This album was released on September 7th this year. The last project Joey Purp released was his 2016 mixtape iiiDrops, which was pretty good. I’ve heard one single from this project, and it was actually really fuckin’ dope. I think I’m gonna like this project. Hopefully it’s a step up from his mixtape. I haven’t seen a lot of promotion for this album. I’m probably gonna be the only person who talks about it. I hope that’s not the case though. We’ll see.

Tracklist

1. 24K Gold / Sanctified featuring Ravyn Lenae & Jabari Rayford produced by Nate Fox, Nico Segal, Peter Wilkins & Thelonious Martin
2. Godbody, Pt. 2 featuring RZA produced by Nate Fox, Peter Wilkins, Nico Segal & DJ Khalil
3. Hallelujah produced by Nico Segal, Nate Fox & Peter Wilkins
4. Elastic produced by Nate Fox, Nico Segal, Peter Wilkins & Nez & Rio
5. Aw Shit! produced by Nate Fox, Nico Segal, Peter Wilkins, Knox Fortune & DJ Taye
6. QUARTERTHING produced by Nate Fox, Nico Segal, Peter Wilkins & Knox Fortune
7. Paint Thinner produced by Nico Segal, Nate Fox, Peter Wilkins, Garren Langford & Smoko Ono
8. Look At My Wrist featuring Cdot Honcho produced by Smoko Ono, Nico Segal, Nate Fox & Peter Wilkins
9. 2012 produced by Nate Fox, Nico Segal, Peter Wilkins & Knox Fortune
10. ‘Fessional / Diamonds Dancing featuring Queen Key produced by Nico Segal, Peter Wilkins, Nate Fox & Nez & Rio
11. Karl Malone produced by Nate Fox, Nico Segal, Nez & Rio & Peter Wilkins
12. Bag Talk produced by Nez & Rio, Nate Fox, Peter Wilkins & Nico Segal
13. Lebron James produced by Nate Fox, Nico Segal, Peter Wilkins & Thelonious Martin
14. In the Morning featuring GZA produced by Joey Purp

I like the production on the first track. It has that same grandiose sound that songs like Morning Sex & Escape had. Joey Purp is a Chicago MC, so a lot of his bars have to do with the city’s infamous crime rate. He celebrates the fact that he’s still alive. The outroductory vocals from Ravyn Lenae are pretty nice, and the single verse from Joey is dope. It’s a good opener. The introductory verse from RZA on the sequel to Godbody is pretty cool. It’s only like 8 bars, but it’s enjoyable enough. I like the way Purp comes in right behind him. I really love the grandiose production. It sounds like it’s performed by a live band. The only thing I don’t like about the song is the abrupt ending. It pretty much just cuts off right in the middle of the second verse. It oddly transitions kinda nicely into the following song though. Hallelujah is definitely my favorite song so far. The production is really catchy, and I love the melodic hook. The second verse was really great too. The hook is longer than the verses. I kinda wish that wasn’t the case. That’s the only gripe I have though. I think the song is dope af.

Elastic was the second single from this album. It’s kind of weird. It reminds me of Girls @ a little bit. The production is bouncy, yet subdued. I like the way the more melodic elements come in towards the end of the song. Lyrically, the song’s really not for me.

Throw it back if you nasty
Bounce it like it’s elastic

It’s written like something that’s meant for a club setting, but I think the production is a little too weird for that. I don’t really go to clubs though, so it’s possible that this song could be played there. I really don’t know. It’s the shortest song on the album. It’s really not a bad track. It’s just not for me. I won’t be listening to it again. I’m not really crazy about the bassy production on Aw Shit!, although the drum pattern is kinda cool. I’m not feelin’ the hook though. Yeah… This is a really shitty song to be honest. I like the way the production gets jazzier during the outro though. The addition of the ice cream truck music left me scratching my head though. That was definitely an odd choice… I don’t like the song, but there are some aspects of it that I actually enjoyed. It’s definitely my least favorite song on the album so far though. It’s mediocre to me. I like the beat on the title track a lot. It’s dope af. It’s the best beat on the album so far in my opinion. I like the way Joey’s riding it too. Honestly, there’s not anything about the song that I dislike. I think it’s arguably the best song on the album so far. The production is fantastic, and Joey’s flow was nice. It’s dope af. I like the production on Paint Thinner too. Joey Purp’s got a pretty good ear for beats. The hook is really long winded. The verses are cool. It’s a good song. Nothing about it really blew me away, but I definitely enjoyed it to some extent. It’s dope. The beat on Look At My Wrist is really cool. The first verse is fine. The hook is really simplistic. I’m not familiar with this Cdot Honcho guy, but his verse wasn’t bad at all. His flow was actually kinda cool. It’s not a showstopper by any means, but it’s a decent feature. The song as a whole isn’t really doing anything for me. I kind of enjoyed it a little bit, but it wasn’t good enough to warrant any repeat listens. It’s a solid track though. I really like the lowkey production on 2012. It’s a really great beat. Joey’s flow is pretty standard, but it sounds good. The instrumental is definitely the selling point of the song. Joey didn’t necessarily do a bad job, but he didn’t really stand out that much to me. I like the song though. It’s an enjoyable track. I just think most of the credit should be given to the producers. Fessional takes up the first 30 seconds of the next track, and then Diamonds Dancing starts. I like the production, but that’s pretty much it as far as positives go. Joey’s delivery on Diamonds Dancing was kinda funny to me. The weird vocal tone he had was interesting. I just don’t care for the content. The production is dope though, and I actually like the way Joey was flowing over it. Queen Key didn’t impress me though. It’s an okay song. I definitely don’t think it’s that bad. I enjoyed it to some extent. I just don’t wanna hear it again. It’s an okay track though. Karl Malone sounds like an attempt at a Future song. He’s yelling his bars with autotune. It kinda reminds me of that song Future had called Shit. It’s not good. Honestly, Karl Malone is the first song on the entire album that I think is really bad. The hook is terrible. The production’s pretty boring too. There’s not a single aspect of the song that I like to be honest. It’s really wack.

Bag Talk was the first single from this album, and I love it. The piano driven, Trap influenced production is awesome. The lyrics are pretty average as far as modern Hip Hop goes, but I think Joey performed well. His flow was nice. I mean, he really doesn’t do anything that different on this song when you compare it to the other tracks. I’m starting to realize most of the reason I enjoy Joey’s music is because he just has really good taste in production. I think the song’s dope af though. I have no gripes with it. The production on Lebron James is really awesome too. However, as a whole, the song doesn’t really blow me away. I think it has some of the best rapping on the entire album, but it’s short length makes it feel kind of incomplete. There are only one and a half verses. It ends pretty abruptly. It’s still an entertaining track though. The final song is just a 30 second a cappella verse from GZA the Genius. It’s kind of a random way to end the album, but I’m not gonna pretend to have a problem with it.

This is a good album. I definitely wouldn’t call it “great.” I don’t really think it’s as good as iiiDrops, but there’s not a huge drop in quality. The production is pretty nice throughout the entire project. I don’t think Joey Purp is that impressive as a rapper, but he doesn’t spit anything super terrible. “Sufficient” is the best word I would use to describe the verses on this album. Joey Purp isn’t really a lyricist. His previous project had a few glimpses of consciousness, which don’t really show up on this project. This one is much more lighthearted in terms of content. It’s a well done project though. I wouldn’t say you’re really missing out on much if you decide to skip this project, but I don’t think you’ll be disappointed if you give it a shot. It’s dope.

Favorite Song: QUARTERTHING
Least Favorite Song: Karl Malone

B-

Watch the video below for more thoughts on this album.