TESTING

When I first listened to this album, it was the first Rocky album I’d ever listened to. I didn’t really know what to expect. I had obviously heard Rocky on features, but I wasn’t sure how he would do on a full album. And I know a lot of people don’t like this album but this is one of my favorite albums of last year.

This album has some of my favorite songs of 2018. And I know a lot of people say that this album doesn’t have a tone, and that it’s all over the place. But that’s one of the reasons why this album is so good. It really is Rocky testing sounds and experimented with different styles. Like on the opening track “Distorted Records” where we hear Rocky over this weird instrumental with weird sounds and distorted bass. He has some good lines and witty moments. The next track, which has a weird Moby sample, is a remix to the “ASAP forever” track but this one features Kid Cudi. I didn’t love the single but this version to be is much better and it fits on the album. The weird Moby sample didn’t stick with me as a single, but on the context of this album, I think this song works perfectly. The next song “Tony Tone” might be my favorite on the entire album. I love the rock flavored instrumental and Rocky’s hook and verses are great. The next track “Fuck Sleep” is a great song. I love the instrumental, I love the hook, and I love the FKA twigs feature. “Praise The Lord” is another great song with a great flute instrumental and performances from Rocky and Skepta. “Calldrops” is the first moment on the album that I don’t absolutely love. The song is it bad, there’s just not much to it. And the weird Kodak Black feature kind of ruins it for me. “Buck Shots” has a great instrumental and Rocky sounds good but lyrically this song is lacking. Still a very good song. “Gunz N Butter” is a pretty good track. The instrumental isn’t as good as the others on the album but it’s still good. Juicy and Rocky do good jobs though. “Brotha Man” is another pretty good track. I like the instrumental and surprisingly I really French Montana on the track. Frank Ocean and Snoop were nice surprises on the track too. “OG Beeper” has a weird instrumental but I really like it. Rocky also comes through with a great performance. Blocboy JB also has some great adlibs lol. “Kids Turned Out Fine” in theory shouldn’t have worked. Rocky can’t really sing and lyrically the song is weird. But I do really like the song. “Hun43rd” and “Changes” are interesting, but fall short of what the previous songs were. “Black Tux White Collar” has a great instrumental. “Purity” is a good song with a nice Frank Ocean feature.

Testing is an album that shouldn’t have worked but did. The weird and experimental sound of the album is done well. The production is usually quirky and weird, as are Rocky’s performances. The beginning of the album is so good that nothing that came after could touch it. This unfortunately makes the album less interesting as it goes on. But overall, this is a great album with some great highlights.