This album was released on April 19th this year. I definitely consider myself a fan of Your Old Droog. I’ve heard pretty much every project he’s released, and I think most of it is really dope. I enjoyed his previous album, Packs, quite a bit, although I think the companion EP that he released a couple weeks prior to it is the best project he’s ever put out. I’ll probably post my rating of his discography on Monday. Anyway, I’ll be shocked if I don’t end up loving this album. You pretty much always know what to expect from Your Old Droog. It’s just gonna be an onslaught of quotable lines with some great wordplay. I just hope the production is a step up from his previous album. That’s what made me love Looseys so much. I think it has some of the best production YOD has ever rapped over. Hopefully the same thing can be said about this album.

1. Gyros produced by Sadhu Gold

The beat on this track is kinda cool. It’s really weird. The verse from Droog is great. He’s rapping just as well as he always does. That diss to Genius was nice. That website pisses me the fuck off, man.

Fuck Rap Genius
Since you herbs can’t overstand the diction
I’m sellin’ hand-written transcriptions
Even then, they might as well be hieroglyphics

The whole song is just one verse. There’s not a lot going on with this track. The beat was kinda cool at first, but it’s honestly a little dry. The verse is really good though. I like the song overall. It’s not amazing or anything, but I’m satisfied with it. It’s dope to me.

2. RST featuring MF DOOM & Mach-Hommy produced by V Don

This beat is definitely more entertaining than that of the previous track. That’s not really saying much though. The line Droog spit about reverse piledriving my grandmama in the first verse was funny. His verse seemed kinda short to me. MF DOOM did his thing on the second verse. He sounded great to me. I’m not really a Mach-Hommy fan, but he didn’t ruin the song. He easily had my least favorite verse, but it was pretty much on par with everything else I’ve ever heard from him. I’m glad Droog came back in at the end to spit another verse. I liked the scratches on the outro as well. This is another good track. I think I enjoyed this track slightly more than the previous one due to the production being better. It’s still not amazing or anything, but I enjoyed it. This is dope.

3. Tried by 13 (Vaclav Havel) produced by Theravada

The beat on this track is actually pretty cool. It’s not amazing or anything, but it’s definitely my favorite beat on the album so far. The song has a super straightforward structure. It’s literally just one verse over a beat. If you’re familiar with his music, you pretty much know what to expect. His flow is pretty unremarkable. Really the only thing that stands out about the way he raps is the lyrics. With that said, this is probably my favorite track on the album so far. Nothing about it really stands out that much. It’s pretty meat & potatoes. I tried to find a synonym for meat & potatoes, but I couldn’t find one. If you don’t know what I mean by that, just google it. Anyway, I enjoyed this track. It’s dope.

4. Bubble Hill produced by Daringer

The beat on this track is really great. Droog’s pretty much just rapping about wealth, but he’s doing it in a pretty entertaining way. It’s not as boring and uninteresting as when someone like Rick Ross or Jay Z does it.

If you don’t know better dudes will have you think struggling is cool
But when I write a bar I can already see my dream car & pool in the backyard
What the fuck is a carpool? Not for me and my spouse
When you heard me say I need a Lyft, I meant the elevator in my house

This is definitely my favorite song so far. It’s structure is identical to that of the previous track; it’s just another verse over a great beat. He killed this shit. His flow was actually pretty nice, and I love the beat. There’s really not anything I dislike about this song. The Eddie Murphy lines were crazy. This shit is dope af to me.

5. World’s About to End produced by Evidence

The beat from Evidence on this track is really good. I don’t love it quite as much as the previous one, but it’s probably my second favorite beat on the album so far. I love how dark it sounds. I feel like the rain in the background would normally annoy me, but it works well with the rest of the beat. The first verse is really dope. Oh boy… Man… Okay, there are some pretty cringe inducing transphobic bars just after the halfway point of the song. He says he almost got “fooled by a t███ny.” That’s not a good look, man. It doesn’t completely ruin the song for me, but it definitely hurts it, and I’m not even a member of the LGBT community; those who are will likely have a more negative reaction than I did. I still like the song, but this is definitely my least favorite track so far.

6. Babushka produced by Tha God Fahim

I’ve only heard a couple musical contributions from Tha God Fahim in the past. The first was his production on Westside Gunn’s FLYGOD album. I don’t really remember how I felt about the beat itself, but I know I liked the song overall. The second was his verse on Vinnie Paz’s latest album, The Pain Collector. I actually enjoyed his performance on that song quite a bit. It wasn’t amazing or anything, but I liked it. Anyway, the beat he produced for this song sounds like a looped clip from the background music for Sesame Street or some shit like that. Droog’s flow on this track is really nice though. He’s rapping with a much more fast paced delivery than usual.

What you thought I was doing before I dropped that eponymous?
And man I kinda miss bein’ anonymous
There’s more to it than rap; you have to be some sort of politician
Social worker slash economist

Droog is rhyming his ass off as usual. I think that comparison I made to Sesame Street was a little inaccurate. It sounds more like Winnie the Pooh music. That’s a much better comparison. I think that was Tha God Fahim on the outro. He said his grandma would listen to this song. So yeah, the beat sounds like Winnie the Pooh BGM that my grandma would appreciate. Anyway, I enjoyed this song. It’s definitely not one of my favorites, but I did like it to some extent. It’s a really short track, which is probably for the best. I didn’t really care for the production, but Droog did his thing. This is pretty good.

7. Funeral March (The Dirge) featuring Mach-Hommy produced by Nephew Hesh

This beat is actually pretty dope. Uh oh… What, uh… What the fuck is Mach-Hommy doing on this first verse? Dude’s flow is a mess. He’s not even really rapping on beat properly. It started off kinda decent, but it just got more and more off beat as he kept going. His verse thankfully doesn’t last that long. This beat is dope as hell honestly. Droog sounds so much better than Mach-Hommy. He comes back in after Droog’s first verse, and his flow thankfully sounds better. It’s still a little rough though. I’m not sure what happened. I don’t think I usually have an issue with his flow. Man… He really should not have been on this song. This would probably be one of my favorite songs on the album if it was a solo Droog track, but Mach-Hommy almost ruins it for me. I still like the song overall because the beat is really great, and Droog did his thing. That “grim repercussions” line was dope as hell. I like this track. I should’ve loved it though.

8. Devil Springs produced by Mono En Stereo

Woah. This beat is weird as hell. It’s really cool though. Honestly, this is one of the best beats on the album so far in my opinion. It’s really cool. Goddamn. Droog fucking killed this shit too. That Pixar line was brilliant.

Your daughter back home swallowing dicks, pa
Thinkin’ it’s all PG like Disney, you should see how nasty her pics are

Honestly, I think that’s my favorite line on the whole album so far. That’s fire. The song is less than two minutes long, and kinda feels like an interlude. It’s probably my favorite track on the whole album so far though. I don’t have a single issue with this track at all. It’s dope af to me.

9. Smores featuring Lil Ugly Mane & Wiki produced by Sadhu Gold

I’m not really familiar with Lil Ugly Mane. I’ve only ever heard him as a feature on that Denzel Curry EP from 2017. I didn’t mind him on that track at all though. From what I understand he’s supposed to be one of those Memphis rap revivalists. I’ve never really been into Memphis Hip Hop though, so I don’t think I’d care for his Mista Thug Isolation project that everyone seems to love. Before I actually ever heard him rap I assumed he was kind of like a parody rapper that wasn’t meant to be taken seriously. Kinda like Ugly God. Anyway, the beat on this track is solid. I definitely like it more than the previous beat Sadhu Gold contributed to this album. Droog is killin’ this first verse. That line towards the end of his verse about ghostwriters was really cool. The way the beat switches up for Lil Ugly Mane’s verse is really fucking awesome, and he actually killed it. That was great. The beat switches back to its original loop for the final verse from Wiki. His verse was pretty dope. It was definitely my least favorite verse on the song, but I still liked it a lot. This is another one of the better songs on the album in my opinion. I think this shit is dope af.

10. Ugly Truth (HOMMO Mix) produced by Sadhu Gold

I’m not sure what that audio clip at the beginning of the song is from, but I think I heard Hannibal Buress’ voice, so it might be The Eric Andre Show. I’ve only seen a few episodes of that show, but I liked what I saw. The main loop of this song isn’t anything special to me, but the percussion is really hard hitting. It sounds great. I just finished listening to the song. It’s dope. There’s not really much to discuss though. It’s not really that different from a lot of the previous tracks. It’s just one long verse over a solid beat. The verse is really great though. That [adult swim] scheme he had was fire. I’m not really a fan of the way the song ends. The beat cuts out, and Droog keeps on rapping for about a minute. His rapping was good, but it always just feels kinda awkward listening to an a cappella verse for me. It’s not that big of a deal though. I still like the song a lot. It’s dope.

11. Chasing Ghosts featuring Roc Marciano produced by Ohbliv

This beat isn’t really that great to me. It’s not bad though. It’s just kinda bland. It’s a little repetitive too. I already know as soon as Roc Marciano starts spitting over this light ass beat I’m gonna be struggling to stay awake. It doesn’t help that this is the longest song on the album too. The first verse from Droog is pretty good though. I actually didn’t mind Roc’s verse at all. I think he’s a dope rapper lyrically; it’s usually just his voice and delivery that put me to sleep. It thankfully wasn’t an issue here though. He was rhyming his ass off as always. I’m glad his verse wasn’t really that long too. Droog came back in to close the song out with the final verse. He killed that shit. This is really good. I wasn’t crazy about the production, but the actual rapping from Droog & Roc was great. This shit is dope.

12. Haunted House Beat (Not a House Beat) produced by Sadhu Gold

As the title of this track indicates, the production sounds like it has a horror theme. It’s actually really fucking cool. It’s definitely one of the best beats on the album in my opinion. Oh shit… Wait a minute… Is this just an instrumental interlude? Fuck, man… I really would’ve liked to hear Droog rap over this. The beat is dope, but it’s not something I’d listen to by itself again in the future. The outro has an anonymous rapper freestyling in a voicemail to Droog I think. It’s hard for me to understand the actual lyrics due to the telephone filter, but the rhyme schemes and flow sounded really dope. It would’ve been cool to hear that verse over the beat. I’m never gonna listen to this again, but I’m not gonna judge it as a proper song since it’s more of an interlude.

13. 90 from the Line produced by Sadhu Gold

The beat on this track is pretty cool. I like the percussion a lot. The first verse was cool. I feel like this is one of the only tracks on the whole album that actually had a hook. It’s not amazing or anything, but it gets the job done. The second verse was cool. I’m not gonna lie; this is kind of an underwhelming way to close the album. I definitely like the song to some extent, but it’s not a standout track at all. I’m not sure if that skit at the end with his sound engineer was a diss towards the dude who rapped at the end of the previous track. That’s kinda what it sounded like though. Anyway, I enjoyed this track. It’s far from a standout track, but I like it. It’s pretty good.

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This is a really good, borderline great album. With that said, I’d actually say it’s my least favorite YOD album so far. It’s definitely worth checking out if you’re a fan, but it’s clear by now that he’s found his formula and he’s sticking to it. He doesn’t really give us anything he hasn’t given us before here. Just like with most of his other work, my biggest gripe is the production. Some of these beats were actually pretty fresh, but a lot of them were just conventional, vapid boom bap instrumentals. I mean, I certainly wouldn’t wanna hear Droog over a Trap beat, but it’s not like it isn’t possible to make genuinely amazing boom bap beats. He should probably get in the studio with someone like Large Professor. That’d be really fucking dope. Anyway, I enjoyed this album a lot. I’m satisfied. He did his thing. This is dope.

Favorite Song: Devil Springs
Least Favorite Song: World’s About to End

79

Watch the video below for more thoughts on this album