My review today is on MellowHype's new album, titled I Need Some Answers. While I don't currently have the insane, unreasonable respect for them that I used to have, I really do love Odd Future. This collective has produced some extraordinary talent, and I have loved their output over the past few years. I am huge fans of Tyler, the Creator, Earl Sweatshirt, Domo Genesis, and even Mike G. I can safely say I have never felt this way about Hodgy Beats and Left Brain, who make music together as the group MellowHype.Their 2010 album, Blackenedwhite, is their only work that I like, with their other two albums being mediocre, in my opinion. As Odd Future's first release of 2014, how will MellowHype's new project, I Need Some Answers, go over with me?
Starting with the production, Left Brain has always been such an inconsistent producer to me. He seems to just rely on wacky sounds and heavy synthesizers. Unlike Khris P, a producer I love who has this same strategy, Left Brain's beats just end up sounding messy or boring most of the time. Don't get me wrong, this guy had made some pretty good beats, but they come around way too little. The majority of Left Brain's instrumentals do nothing for me. Unfortunately, that does not change on this new album. A lot of these beats sounded really similar in sound, which wasn't good, because the sound was just such a bad one. Very heavy synthesizers, no rhythm, and nothing to really bop my head to. Some of these instrumentals had some trap influence, but they still had no pop or energy to them. There were only a couple beats here that I thought were tolerable, like I am A. This track was a huge change of pace, instrumentally. Left Brain actually flipped a sample and repeated it throughout the song. Mixed with some eerie piano, this was the only good beat on the whole album. Some beats, like the songs The Daze and Belly, went for an atmospheric vibe, but these didn't hit me either. The beats on the tracks Gang, Nowadays, Cold World 2, and DLX were just way too similar to one another to be effective. One beat, though, that was just absolutely horrendous, was the song FiFaFoFum. This song repeated a very annoying synth line throughout the whole track, and it was paired with this awful mixture of another high-pitched synth noise and some annoying drum sounds. It was just a mess, and it sounded terrible. Overall with the production on I Need Some Answers, I did not like it. These beats were repetitive, boring, and they did not have any energy to them, even when they were trying to. I have heard Left Brain make better beats before. This production sounded so lazy to me.
Now its time to talk about Hodgy Beats. He is an MC who, like Left Brain, is inconsistent. I have heard this guy spit some solid verses, but he has a lot of forgettable ones too. I would say he's the most boring rapper in Odd Future. Something about Hodgy, though, is that he feeds off of his production. If the beat is great, Hodgy will usually rap well. If the beat is mediocre, Hodgy's bars will usually not do anything for me. This is why the only Mellowhype album I like, BlackenedWhite, is so good. Left Brain's production was awesome, Hodgy fed off of it and rapped extremely well. With this album, the exact opposite happens. These beats were not good, and Hodgy came off very average to me. My main gripe with Hodgy Beats on this project is that he sounds exactly the same on every single song. His inflection never changed, and he really had the same flow throughout the album. It got very boring very fast. He also has an annoyingly high voice on this project, which is a problem I have never had with him before. I think this project would have benefited from some features too. Hearing no one rapping but Hodgy for eleven songs, I very nearly fell asleep. Just one Earl verse, or just one Domo Genesis verse, would have improved this project greatly. Hodgy Beats took a step back on I Need Some Answers. I used to think he was a decent spitter, but with this, he's gone down a notch. He sounded very average and dull throughout this album.
I NEED SOME ANSWERS WRAP UP
-Lazy production from Left Brain
-Many of the instrumentals sounded the same
-Boring rap performance from Hodgy Beats
-He never changed up his flow or delivery once during the whole album
-No features
Best: I am A, 7, The Daze
Worst: FiFaFoFum
Mellowhype- I Need Some Answers
3.1/10
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