Ab-Soul- These Days ALBUM REVIEW

Today I'm reviewing the very anticipated new album from Ab-Soul, These Days. As with many hip hop fans, Ab-Soul is one of my favorite rappers in the game right now. The main reason for this is just how witty he is. This guy is nerdy, and it shows in his incredible vocabulary and wordplay. He has always had a lot of substance behind his songs. His 2012 album, Control System, is just amazing to me. That album really shows how smart of a rapper Ab-Soul is. Will he be able to follow it up on his new project, These Days?

Starting with the production, this album is an extremely mixed bag of beats. Every song has a very distinct, whether good or bad, sound to it. I like a good majority of the instrumentals on These Days, as some of them really impressed me. I absolutely loved the beat on Just Have Fun. It had such a cool vibe to it, and the emotions really came through on it. This album is very good at setting a mood with an instrumental. The song Closure, a very sad and mournful track, had a perfect beat for what Ab-Soul was saying. It really hit hard. I liked the rather abstract beat that J. Cole put together for the song Sapiosexual. It sounded like nothing else I've heard this year, but once again, I felt it really felt the nature of the track. The beat on the track Ride Slow, which was produced by Mac Miller, was really dark and sinister. It was almost nightmarish with how scary it sounded. I absolutely loved it. These were all great, but no beat on this comes close to Kendrick Lamar's Interlude. This one was jazzy, smooth, and it took some crazy twists and turns as the song went on. It was a complex, but very well made instrumental. A few songs on this album made use of beat changes midway through a song. On the song Tree of Life, the switch felt a little random, as the two beats were really different. I loved the second beat here though. I liked the transition a lot more on Dub Sac, where both beats were very relaxing and cool. Overall with the production on These Days, it sure had variety. While there were some beats that paled in comparison to others, such as the lame DJ Mustard rip off on Twact, this album featured a lot of instrumental highlights.

With the content on These Days, I felt a little conflicted about it. I was disappointed with this content in comparison with Control System. The thing I loved about that album was it was a real showing of Ab-Soul's unique personality, and the fact that this guy could just rap about substantial things no one else would rap about. He had a real identity as a geeky wordsmith and interesting rapper. On These Days, I didn't get much of that. I heard a lot of Ab-Soul copying some of hip-hop's current popular stereotypes. While I understand this may be the theme of this album, especially from the album title, some of these ideas just werent executed well. The song Twact was a real dud, with Soul failing on making an ignorant song. This song sounded like it should have been on YG's new album. Hunnid Stax was similar, and this track came off very boring and Ab-Soul didn't even sound like he was trying. Nevermind That, which featured Rick Ross. was another song I really didn't like at all. This song had no memorable moments. It was sloppy, and I felt there was just too much going on. I had no idea what Ab-Soul was going for there. Luckily, this album is mostly made up of great songs, whether or not they fit with the personality I loved on Control System. The first track, God's Reign, was absolutely awesome. Soulo's verses were really solid and SZA really killed the hook. She sounded amazing. I liked the song Dub Sac too, with Soul making a catchy and fun, but also deep track. Closure was an emotional track that I was blown away by. I have not heard this much emotion from him since The Book of Soul. His devastated tone really hit me on this song as he rapped about his passed girlfriend. Sapiosexual featured some very interesting lyrical content, and a fantastic singing interlude from Isaiah Rashad. Speaking of features, they really came through on the next track, Stigmata. This song had a super catchy chorus and great verses from both Action Bronson and Asaad. While I was a bit let down by Jay Rock's verse on Feelin Us, I still felt it was a decent track. My favorite song on this whole album, though, was easily Ride Slow. This song had an all-star lineup of rappers, with Ab-Soul's solid verse leading into an awesome hook delivered from Earl Sweatshirt. Danny Brown then completely murders the song with his outstanding verse. This track just gets darker and crazier as it goes on, ending with a great verse from Mac Miller, as Delusional Thomas. The last song I must talk about was Kendrick Lamar's Interlude. On this song, Kendrick and Ab-Soul unleash a lyrical attack that is just insane. Kendrick sounds angry, passionate, and hungry on his verse. This interlude from Kendrick was honestly the best part of this whole album. Overall with These Days, I was disappointed by some awful songs and the fact that Ab-Soul's personality from Control System was just not there. On the other hand, this album made up for it with some terrific songs and features.

THESE DAYS WRAP UP
+Ab-Soul is still an awesome lyricist
+Some very well-exectuted songs
+Great features
+Variety in the production
-A few lazy, uninspired sounding tracks
-Liked Ab-Soul overall a lot more on Control System

Best: Kendrick Lamar's Interlude, Stigmata, Ride Slow

Worst: Nevermind That

Ab-Soul- These Days
8.3/10