For many Hip Hop disciples, Desiigner embodies everything wrong with rap music these days: a lack of originality, nothing to say, and instant gratification. When Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo was released, his appearance on “[Father Stretch My Hands] Pt. 2” was chided as a Future sound-a-like armed with one of the best beat drops of the year. But when the Brooklynite’s song “Panda” was revealed as the original version of the Kanye record, it quickly shot to the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. A 19-year-old Brooklynite had rode the coattails of one artist’s sound and another artist’s album to get the biggest song in the country, and we couldn’t understand a word of what he was saying. Ever since, the conversation around Desiigner has been whether he’s a one-hit wonder, or if he has any talent and originality that will justify his quick-found stardom.
Profound rhymes aren’t exactly a weapon in Desiigner’s repertoire. “Panda” took off because of an intoxicating beat and Desiigner’s energetic flow, and he uses the same formula for much of his mixtape debut. The title New English is appropriate: aside from the hooks, you’ll rarely hear what he’s saying. To be fair, the lack of vocal clarity isn’t just in his music; he was also impossible to understand during his brief moments of speaking to the audience before and after a recent listening party he had in a New York City townhouse.
But for all Desiigner lacks in lyrics, he admittedly makes up for in production, energy and brevity. All of these songs knock hard, with he and his G.O.O.D. Music squad picking through a batch of bangers from Mekado, Rico Beats, Richie Souf and others. “Caliber,” “Da Day” and “Talk Regardless” are sure to be gym and club favorites. Desiigner doesn’t necessarily revolutionize the trap sound the way that Travis Scott did, so he doesn’t score any originality points, but he executes it well. The songs are also, smartly, short: all but two of them are three and a half minutes or less, with many of them even shorter. So the tape virtually plays as a dozen 5-Hour Energy shots, taken one after the other; with how turnt up Desiigner is at all his performances, it wouldn’t be as surprising if that was part of his show preparation routine. Guest spots by Pusha T and King Savage on “Jet” and “Zombie Walk” respectively are also solid additions, doing their job without stealing the show from Desiigner’s unconventional bars.
Desiigner isn’t quite a one-hit wonder, but a notch above: he remakes the same hit over and over, with solid-yet-predictable results each time. More than anything on New English, his XXL Freshman freestyle shows potential for him to separate himself from Future in a meaningful way. New English is a welcomingly satisfying first impression, but hopefully his GOOD Music debut Life of Desiigner brings more original ideas to the table.
Ye i am that one nigha
Why hasn’t Still Brazy gotten an album review
Pusha’s verse was the only good part of this album.
Sukkz azz.
So minus Panda this is his first release and its meh. Cant say trash . I am not a fan by any means. The only reason this kid might hang around is cuz he is rolling with pusha n yeezy. Lyrics i wouldnt expect from him. Why waste time on this when YG dropped a great gangsta album (yet again) and lets prepare for school boy q album which will be fire. I cant even give it a 1. Hip hop dx come on yall this is only .5 behind vic mensa Theres alot going on…. come on man
Sit your fucking ass back down
Fuck this copycat ass nigga
#FutureHive…
Yup
HIphopDX I expect better from y’all. Why is there still no Still Brazy album review?
That’s gotta be a contender for album of the year.
Still no YG review!!!? I give up on HHDX 🙁
Youd be surprised on how much music they sleep on
great 1st project
why all the hate?
Welcome to HHDX,the site that doesnt review Still Brazy, and rates a future clone higher than drake (drake’s album wasn’t a classic too, but if this shtt deserves a 3.2, it deserved a 6 outta 5), censors comments and Logic cuz he’s white.
* underrates logic cuz he white
* underrates logic cuz he white
0/5
Mystikal has changed his voice and flow because he was too similar to LL Cool J.
Nuff said.
Decent entry.
Nope
Future is way better than this clone. And Future is trash. SMH
This Shrek Donkey ass nigga just need to switch his style up*stop soundin like fuckin Future* and maybe; just maybe he can go further than just being a clone ass nigga… Or ask Pusha T to be his ghostwriter… *Kanye Shrug*
Just needs to work with some good writers for overall direction and he’ll be fine. Mix a little new creative stuff with this that we heard already and he can do alot better, cuz he;’s talented but needs to find his own way.
Still better than future.
If i Woke up tomorrow and the headline read: ” Desiigner become highest paid rapper in History” but in the Article it says “Universal Records Aquires new record deal for Artist Desiigner on the account the he never makes a song again”
Straight garbage, needs to try something new
Lyrics kind of hard to understand and reminiscent of drill rapping while the beats were all hard and production was decent. Nothing more than another rapper with a hard beats and same subject matter
Album is good
This garbage got 3.2 and VIEWS scored 2.9 according to DX… With such reviews they just show how disengaged they are from the current music trends. Not saying VIEWS are great, but this New English is a complete disgrace to rap culture.
The sound of New York in 2016: the unintelligible Dutch that was spoken when it was New Amsterdam in 1664. #feelingItForNoveltyReasons
Bruh this shit was weak