Review: Young M.A Stunts Without Purpose On ‘Red Flu’ EP

    Young M.A is the latest artist to drop music to get isolated fans through these quarantine times. She told Complex that her seven-track EP, Red Flu, is meant to ease some of the frustration people may be feeling amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. While her intent is admirable, the project itself is plagued by run-of-the-mill production and uninspired lyricism.

    “I’m tired of flexin’ on ‘em, it’s exhausting,” Young M.A confesses on the opening cut, “Dripset.” The bar is one of the most genuine moments on an EP that’s otherwise bogged down by repetitive boasting. M.A has long since made it clear that she likes to party, hustles hard and will steal your girl, often all in the same night. But, simplistic lyrics such as “‘Cause I’ma go hard anyway or any day/Man I’m a trapper, I’m in trappin’ mode” on “Savage Mode” provide for a painfully bland listen.

    Rappers such as The Game and Jeezy have stretched well-worn themes into entire careers by way of fresh concepts. However, M.A’s packaging of her flexing is almost entirely devoid of creativity. Even the song titles – “Savage Mode,” “Bad Bitch Anthem,” and “2020 Vision” – betray a record filled with sentiments of the most basic kind.

    The production is similarly ho-hum. M.A. comes close to a gem with “Quarantine Party,” as she impressively paints a picture of the kind of wild celebrity party you read about on a Reddit thread. And yet, the trap beat backing her bars goes in circles, failing to give the lyrics the oomph they need to turn this into a smash. The production on “Trap or Cap” is more menacing, but still fails to provide the appropriate bite it seems M.A was going for.

    Young M.A Shares 'Red Flu' EP Stream

    The EP’s lone bright spot is the sobering “Angels vs. Demons.” Backed by vocoder-soaked cries, Katorah Marrero lets her humanity spill onto the track. “Life is good, yeah, but I always relapse to that pain/Mental health is a stain, them thoughts in the back of my brain,” she waxes. It’s a rare moment of much-needed vulnerability from a rapper who rarely lets her guard down.

    Young M.A states on the intro to “Angels vs. Demons” that she’s “feelin’ like the old me, you heard? When I was hungry for this shit, man.” She proceeds to claim she’s still hungry, but fails to prove that on Red Flu. She revealed in the aforementioned interview that she’s saving her guest spots for her upcoming album. For her fans’ sake, hopefully she’s saving her best music for the album, too. She’ll need a strong effort to come back from Red Flu, which functions as an unappealing appetizer to the main course.

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    13 thoughts on “Review: Young M.A Stunts Without Purpose On ‘Red Flu’ EP

    1. Bad b#tch Anthem is great. This e.p is a “grower” takes many listens to get into I found, compared to her other releases. Strangely it sounds way better on headphones than on my hifi, but my hifi is very good. I don’t like the synth on the song Savage atall. Most songs r produced by Mike Zombie ion think she used him b4. The best produced track is 2020 vision. From wat Ive read etc, It was made in under a month, recorded in a weekend cuz her supporters frustrated with lockdown n need sumn to make em happy. Many rappers in top ten on billboard release entire albums, that r way worse but get mad praise. Re. Her next album, I pray no feature ruins any song, cuz eg. Imo drake ruined gold roses. A bad feature can ruin a gud song, her supporters don’t Need features. Her talent don’t Need features unlike mainstream rappers. So unless they massively add to the song in sum way, I’m a bit wary of features. Eg. Pnd album mobile I love but the trax w features r the worst. I just think, she doin it for fans and maybe experimentin w Makin sumn real fast .. even the greatest ever musicians need to try things out n if u rlly creativ n try a lot, not err thing will please err one .. plus after takin 3 yrs to do 1st album, she goin da other extreme, gettin used to a faster momentum.

    2. BB anthem, 2020 vision, angels v demons and trap or cap I enjoy. Previous comment deleted as always but here I try 2nd tyme. Long ass comment but no point in this site unfortunately

    3. Dope flow and beats but yeah, pretty standard Young MA content. Lots of complaining about hoes, sexing hoes, and cappin hoes. I would’ve loved to see some features also.

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