Kodak Black Gets Lost In His Self Destruction On 'Pistolz & Pearlz'

Kodak Black’s story is marred with tragedy. In 2016, Kodak was viewed as one of rap’s most promising acts, earning himself a XXL Freshman spot with Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Yachty, 21 Savage, and more. The Florida rapper’s immense talent and charming persona were hiding a darker, more vile personality. There isn’t a crime Kodak hasn’t committed, a law he hasn’t broken. He’s been previously charged—multiple times—with sexual assault, rape, drug and firearm possession, armed robbery, and a myriad of other offenses.

Donald Trump pardoned Kodak Black in 2021, allowing him to return from jail with newly gained perspectives. While locked up, he turned to spirituality and faith, and seemingly started the path of accountability and reconciliation. Kodak got sober from drugs, became a newboorn Christian, and prepared to refocus his music career.

Back for Everything saw the disgraced rapper make an impactful return, capturing the world’s attention with the lead single “Super Gremlin.” Kodak continued the momentum with Kutthroat Bill: Vol. 1, but it stops there.

He made headlines this year – but not for music. In a state of delirium, he was captured on video muttering to himself on a concrete floor, shirtless and alone like a homeless person in the train station. In another instance, Kodak, sporting rugged facial hair, looked lost while on Instagram Live. A fan commented that the rapper should return to jail, drawing visible tears from the once untouchable trendsetter. While he’s been destructive and harmful to others throughout the years, it seems that Kodak has taken that harm to himself, even as his influence ushers in a new sound for Florida rap, spearheaded by DX Rising Star Luh Tyler.

Pistolz & Pearlz is Kodak’s first album of 2023 and his last for Atlantic Records. The new album sports the most features of his recent work: Vvsnce, Loe Shimmy, GorditoFlo, EST Gee, Lil Crix, and Syko Bob. While it’s understood that Kodak is providing a platform for underground Florida acts, his presence is an afterthought on the first half of the project. Kodak lacks verses on “Roses” with Vvsnce, who lays down catchy verses on sex and toxic love, and “Get Away” where Loe Shimmy croons his way around love and luxury flexes. This would work on a compilation album, not a solo record.

Kodak’s recent struggles with drugs come to light on Pistolz & Pearlz. His performance lacks the power of last year’s “Walk/Spin,” with a misstep in his direction of hooks and melodies. “Flirting with Death” has all the framework of a good Kodak song, but where Kodak’s syrupy, quicksand cadence would previously be a strength, it now sounds engulfed in promethazine. GorditoFlo’s verse is fine in itself, but feels like the wrong recipe on the song. Kodak’s lackluster performance continues on “Dope Boy Magic” where he noticeably slurs his verses together.

The slog provides an interesting, if not tragic, look inside Kodak’s psyche and emotions, but does not work as music. On “Tryna Figure Why,” Kodak sounds like he knows time is finite. Through shattered autotune, his voice breaks as he pours his heart out about betrayal, the inability to find love, and his mortality. “I’m lookin to the sky, pray to god to make a way,” he pleas with desperation. He laments the realities of his world: his opps want his head, coping with the pain through pints of lean, and friends who are in the ICU. “Follow Me” places Kodak in a place of accountability when talking to a lover, apologizing for cheating and acknowledging his shortcomings. Kodak has always been a hopeless romantic, often exploring those feelings on prior projects.

The Florida rapper romanticizes gang life on this album, looking for a purpose in a world that’s devoid of any mercy. Kodak is self aware of himself and his actions, but that awareness has gone hand and hand with acceptance of his positioning. Rather than striving to remove himself from problematic environments, he revels in the same mess that keeps him from transcending into a happier place. On “Gunsmoke Town” he talks about putting the hood on his back just for the projects to evict him.

The final quarter of Pistolz & Pearlz is hard to get through. Songs like “Balance,” “No Love for a Thug,” “Stay”, and the closer “Down with You” rely on boring song structures and tropes that feel more like fluff rather than meaningful song placements. Throughout the album’s 21 tracks, the experience feels clunky and spotty, with moments that drag, or are entirely flat out uninteresting. There’s promising songs and concepts on Pistolz & Pearlz, but it’s buried underneath uninspired clutter and bloat.

Kodak is a polarizing figure in the music industry, who doesn’t deserve a redemption arc or another chance at the limelight, but shouldn’t succumb to his own addictions either. His lowest points have been documented and posted on social media, a gladiator-like audience awaiting for the damned’s fate to be decided. Addiction is a disease that many young artists have succumbed to in the last 5 years. If there’s a chance for rehabilitation for Kodak, hopefully he takes it, even if he seems too far gone.