MITHREADS REVIEWS: Big Baby DRAM

ATHEY's FINAL VERDICT

7.5/10

RATING:

FAVORITE SONGS:

Monticello Ave

WiFi

In a Minute/In House

FOR THE FANS OF:

Chance The Rapper, Fetty Wap, Young Thug

D.R.A.M. is a rapper from Virginia who “Does Real Ass Music.” He initially gained notoriety for his song, “Cha-Cha.” It was a catchy and playful pop hip-hop song with a beat that “heavily influenced” Drake’s “Hotline Bling.” Whether or not he got the credit the hip-hop heads felt he deserved, D.R.A.M. has continued his career rather unconcerned with the matter. He toured with Chance The Rapper in 2015 and has dropped catchy singles such as “Broccoli” and “Cash Machine” which took the internet by storm, the former even became the number one hip-hop song in America. It’s all been leading up to his commercial debut, Big Baby D.R.A.M., which was recently released.

I was first introduced to D.R.A.M. just over a year ago, about 13 months to the date as I write this. I caught him opening for Chance The Rapper in Detroit. What I remember thinking during his set was just how genuinely nice he was. The man radiated positivity. Regardless of how I felt about his music, I couldn’t hate on the dude. Why would I want to? The music wasn’t quite my style, but I recall thinking to myself, I’m comfortable with a dude like this being popular. If it’s positive and real, I’m with it, and D.R.A.M. was the real deal with his positive attitude.

This is my main criticism of some of the music that D.R.A.M. makes. The song is playful and joyous. It sounds like something that would be on a kid show. That would be fine if the song wasn’t about weed. “Broccoli” and some other songs like this lie in a weird limbo where the song sounds too childish to be for adults, but has too mature subject matter for kids to grasp. Danny Brown made the similar track, “Get Hi” which I praised him for, but there’s a reason his album was called Atrocity Exhibition. That’s not to say you can’t like goofy music, but it has to be appropriately contextualized. Songs like “Broccoli” and “Cute” just come off as a little too corny for me.

I don’t want to shit on this album though. I don’t want to make it seem like I don’t like it, when in reality I love it minus a few songs. There are a lot of things it does incredibly well. Most immediately, I admired the diverse array of instrumentals all over this album. Many artists try to “experiment with different sounds” but often come off a little half-assed to me, not the case here. D.R.A.M. is bringing together as many sounds as he can, and making it all work. He wants everyone to have a good time. This album has trap, neo-soul, electro-house, there’s even some flirtation with rock, and D.R.A.M. sounds natural on everything. This multitude of sounds was also practiced on D.R.A.M.’s tour mate, Chance the Rapper’s last album, Coloring Book, but I think D.R.A.M. kind of outshined Chance in this regard, quite frankly.

Young Thug on the song, “Misunderstood.”

What I admire about “Misunderstood” is that it succeeded in some regards where I think “Broccoli” disappointed me. Young Thug is at the forefront of this mumble rap movement that’s going on, which is often criticized for its obvious troupes and having less of a focus on lyrics. The song is aptly titled as D.R.A.M. and Thugger double down on the mumble, twisting the thorn in the side of the subgenre’s critics. It’sa move that’s quite punk if I do say so myself. Hell, the album has a puppy on the cover, it’s telling us to stop taking things so seriously, and just have a good time. The song matches that mentality. As someone who hasn’t been much of a Young Thug fan in the past, I respected that he was able to get my head bobbing when I listened to it, and pleasantly surprised that I found myself coming back to it.

In the case of Miss Badu, I think she really saved the track. It’s not a bad track by any means, it’s a smooth R&B/soul track with one of the most memorable instrumentals on the album, and a fun use of wi-fi as innuendo. However, I don’t really think the lyrics shine very well on this song, and are kind of forgettable. But when Erykah Badu chimes in, not before a proper introduction, she breathes new life into this song. I nearly fainted when she belted, “Mama Badu bout to teach you a lesson!”

I can totally understand if Big Baby D.R.A.M. isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. It might come off as a little bit corny for some, and if you’re not a fan of some of the features used, I don’t know if they’ll make you any more of a fan of them here. While I could’ve done without a couple songs, overall, it’s just a fun happy-go-lucky project. The positivity is infectious, and I hope to see more of that in the hip-hop community.

Johnny Athey

11/09/2016