This album was released on January 14th this year. lojii is an artist from Philly whose music I have virtually zero experience with. I’ve personally only ever heard him on features. I enjoyed his appearance on Swarvy’s 2018 album, Anti-Anxiety, and his feature on Maxo’s LIL BIG MAN EP from last year was cool too. I’m not really expecting this to be an amazing album or anything, but I am pretty sure that I will enjoy it. As I’ve stated before, I’m not as obsessed with this current wave of underground lofi artists as most of Music Twitter seems to be, but I do like a lot of it to some extent. I don’t think this’ll be one of my favorite releases of the year, but I guess anything’s possible. This is my first time listening to his music after all, so maybe he’ll end up surprising me.

1. patience produced by absent avery

The jazzy, chill production on this song is pretty fantastic. The hook is pretty nice too. I don’t think that the rapping is super mind-blowing or anything, but it’s definitely satisfactory for me personally.

Thankin’ God for all of the graces
Pray over my plate, stayin’ gracious
Grandmama sayin’ that’s the only way to live
First take yo time, then you find a way to give

His super calm, low-key delivery fits really well over this smooth production in my opinion. I think it’d be really great background music for getting stoned. I can just imagine listening to this while melting into my chair after smoking a blunt. The song is dope.

2. lo&behold produced by Swarvy

This is one of the highlights on the album for me. Swarvy’s production here is fucking gorgeous. He’s really becoming one of my favorite producers. The instrumental is still pretty chill, but it’s also more uptempo than that of the preceding track. It kinda gives me the same feeling that Mick Jenkins’ Spread Love gives me. This is more danceable though. It sounds like I’m sinking into an ocean of bells. I don’t know if that makes sense, but that’s what came to mind as I was listening to it. Anyway, I love lojii’s melodic delivery on the hook of this song, and the verse is really great too. The song honestly reminds me of old school Joey Bada$$ more than anything. The verse isn’t super technical or wordy. The song itself is just really chill. I really love this one. It’s dope af.

3. U callin’ Me featuring Pink Siifu & Akeema-Zane produced by Swarvy

Once again, the production is super chill; it sounds like it samples an old R&B record. I really like lojii’s melodic hook here, and his verse at the beginning of the song is nice too.

Let’s take ’em back to the essence, black adolescence
Hid in my stereo, I was lost in the reverence
Mama always remindin’ me, count all my blessings
Remember laugh first, nothing lasts forever

Pink Siifu killed that second verse too. I’m pretty sure Akeema-Zane just provided the background vocals, but they sounded pretty good. I don’t love this track quite as much as the previous one, but it’s still very enjoyable to me. I don’t really have any complaints honestly. I think this shit is dope.

4. trippin’ (i like it) produced by 92 Colby

This is definitely my least favorite song on the album. I personally just don’t really care for the content at all.

I ain’t nobody famous
But you’ll fuck me like the whole world know what my name is
And whoever don’t, they gon’ hear you scream it
Makin’ love like we made it, like we won’t end up nameless

I kinda like the production, but it’s not as unique or memorable as the preceding material in my opinion. It just sounds like another jazz rap beat that a Pro Era rapper would spit over. It’s still good though. I like the song. The melodic hook sounds pretty good to me. I definitely fuck with the track sonically, but the content just doesn’t interest me personally. I think it’s a good song overall though.

5. get up (interlude) produced by absent avery

I like the instrumental from absent avery in the background of this skit. The skit itself is unbearably corny to me though. I guess it connects to the previous track pretty well, but the actual dialogue in this track is so lame to me. I’m not gonna judge this too much since it’s just an interlude, but I really didn’t like this.

6. uhoh (whereyoho@) produced by Swarvy

The beat on this track is fire. I actually think it’s the best instrumental up to this point on the record. It was already great, but once the flute came in I was in love with it. lojii’s flow on this track is really nice too. The way he’s floating over this instrumental is super entertaining. I don’t think the content is super interesting, but he did his thing on this song.

People want beef, they don’t eat enough
While they sneak dissing we creepin’ up
I flip for the low and I re it up
Yo plug keep on texting; they greedy, huh?
I’m dottin’ my I’s and I’m T’ing up
Catchin’ some views, you don’t see enough
How you so sleep, but don’t dream enough?
Problem is you don’t believe enough

As you can see, the writing isn’t that impressive. His flow and Swarvy’s production are really the main appeal of the song. I fuck with it. This is dope.

7. stay focu$ed (interlude)

Fun fact: at one point, “stay focused” was this blog’s tagline. I thought it was too corny though, so now I just don’t have a tagline at all. Anyway, this interlude didn’t really do much for me personally. I think the instrumental in the background is kinda cool at first, but it’s very repetitive, and doesn’t really go anywhere. The sampled speech really went in one ear and out the other for me too. I’m never listening to this interlude again, but I can’t pretend that I’m really bothered by its existence.

8. brite kid produced by Jacob Rochester

The beat on this track is really awesome. This is more of what I would expect a member of the [sLUms]. collective to rap over. The hook is pretty cool. There’s only one verse on this song, but I like it. Again, the lyrics aren’t super amazing or anything, but they’re definitely satisfactory. I like the way he sounds rapping them even if they aren’t that impressive to me on paper.

Once upon a time way before I had a watch to tell the time
I learned no matter what the time, I’m always in my prime
And every moment’s your only moment to shine
I wrote my first rhyme back in ’99

The way the production switches up for the outro is really nice, and I really like the vocals as well. The song is dope.

9. each day (i pray for) produced by Alexander Spit

The beat on this track is really nice. It sounds very warm and comforting to me. The verse at the beginning of the song is pretty cool too. I really like lojii’s rough singing on the hook. Again, the lyrics aren’t really that interesting to me, but he sounds really good over this beat.

Lookin’ in the mirror at the fit
Everything a limited edition
Anything I do, you don’t wanna miss
Alexander Spit, do me up a hit
Haters take a lot of shots, and they miss
I see everything, I never snitch
They say everything they ever did
Wish you knew everything I never said

The writing is frankly pretty simplistic, but I love his delivery and presence over this soft and somewhat sentimental sounding beat. The song is dope.

10. between hu$tles produced by absent avery

The production on this track is pretty nice. This is the point on the album where lojii’s rapping started getting a lot more impressive in my opinion. The content here still isn’t that interesting to me, but I think it’s a well written verse.

I ain’t got time to worry ’bout a second coming
I be too tired of worryin’ ’bout the 1st coming
The rent still due and the work gettin’ fronted
My tummy still hungry, I’m still waitin’ on some money

I just don’t know why the song is so short; I appreciate the brevity of the overall album, but this song in particular didn’t need to end so early. The whole track is just one verse, and I like it a lot, but the song would’ve been much more fulfilling if it was more fleshed out. This shit is still really dope though. I fuck with it.

11. biggavelli 3:23 produced by absent avery

Out of all the interludes, this is definitely the most enjoyable for me up to this point on the album. The shit Max B said on this track didn’t interest me at all; I really just like the instrumental in the background. This is a cool track.

12. good faith featuring Nikko Gray produced by Jacob Rochester

I really love the instrumental on this track, and the first verse on this song is pretty nice too.

Playin’ with this dirty money, tryna keep my soul clean
Live for my ancestors, but I got my own dreams
Homie I been OT, shoutout to the home team
Stuffin’ money in the couch livin’ cozy
Shoutout to the OGs, R.I.P. the old me
Tryna live by the wisdom that was shown me

The rapping here is even better than that of track 10. I really like the vocals from Nikko Gray too. This is definitely one of the best songs on the album in my opinion. I love it. It’s dope af.

13. longwayhome produced by Alexander Spit

This chill beat is pretty dope, but not as original sounding as a lot of the others in my opinion. I feel like I could find a beat like this on YouTube if I went to one of those ChilledCow lo-fi studying weeb beat radio streams. The rapping is really good on this track though; the content is a bit more interesting than most of the other tracks.

You can find me at the end of a spliffy
No friends in my city
Most people only hit me when they need something
Plus mama always trippin’ and my pops always twisted
Who the fuck I’m s’posed to talk to when I need something?

Even though this isn’t my favorite instrumental on the album, the overall song is definitely a highlight for me. I really appreciate the introspective lyricism. The song actually kinda reminds me of Isaiah Rashad’s Cilvia Demo. The beat sounds a lot like something he would rap over. The sung hook is really nice on this track too. This shit is dope af.

14. over&over / round&round produced by absent avery

The production on this track is pretty cool. I like lojii’s melodic delivery over it, although it is a little repetitive. The first verse is pretty nice. round&round’s beat sounds like it uses all the same instruments; it’s just got a different melody. I definitely prefer round&round over over&over just because I think it’s more chill, and lojii’s delivery isn’t as repetitive. The rapping here is more impressive to me too.

Twelve always lurking, why they worried ’bout me?
Lot of people hurting, need to worry ’bout ’em
Worry ’bout ’emselves, find a way to make heaven out of this hell
Deep in the game, no NFL, just in the field

Overall, the song is pretty dope, but not one of my favorites. I definitely like it a lot though. It’s a dope song.

15. myself produced by absent avery

This beat also sounds kinda similar to that of the previous track, but a bit more detailed. I like the percussion a lot. The rapping on this one is really good too.

My future haunted by the shadows of my past self
Neither them exist, I’m just lettin’ them distract, how
The real me is in the now with my ass out
In the field, throwin’ hail marys, we on last down
Who do you call when you ashamed to even ask for help?
If God is in me then I guess I gotta ask myself
I know my mama question why I even came out
And real rap, I even gotta ask the same now

This is definitely one of the best rap performances on the album in my opinion. Pretty much every line is genuinely interesting. He switched his flow up towards the end of the song too, which was a nice change of pace. This is a major highlight on the album for me. I love it. It’s dope af.

16. wisdomlude produced by asbent avery

I really love the instrumental on this track. The words from PIFF FIRESMOKE DA FORTUNE TELLA are actually kinda interesting too. Out of all the interludes on the album, this is definitely my favorite. I’m not really sure why it’s sold as an interlude rather than a proper outro, but it doesn’t really matter. This is nice.

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This album is great. I think this is the second best project I’ve heard this year. There’s not a single song that I didn’t like. Throughout most of the album, the rapping wasn’t really that amazing to me, but there are definitely some moments where I was impressed, and I wouldn’t actually say that any of the verses are bad. The production was very nice for the most part. I don’t really think anyone will be blown away by this project since he isn’t necessarily doing anything super different or unique. It’s just really well executed. I really fuck with this shit. It’s dope. Check it out.

Favorite Song: myself
Least Favorite Song: trippin’

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