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This album was released on July 21st last year. Omen is pretty much the original Dreamville signee. I’m pretty sure he met J. Cole before Dreamville was even an official group. He was signed in 2007, so it’s kinda crazy that it took this long for him to get an album out. That’s how it goes sometimes tho. Anyway, I’m not really familiar with Omen… I heard a few tracks with him on that original Revenge Of The Dreamer’s mixtape that came out in 2014, but I wasn’t really that impressed by what I heard. He definitely wasn’t bad, but it just didn’t stand out to me that much. This album got a lot of critical acclaim tho, and I’m willing to check out any Dreamville release. All of the positive reception actually has me really looking forward to this shit. I’m expecting to like this more than Too High To Riot. Hopefully this shit wasn’t overhyped. Dreamville fans kinda dickride sometimes. I definitely don’t think this is gonna be bad tho. Every song is self produced, except where noted.

Track 1: Motion Picture

This song first appeared on the first Revenge Of The Dreamers mixtape. It uses the same sample as Thuggin’ by Freddie Gibbs & Madlib. I think I like this even more than Madlib’s beat tho. Omen’s flow on this first verse is dope af. The lyrics are really well written and poetic. Towards the end of the verse he talks about how he missed an opportunity to get put on by No I.D. I’m actually really enjoying this. The first verse was dope af. Omen thankfully doesn’t have that problem that Bas has where he sounds really similar to J. Cole. I mean, he DOES kinda sound like him, but not so much so that it’s distracting. He sounds kinda like a mixture between Kendrick Lamar & J. Cole. This didn’t really remind me of J. Cole that much until I got to the hook where he’s singing. It’s not bad tho. I fuck with the hook. The second verse was great too. I really fuck with this song. This is dope af to me. 5/5

Track 2: LoveDrug Feat. CJ Hamilton

I forgot to mention this for the last track, so I’m just gonna talk about it now. There was a long ass intro of what sounded like an audio clip from a movie before the song actually started. This song does the same thing. This one doesn’t really sound like it’s from a movie tho. I guess it’s not that big of a deal, but it’s definitely gonna be annoying on repeat listens. I’m not gonna wanna sit through 30 second intros to each song. Anyway, this beat is dope af. Hahaha. This is pretty dope. He’s rapping from the perspective of a social media celebrity. That voice in the background of the hook is hilarious. Well, “hilarious” might be kind of a stretch. It didn’t really make me laugh or even smile, but I thought it was entertaining. This song is great for me ’cause I think social media celebrities—particularly from Vine—are corny as hell. Unless you count people like Deray as social media celebrities. I’d classify him more as a social media activist tho. “Sometimes I sit and wonder about this life that we’re pursuing / Are we headed for our ruin / My generation influenced by attention whores.” Oh that background voice in the hook is from CJ Hamilton. “I’m about to get my own emoji, nigga / And you know why? Cause we #TeamNoSleep / We grind, THEY sleep, nigga / You understand what I’m saying?” I fuck with this song. I’m definitely gonna need to cut that intro out with GarageBand, but other than that this shit is dope. 4/5

Track 3: Same Jezebel (Prod. Ron Gilmore)

This track thankfully doesn’t have a long winded intro like the first two. This beat is dope af. Hahaha. Damn. Omen is better as fuck in this verse. He’s rappin’ about some girl who he thought he loved, but she ditched his ass. She lied to him and told him she was 26, but she was really 19. This song is just one verse of Omen sayin’ “fuck you, bitch.” I enjoyed it tho. I also really liked that outro when he was singing too. It sounded really good. I fuck with this song. It’s only 2 minutes and there’s not a lot going on, but I still enjoyed it. It’s dope. 4/5

Track 4: Elephant Eyes

This beat is dope af. The first verse just ended. It was dope. I usually don’t like songs about relationships and shit, but something about this seems different. Maybe it’s because it gives off kind of a depressing vibe. He’s not really in the relationship yet. He’s just thirsty. It sounds like he’s rapping to his ex. Goddamn. The way the percussion comes in during the hook is dope af. This beat is great. The second verse was dope too. I fuck with this song. This song is more about thirst than actually being in a relationship. The subject matter isn’t super interesting to me, but I think Omen did a great job with it. The beat and hook are dope af too. This is dope af to me. 5/5

Track 5: Father Figure

This beat is dope. It really sounds like something J. Cole would’ve produced. This song is exactly what the title implies. He’s rapping about how he didn’t have a father growing up. The first verse was great. Damn. This outro…

He’s just singing “don’t go” over and over again. This is so sad. There’s only one verse. It was dope tho. He sounds a lot like J. Cole when he’s singing at the end of this track. It’s dope tho. I fuck with this song. This is dope to me. It could’ve used another verse, but other than that this is good. 4/5

Track 6: Sketches Of Paranoia Feat. Bas

This beat is dope af. Omen did his thing on the first verse. His flow was great. The hook is really dope. Bas’ verse was actually dope af. He killed that shit. He rapped about his friend—I’ll call him X—who’s father was in jail for 20 years. X eventually started doin’ the same shit that got his father in prison. “I’m like, ‘Learn from it / You headin’ down the path your father did‘ / He said, ‘Nigga you ain’t my pops, I’m getting it how I live.‘” X ended up getting incarcerated the same day that his father was released. That verse was great. Honestly, I think I enjoyed Bas’ verse on this song more than any of his verses on his own album. He was really vague and sometimes he got off topic on Too High To Riot, but that didn’t happen here. He needs to rap like this more often because that verse was dope af. Omen’s goin’ in again now. This is one of the only songs on this album with more than 2 verses. The last verse from Omen was dope af. This is easily my favorite song so far. Everything about this track is dope af. I definitely fuck with this shit. 5/5

Track 7: Sweat It Out Feat. Ari Lennox

I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything from Ari Lennox, but I know she signed with Dreamville last year. This beat is pretty good. Omen’s flow is dope. This subject matter isn’t for me. It’s a sappy love song. He’s talkin’ about how he met this girl in a Waffle House in second person. “I made fun of your hat, you made fun of my shirt / We played tic-tac-toe on a napkin.” Ugh… Yuck. I can’t take shit like this. There’s absolutely no appeal in this for me. It’s cool if he wants to make a song for his girl, but I’d personally never wanna hear this shit. Oh God… I’m really not feelin’ this hook from Ari Lennox. It’s not like she’s a bad singer or anything, but this just isn’t for me. This is so fuckin’ soft. I like Omen’s flow on this shit, but that’s pretty much it. I guess the beat isn’t bad either, but other than that I don’t like anything about this. This is wack to me. 2/5

Track 8: Foolish Pride

This beat is alright. It’s kinda boring. It’s not terrible tho. The first verse was cool. He was just rapping about how he used to always get in fights because of his pride, but he had to stop once he got to high school because all the students were strapped up. I enjoyed his verse, but as a full song this is pretty boring. There’s only one verse, and the vocals on the outro didn’t really do anything for me. It’s not a bad song. It’s just not that good. It’s boring to me. It’s decent tho. If there was a better beat and maybe another verse this’d probably be dope. 3/5

Track 9: Big Shadows

This beat is dope af. Okay, this is really dope. The first verse just ended. He talked about how he met J. Cole, and how he doesn’t wanna live in his shadow. J. Cole’s original rap name was The Therapist. Hahahahahahaha. Jesus Christ, Cole. That’s embarrassing. That’s such a bad name. Anyway, I really liked the first verse. The hook is pretty good. The second verse was dope af. “Meanwhile I went from ‘Omen‘ to ‘his little homie‘ / You know his ‘protege‘ or whatever they wanna call me / I started getting angry, like ‘damn, don’t want no more help‘ / My foolish pride, suicide; I put that gun on myself.” This is really dope. The last verse was great too. I don’t really have any problems with this song. The hook lasted a little too long for me, but that’s really not that big of a deal. The beat was dope af, and it was cool to hear him address being looked at as Cole’s sidekick. This is dope af. 5/5

Track 10: Things Change Feat. J. Cole (Prod. Ron Gilmore)

This beat is cool. Cole’s on the first verse. It was good. He didn’t kill Omen on his own track like he always does Bas, but I enjoyed it. The female vocals on the hook are pretty dope. Omen’s verse was nice. He was rappin’ about the same girl from the title track. I really don’t have shit to say about this one. This is a good song. It’s not great, but I enjoyed it. Cole’s verse was cool. I think I liked Omen’s verse even more tho. This is dope. I fuck with this. 4/5

Track 11: Zion

This beat isn’t bad. It sounds like Omen’s rapping about that same girl again. The first verse just ended. It was cool. The hook isn’t bad. I don’t really have much to say about this one. It’s more of the same. It’s still a good song, but it doesn’t really stand out from the other tracks. I’m pretty bored right now. It’s not because this is a bad song. It’s just not really grabbing my attention. It’s another Omen song. It sounds like everything else here. It’s cool. I won’t be coming back to this again, but it’s really not bad at all. It’s just not that good to me. It’s alright tho. 3/5

Final Thoughts:

This album is dope. I really don’t have anything bad to say about it. It’s just a very good album. It’s kinda great. Kinda. I honestly started getting kinda bored by the time it was over, but that has more to do with the production style than Omen’s rapping. You know how a lot of people say that J. Cole is boring as shit? People who say that probably wouldn’t feel any different about Omen. I really enjoyed this album tho. He doesn’t really have a super engaging voice or delivery, so that might have something to do with why I started getting bored. The production was pretty good too, but the beats were all pretty laid back. He never really switched up the tempo. Damn near every song was mid-paced, so hopefully he’ll switch that up a little with the next project. Other than that I think this is a really good album. I think he’s a very talented producer, and he’s obviously a good rapper too. So yeah. It’s boring at times, but for the most part this album is dope to me. I fuck with this album.

Favorite Song: Sketches Of Paranoia

Least Favorite Song: Sweat It Out

Verdict:

80%

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