This album was released on May 28th this year. Much like with Planet Asia, I was late to the party with Psalm One. I didn’t know about her until she was featured on a CunninLynguists song a few years ago, and she really stood out on that track. Since I was so impressed by her feature, I looked her up and found out that she was signed to Rhymesayers. For a long time, the only project I’d heard from her was The Death of Frequent Flyer, and I still think it’s her best album. I recently went back and listened to almost all of her other stuff though. It really seems like The Death of Frequent Flyer was her only… Well, lemme think about how I should say this… After TDOFF, she released a lot of smaller-scale projects, such as mixtapes and shorter albums. It feels like TDOFF was far more polished than anything else she’s done. It’s like it had a way bigger budget than her other stuff. It’s unfortunate because I’ve always felt like the one major Achilles’ heel of her music was the middling production quality. It’s super rare that any of the beats she spits over really impress me. A lot of times she’s able to keep things interesting by just being a really good rapper though. I guess it’s kinda similar to how a lot of people feel about Nas. Anyway, I like most of Psalm One’s output, but there’s one exception that seriously sticks out like a sore thumb. I’m not exaggerating when I say Child Support is literally the worst album I’ve ever heard. There’s no way an album like that could’ve worked though. I promise you there is nobody on this planet who would genuinely enjoy listening to a bunch of elementary school age kids rapping about school over shitty beats. That album was a mistake. I still think Psalm One is a really great artist though, and I think she’s criminally underrated. Her output has been kinda spotty over the years though, so that probably has something to do with the lack of respect she gets. Even though I think she’s a really good rapper, I can’t say I was too optimistic about this release. I just barely liked that three song EP that she dropped in March, although I do think her previous solo album, P.O.L.Y., was her best work in years. I’m glad to say that I thankfully did end up enjoying this project overall.

I was very worried when I first started the album because I didn’t like the first couple of tracks. The opener, Can’t Beat That with an App, is okay overall, but I just did not care for that hook at all. I didn’t like the way Psalm One incorporated the Fu-Gee-La melody. I feel like that song is super overused. Whenever I hear someone sample that track I roll my eyes. Nas Album Done is a rare exception. That’s neither here nor there though. I didn’t really care for the beat from Icetep on this track. The first verse from Psalm One was solid, but it was far from enough to make the song worth replaying. It was cool to see Sims featured on this track, and he ended up killing his verse, but, again, it couldn’t save the song. Again, I think it’s decent overall, but it has zero replay value for me. The second track, Twerking4Feminists, is where I started to get really worried. As soon as the track started, I knew right away that I was not gonna fuck with it at all. The sexual content was a huge turn off, and I really did not like that hook. I also thought the beat from Bionik was super shitty at first, but it kinda got better as the song progressed. I didn’t like the song at all, but I don’t think I would call it bad. It’s just very mediocre to me. However, the remainder of the album is pretty good. It’s smooth sailing from this point, starting with the title track. Nothing about this song really stands out that much to me, but the production was relatively dope. I didn’t really think the hook was that great, but it was fine. The rapping from Psalm One was the main aspect of the song that made it enjoyable for me. That’s pretty much exactly how I felt about the closing track too. One thing that really stood out about that track was the production from Optiks though. I actually think that beat is really great. I love how somber and emotional it sounds. I got the same feeling from Greg Grease‘s beat on Rock & Roll McDonaldz, which also seemed to be one of the most introspective tracks on the album. The first line of the song is “Lord, why’d you make me so gay?” It’s definitely my favorite song on the whole album. The structure is super straightforward and simplistic, but I think that works to its benefit. The R. Kelly diss was appreciated too. WWIV was one of the weaker songs on the project in my opinion, but I still enjoyed it overall. The production from Daeski wasn’t that great, but I think the hook from Angel Davanport was really good. She’s kind of hit or miss with me as a rapper, but I usually enjoy when she sings, so her feature on this project was dope to me. The first verse from Psalm One was pretty good, but I wasn’t crazy about her melodic delivery on the second verse. It was fine though. I think the song is pretty good, but, as I said before, it’s definitely a weaker point on the album. Nasty Jazz Hands has my favorite beat on the whole album. Icetep really redeemed himself because I actually think this is one of the best beats Psalm One has ever rapped over. It’s amazing to me. The hook wasn’t anything special, but her flow was great. It’s definitely one of the better songs. In terms of content alone, Ain’t 2 Famous & The Impossible Lover are two more of my favorite tracks.

Ain’t 2 Famous, as you can probably surmise from the title, is about how Psalm One does whatever she can to secure the bag since she isn’t that famous. The production was pretty cool, and the song arguably has the best hook on the album. The Impossible Lover is probably my second favorite track on the album. The production was cool, and I really liked the content of the song; she was basically rapping about someone with whom she seemed to be in a relationship for a long ass time, but things ended I guess, so she’s reflecting on that throughout the track. It’s really well done. The hook is very simplistic, but I didn’t mind it at all. It’s a dope track.

This album is pretty good. It’s definitely a flawed record, but there were only two songs that I didn’t care for. It’s not one of the best albums I’ve heard all year, nor is it one of Psalm One’s best albums. I think it’s a solid release that her fans are probably satisfied with though. There are only 9 tracks on the project, so it’s a super easy listen. At this point, I’m really just starting to wonder if we’ll ever get an album that’s nearly as exciting as The Death of Frequent Flyer. I think the closest that she’s come to reaching that level of quality again is 2015’s P.O.L.Y., which had some really good production, and dope features as well. It’d be cool to hear another project from The Rapperchicks too. I wonder if they’ll ever drop a full length album. Unless I’m missing something, they’ve only ever put out that three song EP. They had my favorite track on P.O.L.Y. though. I think that song is amazing. I know I’m talking more about Psalm One’s overall discography here than this album, but that’s mainly because I don’t think this record is gonna stand out amongst her other projects. It’s just another solid project. I don’t wanna believe that she’s peaked yet, and I’m still waiting for her to drop a project that really blows me away. I think she has the talent to do so. She would just need some top-notch production, and some really exciting features. But yeah, as far as this project goes, I think it’s good. Check it out if you’re a fan. Even if you’re not familiar with her music, you’ll probably dig this record if you decide to check it out. It’s dope.

Favorite Song: Rock & Roll McDonaldz
Least Favorite Song: Twerk4Feminists

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