At the age of 21, Kodak Black has already distinguished himself as an influential artist for this generation and beyond. Despite all of his accomplishments, however, there’s no way around the controversy that spliced between his casual drizzle of hits. He’s scheduled to stand trial for a sexual assault charge and has a well-documented history of unethical behavior.
Earlier this month, the Florida rapper abruptly stormed out of a Hot 97 interview when Ebro Darden asked him about his sexual battery charges. Any lawyer worth his salt would advise their client to ignore a question about an upcoming trial. However, the interview clip is jarring within the climate of #MeToo. His gloomy sophomore album, Dying To Live, is perhaps as candid as Kodak wants to — or can — get at this moment. On this batch of interesting tracks, he opens up about his struggles and incorporates spiritual themes to build a sympathetic narrative.
Earlier this year, Kodak dropped a polarizing, R&B-influenced mixtape Heart Break Kodak from prison. Anyone concerned that his foray into 808s blues meant he was abandoning rap altogether should relax — Dying To Live is a return to traditional Kodak. The project kicks off with “Testimony,” a sad track that has him tackling his inner-demons. Rapping over a minimal, atmospheric beat, he opens up about his spirituality and sobriety: “I don’t drink no lean, I’m sippin’ on holy water like this my medicine/ I’m a livin’ testimony, every album like a testament/ Everything I went through made me who I am cause he be testin’ me.”
Throughout the project, he revisits these themes of introspection and personal growth. “If I’m Lyin, I’m Flyin,” “Calling My Spirit,” and “Close To The Grave” have Kodak showing lyrical maturity and expressing dark sentiments over well-composed beats.
The “Roll in Peace” rapper discusses the recent murder of fellow Floridian artist XXXTENTACION on “Malcolm X.X.X.” Interspersed with an interview between Herman Blake and the civil rights leader Malcolm X, Kodak mourns the slain rapper and suggests that his shooting is part of wider systemic violence. But this track could also be him using XXXTENTACION as a method to subtly address his own problems. Given that both rappers have a history of allegations, there’s a potentially dual meaning to the lines, “First they kissin’ you, huggin’ you, then they suin’ you/ If it was me, it was you, I’m wonderin’ what you would do.”
Kodak falls back to bragging about criminality on standout songs “Take One” and “Identity Theft.” But these contradictions can be seen as mere growing pains. These tracks are ultimately salvaged by their confidence and catchiness. The project’s actual shortcomings are the handful of stream-thirsty features. “Zeze,” featuring omnipresent artists Travis Scott and Offset, is a soulless, by-the-numbers rap hit for 2018. “Gnarly,” featuring Lil Pump, comes off as self-parodic with Kodak slurring, “I just took Cialis, but she on a Molly/ Do you wanna boot up? Do you wanna party?” as a hook. And the Juice WRLD-assisted “MoshPit” is slightly better but unnecessary nonetheless.
Dying To Live is an imperfect window into a troubled soul. At times, it’s unclear whether Kodak is being honest or disingenuously begging for sympathy. Even if it’s carefully executed and shows artistic growth, the album’s mature subject matter is overshadowed by Kodak’s alleged history.
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I read the first sentence to this shit and stopped . Who the fuck writes for this website
white people that don’t listen to rap
Who let their down syndrome cousin in the booth again. It’s Autotune and Diarrhea.
This mouth breather deserves to be butt rammed by the Lions starting defense then completely forgot about.
Well the Lions D won’t be doing anything else in January
Nicer than that poop 21 and 69 and hoodie album.
Kodak can rap.
21 mumble f*ck.
69 is an entertainer.
Bye
Must be hard to having to breathe with Kodak Black’s N*ts in your mouth. Guess you get it from your momma
Kodak is absolute sheer proof as to how extremely low the bar is now. Its apparent I listened to a totally different album called Dying To Live. Any possibility of Kodak being a prolific rapper showing maturity and growth is heavily overshadowed by HOW he sounds rapping and the fact that his lyrics are damn near inaudible most of the time. See, journalist reviews like these are what has been kinda scary and troubling to me about the direction of the culture for awhile. When shit like this becomes normalized to the point it’s become the new low, then the more quality shit more deserving of our attention that comes out get overshadowed by bullshit like this. Sad state of affairs for Hip-Hop.
Understand the game, Kodak is still trying to understand English. Mush mouthed hood vermin pushing genocidal, racist and misogynistic content while y’all paint him as just a “kid”. Let’s wish him a speedy trial…
Seriously… this review was trash.. whoever wrote this I completely discount any opinion they have in the future.. this was a good album! Dude literally wrote about the 3 worst songs, and a shitty Ebro interview.. this dude a clout chaser apparently! #BigFacts
Speech impediment?
Yep dude has a mega lisp this fool is wack to the 5billion power. Stop making wack rappers famous this fool should have never been given a mic S M H.
This review is a just another sign of the times. The same mindset that make excuses for trump and try to justify his bullshit, also tries to convince ppl that these clowns are actually talented or should have a different set of rules to compensate for their lack of skills.
Holy shit the reviews and writing on this site can indeed get worse then Dana. Remember when people who contributed to these type of sites were actually of the culture (allhiphop.com , hiphopgame.com) now it’s college kids trying to over intellectualize artist work…… . .
This shit ain’t good 1/5
Hhhmm…this scored better than Ice Cube’s latest album Y’all better check yourself before y’all wreck yourself!?
WTF is this bullshit
KODAK BLACKS’ NECK LOOKS LIKE PENIS FLESH
THATS CUZ HE A BLACK DICKHEAD
No lie for a long time I wanted nothing to do with Kodak, and I have to say this album kinda change mind……a little..
Contrary to most of these comments, I think the album is fire! I was never a fan of Kodak black due to me only hearing songs where he flexes or talks about things that aren’t profound, but this album changed everything. here we get a very introspective Kodak where he covers incidents that impacted his life profoundly for example how he took the charge for his brothers gun and didn’t even get a visit from him while he was in jail, how friends double crossed him and left him heart broken, how far he’s come along from being poor to being a wealthy black man in a system which is set up for him to fail! like there’s so much emotion poured into most of these songs – the way the melodies are delivered leaves the lines lingering in your mind long after the song has played! he discusses his inner demons, trials and tribulations, I could go on and on! What i’m saying is… real rap fans will love this no matter what because it has really good content! how he sound isn’t an issue there ain’t no rules in this for HOW to sound!
No, People like you are the problem. This album is hot dog shit, but you and the reviewer think that the standard should be lowered for dog shit like this. While others who actually make good music are held to a impossible standard that isnt good enough…wtf is that. The current rating whit the few reviews here are proof that no one likes dog shit, but other dogs.
And for the record I feel bad for comparing people to dogs, when they have much more sense that the 2 people here praising this album as some form of art.
While I agree that Kodak is having somewhat of an identity crisis between a rapper who spits out party anthems or bars with compelling and thought-provoking narratives, I don’t think it’s fair to call the more party themed songs “soulless”. Not every song on an album has to be a huge metaphor. While I can get behind a harsh critique of an album that is literally nothing but drugs, hoes, and partying, “Dying to Live” wasn’t like that. The majority of the album was a great glimpse into one of the top rappers in the game’s psyche; going into how he deals with his “wild” public image, the American prison system, and his sexual assault case. Personally, “ZEZE” was one of my favorite songs of the year, because of how energetic and fun the beat and entire concept of the song was. Calling it soulless seems unfair to me. “DTL” is not a perfect album by any means, but it is a great addition to Kodak’s portfolio that shows he’s capable of this level of introspectiveness.
i THINK IT IS SO WONDERFUL THAT THE HIP HOP COMMUNITY AS A WHOLE HAS BEEN SO KIND TO THIS DROOLING, JABBERING SUBNORMAL, FEEBLE MINDED IMBECILE KNOWN AS KODAK BLACK, THIS MUMBLE RAPPER WITH SEVERE DOWN SYNDROME AND OTHER FORMS OF RETARDATION SO EXTREME THAT HE CAN BARELY GARBLE A JUMBLED SENTENCE WITHOUT SHITTING HIS PANTS, A HALF-WITTED, DEVELOPMENTALLY CHALLENGED, AUTISM CASE SO SICK THAT HIS MOTHER TRIED AND FAILED TO ABORT HIM ON MULTIPLE OCCASIONS, LEAVING HIM A STINKY BLACK PILE OF FETAL SPEWAGE WITH GOLD CHAINS AND A SKI MASK. WHILE THE INHUMAN UTTERANCES, GRUNTS, AND MENTALLY DEFECTIVE NOISES HE MAKES INT HE BOOTH CAN HARDLY BE CONSIDERED MUSIC, WE SHOULD CONTINUE TO GIVE THIS SUBHUMAN PIECE OF CRETINOUS SHIT AN “A” FOR EFFORT AND A NEGATIVE FIVE OUT OF FIVE FOR REAL MUSICAL ACHIEVEMENT. KODAK BLACK MAKES CORKY FROM LIFE GOES ON LOOK LIKE EINSTEIN.
Whack, not saying anything rally
i THINK IT IS SO WONDERFUL, SO LOVELY THAT THE HIP HOP COMMUNITY AS A WHOLE HAS COME TOGETHER TO SHOW KINDNESS AND LOVE TO THE DROOLING, JABBERING SUBNORMAL, FEEBLE MINDED RETARD KNOWN AS KODAK BLACK, AMUMBLE RAPPER WITH SEVERE DOWN SYNDROME AND OTHER FORMS OF RETARDATION SO EXTREME THAT HE CAN BARELY GARBLE A JUMBLED SENTENCE WITHOUT SHITTING HIS PANTS, THIS HALF-WITTED, DEVELOPMENTALLY CHALLENGED, AUTISM CASE IS SO SICK THAT HIS MOTHER TRIED AND FAILED TO ABORT HIM ON MULTIPLE OCCASIONS, LEAVING HIM A STINKY BLACK PILE OF FETAL SPEWAGE WITH GOLD CHAINS AND A SKI MASK. WHILE THE INHUMAN UTTERANCES, GRUNTS, AND MENTALLY DEFECTIVE NOISES HE MAKES IN THE BOOTH CAN HARDLY BE CONSIDERED MUSIC, WE SHOULD ALL CONTINUE TO GIVE THIS SUBHUMAN PIECE OF CRETINOUS SHIT AN “A” FOR EFFORT AND A NEGATIVE FIVE OUT OF FIVE FOR REAL MUSICAL ACHIEVEMENT. KODAK BLACK MAKES CORKY FROM LIFE GOES ON LOOK LIKE EINSTEIN.
Just this morning, I was shocked to find out that my penis had grown to the gigantic length and girth of a Negroid schlonger donger, now hanging out my boxers between my pasty white legs!!! I had been praying to Allah for months day and night that my teeny white Johnson would grow to the length and girth of that exhibited by a typical American Negroid specimen. Today, my prayers were answered! Where once there was a tiny pink wee wee, now there is a giant black mamba, a 10 inch boa constrictor hanging out of my boxers, splayed on the floor! I thought my prayers had indeed been answered, my life was finally worth living, and I praised and thanked the Profit Muhammed until tears streamed from my eyes and snot dripped from my nose, until I was suddenly shocked to find that, though my penis is now Sambo-Sized, my bank account is suddenly empty, my fridge is full of nothing but two week old fried chicken and malt liquor, I have five illegitimate kids named Leroi, four fat, lazy baby mamas named Shaquana, Shanayay, Shanta, and Moesha, I have nothing in my wallet but a maxed out EBT card and a few expired food stamps, I have unpaid bills dating back ten years, I have three outstanding warrants for vagrancy, robbery, and public chicken consumption, and I’m unemployed and live in a filthy trap house! HELP! HEEEELLLLPPPP!!!