when people are happy they say “Glory to the Lord,” but it just got annoying with this song and it sounds kind of generic. This song really doesn’t stand out in any way. This song sounds like it was specifically made for a mainstream audience. That’s not a bad thing I guess, but it just doesn’t make for an interesting song. R. Kelly’s singin’ now. “I street perform and I swear it was so motherfucking cold outside.” Oh my God. This R. Kelly verse has some fucking terrible lines. “I’m the R&B James Brown.” Nah. “Shawty is the shit, no manure.” What the fuck? Was this motherfucker even trying? He couldn’t’ve been… You can’t tell me that R. Kelly can’t write better shit than “Shawty is the shit, no manure.” That’s horrible. That is a fucking horrible line. I can’t believe what I just heard. That is horrible. “Booty so big, Hallelujah.” “And I got all my homies with me that’s the Homie Ghost.” Jesus Christ. That was terrible. The song really wasn’t that bad until R. Kelly came in. That verse was fucking atrocious. Nah. I’m not feelin’ this shit. It was okay at first, but R. Kelly shat on this song. He clearly didn’t care about this song. The hook is annoying, the idea behind the song isn’t interesting, the production is average, King Los’ flow and delivery are both boring and R. Kelly’s verse was abysmal. Nah. I’m not feelin’ this one. This is wack. 2/5

Track 8: Can’t Fade Us Feat. Ty$ (Prod. DJ Mustard & J Holt)

What the fuck? What am I… I… I thought I was listening to a King goddamn Los album not a Tyga album! What the fuck are you doin’, Los! Come on, man. Wow. What the fuck is happening? This album started off so fucking dark and heavy and emotional and fucked up and then it just switched up to a generic DJ Mustard & Ty Dolla Sign club song. I can’t believe this just happened. He didn’t even try to make it fit. He should’ve at least had an interlude or something. At least do something to explain this shit. I mean, not every song has to be super deep, but I’ve never seen such an obvious and shameless attempt at mainstream appeal. I don’t know how he could go from talking about gang violence and black on black crime in the hood to bragging about how his shoes can’t be found in the states. Especially since “Black Blood” is often spilled over sneakers. His flow is dope and the beat isn’t horrible, but goddamn. This really isn’t good. I’m not feelin’ his bars. What the fuck? Are y’all fuckin’ seein’ this video? Why am I lookin’ at cartoon asses shakin’ in my face? This is fucking ridiculous. This Ty$ hook is pretty bad. I can’t believe this is happening. This is honestly hilarious. This is so bad hahahaha. Sonically this song is just bad. It’s boring as hell. The lyrics are pretty bad too. I don’t get it. How can you have such a deep message and then turn into a shameless display of almost every black stereotype? “My favorite things: new shoes, new sex, new checks.” Nah. I’m not feelin’ this shit at all. This is wack af. 1/5

Track 9: Blame It On The Money (Prod. BigheadDez)

I guess I should have expected him to do some shit like this. The word “money” is in the title after all. It just… I thought he was gonna talk about how money and material things cause fucked up shit like war to happen. I didn’t think he was just gonna glorify it like this. What the fuck? WHAT? Is this motherfucker really jackin’ flows from J-KWON? Why? Of all the styles to bite… Why the fuck would he choose J-Kwon? This is so fuckin’ bad. “1, watch her break it down with two hands on her knees / Drop it to the ground and she dance like a freak / 2 to the 3 from the 3 to the 4 / Throw it in a circle, show me what you do it for.” Oh my God. I can’t believe this shit. How the fuck is this even happening right now? How did we get from Lil Black Boy to fuckin’ Blame It On The Money? This is awful. This beat is corny af too. This sounds like… an early 2000s one hit wonder. This is so bad. “Bumped into some lesbians and they said let’s be friends.” Do I even have to say anything about this shit? If you like Tipsy by J-Kwon, you’ll like this shit. Personally, I think this shit is fucking horrible. Nah. This is bad. I can’t take this shit. This is wack af. Goddamn. From Kendrick Lamar to fucking J-Kwon. Ridiculous. 1/5

Track 10: To Be Honest Feat. Khalil & Mele Monroe (Prod. Da Internz & Teris Vinson)

Khalil’s singin’ right at the beginning here. His voice sounds fine I guess. He just sounds really off beat… Did he even hear what he was singin’ over? Nah. He isn’t doin’ well. This is actually the hook. This is pretty much just an R&B beat. It sounds like an R&B song with a long rap feature. Los is goin’ in right now. He doesn’t sound bad or anything. His flow is nice. This just isn’t a very interesting song. Sonically, this isn’t really the type of shit that I’m into. This kinda sounds like one of the songs that Drake would’ve made back when he was still trying. He’s saying “TO BE HONEST” so much. I didn’t think anyone could make such a simple phrase seem so annoying. Not really sure what Mele Monroe’s contribution to this song is. As I said before, I’m not really feelin’ this hook from Khalil. His singing is average and I’m not sure how/why he got so off beat. The beat’s average. The verse wasn’t that bad, but the content of this song just doesn’t interest me at all. This is alright I guess. Just not for me. 3/5

Track 11: Confidence Feat. Crishan The Prince (Prod. David D.A. Doman & Teris Vinson)

Oh. Damn. This beat is fucking great. Damn. God damnit. I guess the hook isn’t too bad, but something about the way Crishan comes in just isn’t working for me. It kinda kills the vibe. Maybe his voice is too high. He sounds a little too energetic. This is kind of a strange topic. I guess. It’s obviously about confidence. It’s clear from the beat and the way Crishan is singing that they’re gonna try to spin this into some weird love song. “Tell me do you trust yourself / Like you need nobody else.” This beat is great. Not a fan of the hook. Los is goin’ in now. His flow is great, but this is just another song with an uninteresting topic for me. It’s soft as hell. That’s not always a bad thing, but this song just isn’t done in a way that a person like me can really enjoy. Crishan really doesn’t sound that bad and King Los does his thing I guess. This isn’t a bad song, but it really just isn’t for me. It’s alright. 3/5

Track 12: Slave Feat. Eskeerdo

There aren’t any production credits for this one. Oh no… This beat… Well, whoever produced this probably asked to not be named because they were ashamed of this shitty, generic beat. It sounds like one of those corny beats that would be in a Fast & The Furious movie. It kinda reminds me of that hilariously lame song Thizzles from Something Else by Tech N9ne. I think I might be offended by this song, but I’m not sure yet. I’ve only heard the hook, which is pretty goddamn terrible by the way. The beat really doesn’t sound too bad when Los’ comes in, but it’s just so… lame. I don’t know how to explain it. I feel like if I was 6 years old I would think this beat was “cool.” It’s not tho. This is the most ignorant shit I’ve heard on the album so far. “Helicopter over top my ex’s house, high as shit / Take a giant shit on the roof, ooh, I ain’t shit.” What the fuck? This song obviously isn’t meant to be taken seriously, but… I don’t know. He kinda sounds like he’s serious. Why would he… If he really isn’t serious about this he doesn’t do a very good job of mocking mainstream rappers. “My necklace got me pussy whipped.” His flow is too good. He rides the beat too well for this to not be a serious song. He’s talking about being a slave for money and cars and material shit, but he just… I don’t know. He doesn’t make it seem like he isn’t enjoying it. He doesn’t really do a good job of making it seem like a bad thing. Maybe if I had as much money as him I would understand. Goddamn. His fucking flow is insane on the second verse. I think I might like this. The lyrics aren’t very good, but sonically… I kinda fuck with this. I’m really conflicted on this one. The whole idea is cool I guess, but I don’t think he really does a convincing job. His fucking flow and delivery are great tho. I guess it’s alright. Kinda like a typical Migos or Gucci Mane song. It’s not really… good… But I still like it. Eskeerdo’s feature was completely unnecessary too. It’s alright. 3/5

Track 13: Balance Is Good Feat. Lola Monroe (Prod. Da Internz)

I don’t know about y’all, but when I read the title for this song, I immediately thought of French Montana’s dumbass sayin’ “Change is gud fuh eh buddeh!” on that Fabolous song. It just seems kinda corny to me. It’s starting now. I think Los’ verse might be pitch shifted up right now. Maybe not. It just sounded a little higher than usual at first. This beat is pretty goddamn smooth. Los’ flow is great on this. His wife is goin’ in right now. She sounds like Nicki Minaj with a slightly higher voice. By the way, if you don’t already know… Lola Monroe is… She’s uh… She’s fuckin’ bad af. For real, King Los got lucky with that chick. Goddamn. Anyway, she had a pretty short verse. It wasn’t bad. This song is cool. It’s definitely not bad. I’d say it’s above average, but it’s far from great. It really doesn’t stand out that much in any way. I fuck with it tho. This song is dope. 4/5

Track 14: King Feat. Puff Daddy & Mark Battles (Prod. BigheadDez)

Oh no… These are some pretty bad features. Mark Battles isn’t terrible, but he’s just so goddamn boring. He can be really corny sometimes too. Puff Daddy… Uh… Well, he just isn’t a very good rapper. I guess I should’ve expected this. It’s not like these features don’t make sense. King Los used to be signed to Puff Daddy’s label and he clearly has a strong relationship with Mark Battles. This album also just so happens to be executively produced by Puff Daddy. The features make sense, but they probably aren’t a good idea… This beat sounds kinda familiar. It really isn’t that good. It’s fine I guess. Damn. King Los is goin’ in now. This verse is fucking great. God fucking damn. I don’t know which part to quote. Y’all gotta hear this shit. “Ditches run up on me if you into stitches / It’s just intuition, intermission / Never cause I’m clever, niggas into wishin’ / Wish a nigga would, wish him well / He’ll need intervention due to inhibition and addition.” This verse is crazy. Puff Daddy thankfully doesn’t have a verse. He was just talkin’ shit at the beginning like he’s known to do. Los fucking murdered this shit. Mark Battles’ verse actually wasn’t that bad. His verse was nowhere near as dope as Los’ and he probably shouldn’t have been the one to end this album, but it really wasn’t that bad. He didn’t need to be on here tho. His verse was average. He didn’t add anything to this song. I definitely fuck with this song tho. I wasn’t that impressed with the beat, but Los’ verse is just so good that I can’t help but call this shit dope af. 5/5

Final Thoughts:

When this album started off I said to myself “Aw shit. This is about to be dope af.” I feel pretty disappointed right now tho. What the fuck happened here? This is one of the most inconsistent albums I’ve ever heard in my life. The first half of this album is incredible. “From Kendrick Lamar to fucking J-Kwon.” That one sentence pretty much describes this album. The first half of this album is very dark, meaningful and well done. Once you get to that R. Kelly track it’s like you aren’t even listening to the same artist. I don’t know how he could make a song like Lil Black Boy and then be jackin’ flows from J-Kwon of all people. I still can’t believe that actually happened. Like I said before, I’ve never seen such a desperate attempt at mainstream success. I can’t help but think that Puff Daddy is the reason for this mess of an album. If you gave me the first six songs as an EP and told me that it was executively produced by Puff Daddy, I wouldn’t believe you for a second. The rest of this album sounds like a collection of Puff Daddy songs that Los freestyled over. That’s pretty much it. The first half of this album is dope af. The second half of this album is wack af. Dope af + Wack af = Meh. This album is okay.

Favorite Song: God, Money, War

Least Favorite Song: Blame It On The Money

Verdict:

69%

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