Note: This review contains excerpts from OG NICK MARSH’s review of Sad, Fat Luck by Ceschi.

This EP was released on July 5th this year. Before I talk about Lou the Human, I feel that it’s important to give some background on my relationship with his music. He’s an artist who I became familiar with after he dropped his breakout album, Humaniac. I didn’t actually check it out until late 2018, or maybe even early this year. I can’t remember exactly when I listened to it. I ended up really loving it though. Then, earlier this year, he released the lead single for his sophomore album, Painkiller Paradise. This is where things get interesting. I actually wrote about this story already when I reviewed the album that Ceschi dropped in April. I don’t feel like retelling the whole story, so most of this will be copy and pasted from that review. Anyway, when I listened to the lead single from Lou’s aforementioned sophomore album, I didn’t really care for it, so I tweeted this…

A few minutes later, all hell broke loose. I guess Lou the Human was searching for mentions of his name on Twitter, and he just so happened to stumble upon my humble opinion. Keep in mind, I didn’t even say his single was bad. I literally just said I was disappointed by it. In a now deleted tweet, he responded to my comment about [a] Ceschi video [that I celebrated as my "favorite song of the year so far"] saying “If this is your song of the year how could I care what you think lol.” Needless to say, I was taken aback. I asked myself, “if he really didn’t care, would he feel the need to tweet at me?” I figured it wasn’t that big of a deal. It was just weird to me how he seemed to throw Ceschi under the bus for no reason. I have a feeling he didn’t even listen to the song I was talking about. However, he eventually proved that he DID in fact care because he continued tweeting about me.

I mean, he’s not exactly wrong about the whole masturbation thing, but I don’t really see how that’s relevant.

So yeah, as you can see, he was very hurt. I don’t really get how me rating Aesop Rock’s discography makes me a loser, but that’s what Lou says. One other interesting thing you may see is that he told me to “make ur own art loser.” This is another example of artists claiming that you have to be an artist in order to share your opinion on music, which I don’t agree with at all. I wonder if Lou the Human has ever had a negative opinion about a movie. If so, did he keep it to himself because he’s not a filmmaker? I guess that’s possible. I do make my own art though. It’s visual art, but he didn’t specify that it had to be music, so I guess it still counts. Anyway, I don’t really have a point to make. I just thought it was funny how emotional Lou got about what I said. It’s interesting that he seemed to have a problem with me thinking Ceschi had the best song of the year at that point too, especially considering the fact that I made that comment less than 20 days into 2019. It’s not like there was a lot of competition.

Obviously I don’t have the highest opinion of Lou the Human as a person, but I still have an interest in his music. It’s pretty unprofessional of him to go on a tirade about one of his fans, especially in response to such a mild complaint. I think in many cases someone in my position would just completely write Lou the Human off as an asshole who doesn’t deserve my support. It’s not like he really needs my support though. I am just one person at the end of the day. An artist being a prick to me isn’t enough for me to lose all interest in their work, especially if I’ve been a fan of them in the past. I even gave the second Your Old Droog album of the year a chance, and ended up enjoying it quite a bit. I’m a music fan first, so a shitty interaction isn’t enough for me to deprive myself of potentially enjoyable music. It’s an unfortunate situation, and I’ve lost a little respect for Lou personally, but I still think he’s a very talented rapper. That What I Do freestyle that he did for XXL was legitimately amazing to me. He murdered that shit. Check it out if you haven’t seen it yet. Anyway, as far as this actual project goes, I didn’t know if I was gonna like it. I had no expectations. It was released as a promotional EP for his sophomore album, and I didn’t know what it was gonna sound like. I assumed that it’d kinda hint towards the overall sound of Painkiller Paradise, which would make sense, but I really just wasn’t sure. I was hoping that I’d at least get a few enjoyable songs out of it, but I wasn’t expecting to love it personally.

Thankfully, I actually ended up thinking this project was kinda good. It’s far from perfect, but overall I enjoyed it. As always, I’ll discuss the songs I actually enjoyed before talking about what I didn’t like. The project begins with Lighter Fluid, which I think is pretty solid. I think the heavy, kind of atmospheric production is dope as hell. At the very beginning of the verse, Lou references Kid Cudi, who I think would actually sound perfect over this beat. Lou himself doesn’t really sound that great over it to me personally though. I think a more toned down delivery from him would’ve worked better because the beat feels kind of somber. The actual rapping from Lou is solid, and I love the beat. However, I really didn’t think they meshed very well when I first listened to the song. I’m still not crazy about it, but it has grown on me slightly. I like the track, but it’s definitely far from my favorite. It’s cool though. I fuck with it. The following track, Run for Your Money, is much better in my opinion. The production has a similar atmosphere to that of the previous track, but this one feels even darker and moodier to me. It’s an awesome beat. It actually kinda sounds like something Drake would’ve rapped over for Nothing Was the Same. The verse from Lou isn’t amazing or anything, but I enjoyed it. His flow is dope. The lyrics don’t really stand out that much to me, but I just assumed that he focused more on his actual writing for his full length album. It’s definitely not trash lyrically. I’d say it’s above average. It’s just not enough to really impress me that much. It’s cool though. He definitely had some impressive lines. That reference to Oasis’ Wonderwall was tight. It’s definitely a better verse than the one on the preceding track. My biggest gripe with the song is the few lines where Lou tries to sing. It doesn’t go over well. I mean, it’s far from the worst singing I’ve ever heard. It’s just kinda weak. He sounds like Drake during those parts. But, like, with a shittier singing voice obviously. I still like the song though. It’s dope to me. Pretty much everything I said about the song applies to the following track, Trust a Soul Freestyle. The production is cool, but the singing from Lou is really weak. It’s tolerable though. The rapping from Lou is dope. His flow is really what makes the song stand out so much. He sounds great. Again, the lyrics aren’t super impressive, but they’re not bad. They just don’t really captivate me at all. The song is dope though. I like it a lot. The following track is a remix of Missy Elliott’s Pass That Dutch called Hov Slang.

I’ve never really been a huge fan of Missy Elliott, so I’d actually probably take Lou’s version over her’s personally. Once again, the song didn’t impress me that much lyrically. I just really liked Lou’s flow. His high pitched voice does get a little annoying at certain points, especially when he’s ostensibly running out of breath towards the end of track. It doesn’t ruin the song for me though. It’s a pretty tight track. The next song, Grow Up Like This, features a rapper named $quidnice, whose name seems really familiar to me, but I don’t think I’ve heard any of his music in the past. Anyway, his presence is easily the worst aspect of the song. I don’t care for his sloppy flow at all, and I’m not a fan of the way he delivers his lines. A lot of his words feel like they’re slurred. Nothing about his rapping stands out in a good way. However, the production is really dope, and Lou’s flow on this track is fantastic. The disparity in technical skill between these two MCs is almost comical. If this was a solo track from Lou it might actually be my favorite song on the album. I think he sounded awesome on this song. That $quidnice dude wasn’t terrible. He’s definitely not bad enough to ruin the song. He just doesn’t really add anything to it for me. I didn’t enjoy his parts at all, but he’s tolerable. The song is still good to me. I just think I would’ve liked it more without him. The last song that I actually like is track 7, Fuck a Chain Freestyle. The production on this song is absolutely stunning, and I think Lou killed it. Some of the lines weren’t great. He’s really living up to that stereotypical caricature of the edgy white kid with this line…

Bet that if we racin’ got my foot in first
And my other up they ass
And my fist just hit the wall ’cause I couldn’t hit ol’ girl
But she always drive me crazy, swear this bitch should be a chauffeur

That part, along with the lines about his ex not loving him anymore were definitely the two worst moments in the verse for me.

I would always walk you home at like three in the morn’
Now you treat me like someone you don’t need anymore

A lot of the other bars in the song are pretty dope though. These lines that come toward the end of the verse are probably my favorite.

You gotta be kiddin’ me
Stop it, who could honestly spit with me?
I cough up loogeys
Hotter than all of your thought up movies

It’s not amazing lyricism or anything, but I’d say it’s above average. This is the only track on the project that I’d say I actually love, but I obviously like all the other ones that I’ve mentioned so far. Now I’ll talk about the two tracks that I won’t be returning to. Thankfully, I didn’t actually end up thinking they were bad at all. Much like with the lead single to his sophomore album, they were just a little underwhelming to me. I think the most popular song from this project is the freestyle that he did over Ariana Grande’s Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored.

This is definitely my least favorite track though. First of all, I just don’t really care for the production from Max Martin & ILYA at all. It’s not a terrible beat or anything. It’s just a little dull to me personally. The worst thing about this track is definitely the singing from Lou on the intro. He sounds terrible to be honest. I think the actual rapping from Lou was decent, but it’s certainly not enough to make me wanna listen to the song again in the future. I also found this line to be a little ironic…

I’m where your whole style came from

It’s just a little funny to me because if you’re familiar at all with Lou the Human you know that he’s not really original at all. His entire first album was heavily inspired by SSLP-era Eminem, and the shit he’s doing now seems to be strongly influenced by a lot of contemporary Soundcloud rappers and modern trends. He’s like the stereotypical drug-abusing Soundcloud rapper with dyed hair who sings poorly over Trap & R&B influenced beats. The only difference is that he actually seems to put some effort into his rapping. Anyway, the other song that I didn’t really care for that much was the closing track, We Can’t Be Friends. I think the production is really good, but it’d be more suitable for an artist like Young Thug or maybe even Migos. Lou’s flow on this track is great, but it’s really his delivery that ruins it for me. The way his voice cracks multiple times during each bar is annoying as shit, and really hard to take seriously. It’s really disappointing because his flow is fire. The singing that comes in toward the end of the song is awful, but it thankfully doesn’t last too long. Again, I don’t think it’s a bad track, but I just have too many gripes to return to it in the future. It’s mediocre to me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

---

This is a good EP. Again, it’s a heavily flawed project, but I enjoyed the majority of the material here. It kinda gives me hope for his full length album because that lead single was a shaky first impression, and the tantrum he threw towards me on social media didn’t exactly help. I’d never lie just because I don’t get along with the artist in question though. I think he’s a really talented artist, and I enjoyed this project. It is pretty rough around the edges, but I’m not too surprised about that since it is just a promotional extended play. It will be kinda sad if I end up liking this more than his album. I’m expecting the material on that project to have better writing, more substantial song structures, and more diverse production. The reception has been kinda mixed from what I’ve seen, but this project has given me hope. I’m looking forward to it. This project right here is pretty cool. I fuck with it.

Favorite Song: Fuck a Chain Freestyle
Least Favorite Song: Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored Freestyle

70