Meyhem Lauren Fails To Strike Gold With “Precious Metals”

On a recent episode of “Fuck, That’s Delicious,” Meyhem Lauren and BFF Action Bronson head to Barcelona, Spain, where they get a tour of the ancient market La Boqueria. It was the first time three titans of rap music feasted on the premises. Along with The Alchemist, they eat Catalonian classics like squid with garlic and eggs, jamón ibérico and cava. Naturally, food is a heavy topic of discussion on Meyhem’s newest offering, Precious Metals, which is nothing new. On 2016’s Piatto D’oro, he brags about many of his culinary adventures, including eating crab meat right out the shell and late night steam fish takeout runs.

This time around, he waxes poetic over a piece of cheese on “Jarlsberg,” describes an experience eating fish wrapped in banana leaves on “Steamed Monkfish,” and boasts about having a swordfish in his backseat on “Yuca.” Needless to say, he’s living the good life, which is something he’s been consistently working on since emerging with his debut solo album, 2011’s Self Induced Illness.

As a voracious student of Hip Hop’s Golden Era, the native New Yorker has attempted to fine-tune his lyrical execution and ability to write detailed, narrative tracks. While high-profile producer Harry Fraud does an impeccable job of delivering a classic East Coast sound, Meyhem’s lack of depth in his songs is palatable. Throughout the 12-song effort, much of it comes across as hollow, especially on songs like “Oval Office,” where he claims he’s “getting head like the President” and “Just Made Bail,” where he spits, “More money, more bitches, more jewelry” in the most generic way possible. Then “Posiden’s Wrath” takes nasty to another level with tales of his sexual conquests, although to his credit, he uses the “God of the Sea” as a metaphor for how deep his D goes. Sadly, that ocean’s depth runs extremely shallow.

On the Bronson-assisted “5 Wagons,” he does execute some smooth lyrical calisthenics with lines like, “We them bitches babies’ daddies/probably, maybe/oh shit/it could be possible/y’all niggas couldn’t see me/I’m a young optical obstacle,” while Bronson claims he’s a “fucking laid back guy” before he flexes his usual braggadocio-packed bars. Truthfully, it sounds like they took a few dabs in the studio and just started freestyling.

While Precious Metals is not a stellar album by any means, there are a few highlights that include “Champagne Scriptures” with Hologram and “Venetian Loafers” featuring Bodega Bamz, which delivers the most well-crafted beat on the entire album. The aforementioned “Yuca” has the perfect line to sum up exactly where Meyhem is in his life—eating the most expensive food, making money off music and enjoying the company of his female. “Every day I wake up, I eat good, count something, touch something, bust something, clutch something,” he says, indicating he must be in the best place of his life.