This album was released on June 14th this year. Before I begin this review, I guess I should mention the somewhat small elephant in the room. When I told someone I was checking this project out, they laughed and seemed to think that I was joking. I guess people don’t expect me to listen to Your Old Droog anymore because he turned out to be a total prick. I don’t really mind that though. Just because he’s an asshole and has me blocked on Twitter doesn’t mean I don’t still think he’s a good rapper. I’m not gonna miss out on good music just because its creator isn’t someone I get along with. This project in particular ended up being very good. It’s probably my least favorite album from Droog at this point, but that’s just a testament to how consistent he is. I actually feel almost exactly the same way about this project that I do about the one he dropped just a couple months prior. That project seemed slightly more polished, but I like the instrumental aesthetic of this one more. I prefer hearing Droog over these more lighthearted sounding beats, rather than the darker, more ominous atmosphere of the production on It Wasn’t Even Close. Anyway, this review is probably gonna be pretty short since I have the same opinion that I did of the aforementioned project.

It should probably be noted that my overall score of this project doesn’t take the bonus tracks into account. I did like both of them to some extent though. The one with Quelle Chris, Taxi, had some good rapping, but I was a little disappointed in Chris’ production to be honest. It flips the exact same sample as KMD’s What a Niggy Know, and the two beats really aren’t that different. I’d rather just listen to the KMD song personally. The rapping from Droog is really great, and Quelle Chris was alright too, but I just think What a Niggy Know is a better overall song. Taxi’s good though. It was obviously meant to serve as kind of an homage to KMD—Your Old Droog even says “R.I.P. to [DJ] Subroc” at one point. It’s a cool song, but definitely far from a favorite of mine. The other bonus track was a remix of my favorite song from the What Happened to Fire? EP that Droog did with Wiki. It’s the same song, but with a new beat from Mono En Stereo. It kinda sounds like they rerecorded the verses too. I personally prefer the original version of the song, but this one is almost just as good in my opinion. In fact, it’s better than all the original songs on the album, which I guess is kind of disappointing. It’s one of my favorite songs that Droog has ever done though. However, I’m mainly looking at the main album for this review, and not the bonus tracks. Even though I just wrote about the bonus tracks… My favorite track from the main album is probably Train Love. I’m pretty sure it’s the closest thing Droog has ever done to an actual love song, which doesn’t really sound like a great idea on paper, but I think the song is fantastic personally. I really love the production, and I was surprised by how well written the song was. My second favorite track is probably Rocket Launch, which I guess might seem kind of strange since it’s labeled as an interlude. It’s a regular song though. The only difference is that it’s about one third of the length of every other song on the album. The main reason I loved the song so much was because of the production, but I also thought Droog’s lyrics were more interesting on this one. The following track, My Plane, is another standout for me. In case you haven’t realized by now, this album has a theme of uh… Transportation… He references different methods of traveling throughout the whole project, which is kinda cool. The hook on My Plane may be a little rough to some people since Droog is singing. I admit it’s not great, but I don’t actually think it’s bad. I think he kinda pulled it off. It’s not like he was really trying to hit a note like Mariah Carey. He’s aware of his abilities and did the best he could. The production is pretty good on this track, and I thought Droog’s rapping was excellent. I loved that infomercial line. The last real standout track for me was the single, Under the Train (Transporting).

The music video was released before It Wasn’t Even Close came out, so I’m glad the song finally found a home on this project. I don’t really have any issues with it. It’s more of the same from Droog. He doesn’t do anything differently here. That’s not a bad thing if what we all know and love from Droog is just fantastic rapping though. I think the song has one of the better beats on this album, which I guess isn’t saying too much since production isn’t the best aspect of the project. The song is dope af though. I love it. The music video also contains another track from the album called The Cheese. It’s definitely one of the weaker tracks on the project in my opinion, but I still like it quite a bit. The production is nice, and Droog did what he always does. Honestly, the song is pretty damn good. The reason I say it’s a weak point is because of the long winded outro. The instrumental crescendo just isn’t sonically pleasant to me. I didn’t care for that part. It’s a good track overall though. Speaking of outros, I gotta talk about track 2. Monthly honestly would’ve been another one of my favorite tracks if it wasn’t for that outro. Droog’s flow here is great, and I like the production quite a bit. Why the fuck did he include that outro though? WHY? I don’t wanna hear about that shit, man. For those of you who haven’t heard it, Droog included the audio of some guy telling a story. Basically, the climax involves a woman sucking a bloody tampon “like it was a dick.” Yeah. Pretty disturbing stuff. Droog has a really juvenile and crude sense of humor. That “Loosey Spot on Wheels” interlude pretty much confirmed it. The final track from the main portion of the album, 207, is pretty dope. One thing that was interesting was when Droog basically admitted that he used to say the N word casually. I honestly wasn’t surprised at all. He seems like one of those edgy dudes that likes offending people. I feel like it was cooler for him to admit it instead of just pretending it never happened though. I don’t know. The song’s dope either way. Droog also included a sequel to G. Dep’s Head Over Wheels, which was kind of interesting. I really didn’t care for the production of that song at all; it’s got that very shiny, polished, gaudy sounding instrumental that reminds me of an In My Lifetime era Jay-Z single. I never realized it, but I feel like G. Dep was probably a big influence on Droog. If you listen to the original Head Over Wheels, and then listen to Droog’s version, it’s kind of obvious. Their flows sound very similar to me. The song definitely isn’t a high point on the album for me, but I did enjoy it. The only full song on the album that I didn’t particularly care for was actually the very first song, Stillwell Baby. I don’t think it’s a bad track. It just doesn’t do anything for me. I don’t see myself wanting to listen to it in the future at all.

As I said very early on in this review, this is a really good album. I don’t think Droog’s gonna get any new fans from this project because it really just feels like a slightly cheaper version of what he always does, but if you like him I don’t see how you’d be disappointed with this one. One thing that I haven’t mentioned is the mixing. This project sounds kind of muddy. The mixing’s a little shitty to me. I think it works though. I’m almost positive it’s intentionally lo-fi. The only track where it bothered me was Stillwell Baby. The mixing on that one seemed significantly worse than that of any of the other tracks. I will say, the mixing was a little irritating on The Cheese, but definitely not bad enough to prevent me from returning to the song. So yeah. I liked all the other songs. I could’ve done without the pointless interludes like Bikes, Bleeps, and Busses, but for the most part this is a very good listen. The production was kinda stale on a lot of these tracks, but Droog is definitely the main selling point for this project. It’s not like all the beats are trash. They just aren’t really that impressive. I recommend this project overall though. It’s very good. Check it out.

Favorite Song: Train Love
Least Favorite Song: Stillwell Baby

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