This album was released on February 23rd this year. However, it wasn’t uploaded to Apple Music until September 7th. The last project I heard from Black Milk was his previous album, If There’s a Hell Below. That was four years ago, so I’m hoping there’s a lot of growth on this project. Every song is self produced.

Tracklist

1. UnVEil featuring Sudie
2. But I Can Be featuring Ab
3. Could It Be
4. 2 Would Try featuring Dwele
5. Laugh Now Cry Later
6. True Lies
7. eVE
8. Drown
9. DiVE
10. Foe Friend
11. Will Remain
12. You Like To Risk It All / Things Will Never Be

The production on the first track is fantastic. I love the dusty drums. It’s a really soft, jazzy instrumental. There are just two short verses from Black Milk. They’re pretty good. The vocals from Sudie aren’t super impressive, but they get the job done. The production value is super high. It transitions super smoothly into the following track. But I Can Be has another really great beat. I like the simplistic hook a lot. The sporadic flow from Black Milk on the first couple of verses is cool. His flow on the final verse is really nice. I think it’s a step up from the first song honestly. The background vocals from Ab were pretty nice. It’s a really great song sonically. It’s dope af.

The production on Could It Be is fucking awesome. I really like his flow on the first verse. The way the beat evolves during the break between the two verses is really great. There’s not really a hook. The song’s got a super simplistic structure. I like it though. There’s not really much to discuss. It’s just two verses over a really good instrumental. It’s a dope song. It transitions really smoothly into the next song. Once again, the beat on 2 Would Try is really good. Black Milk is a really under-appreciated producer in my opinion. The production on this project is top notch. The first verse on 2 Would Try is nice. He’s rapping about a relationship with a girl. I love the horns that come in during the hook, and Dwele’s vocals are pretty good. The second verse was even better than the first. It’s another really dope song.

The bass loop on Laugh Now Cry Later is fucking awesome. The first verse is pretty good. I’m not crazy about the hook, but it’s not really bad. The more I listen to the song the less I like it. I still think it’s good, but the production is pretty repetitive, and his flow is kind of boring to be honest. It’s definitely not a bad song, but it’s my least favorite on the album so far. It’s still entertaining enough though. I fuck with it. I like the way that second beat comes in for the last 40 seconds of the song. It transitions really smoothly into True Lies, which has another phenomenal beat. The hook’s pretty cool. The two verses were sufficient as well. It’s another dope song. The structure’s pretty straightforward. Nothing about the song really jumps out at me aside from the stellar production. It’s good though. I fuck with the song. eVE is an instrumental track. It’s really pretty. It’s one of the most enjoyable songs on the album to be honest. The production on Drown is pretty solid. I think Black Milk is a better producer than MC, but the first verse is pretty good. I love the way the beat switches up after the second verse. The outro is easily the most enjoyable part of the song for me. DiVE is another instrumental track. It’s pretty good. One thing I haven’t figured out is why the letters V & E are capitalized every time they show up on this album. I’ll probably never know. Foe Friend is another good song. It has a more traditional structure than a lot of the other songs. The song’s about friends becoming enemies. For the two guys in the first verse, money got in the way of their friendship. The girls in the second verse were into the same guy, which is why they stopped fuckin’ with each other. It’s really unfortunate that people let things like that get in the way of their friendship. It’s a good song. It’s definitely not one of my favorites, but it’s dope. Will Remain has one of the better beats on the album. The vocal sample he flipped for the hook sounds really good. It’s the longest song on the album, but it doesn’t overstay its welcome. It’s a dope song. I like the more energetic production on the final song, and the vocals on the hook are pretty good. It sounds like he used a bit of autotune, which I wasn’t expecting. The first verse honestly didn’t really keep my attention. It wasn’t bad though. I just noticed myself getting distracted. The second verse was cool though. I’m not sure why there’s a slash in the title of the track because there’s no switch up in the song. That’s not a problem though. It’s a good song.

This album is kinda great. It’s a super consistent project. There’s not a single song that I didn’t like. The production is definitely the main selling point for me. He’s not a super impressive rapper, but he’s definitely not wack. He just rarely does anything that really captures my attention when he’s rapping. That’s pretty much all I can say about this project. It has some really great instrumentals and sufficient rapping. It’s dope.

Favorite Song: But I Can Be
Least Favorite Song: Laugh Now Cry Later

B+

Watch the video below for more thoughts on this album.