Making quality music is hard these days.
It's always been difficult to make a good album but with the pressure of Social Media, artists are under 24/7 surveillance; everything they say and do is dissected. I'm pretty sure some larger artists are rooting for the FCC to end Net Neutrality, solely to create some distance between the public and their process.
In the past year the Migos have been everywhere and anywhere, Offset dates Cardi B and Quavo is a sought after feature. Unfortunately with this exposure comes controversy as this young rap group is put under fire for doing young rapper shit. The internet's best and worst quality is that it is all inclusive, everyone needs to be included in everything, if they aren't there is hell to pay.
Offset was accused of being a homophobe for saying "queers". I'm not going to go into detail about this but I will say that in 2018 everyone loves trap music, so no matter what color, creed, religion or sex, we all want to pretend to be drug dealers.
With that said, lets get to Culture 2.
Sequels are hardly good because they try to capture the original energy, it's the rare sequel (Terminator 2, Euro Trip) that take the original energy and build upon it successfully. Culture 2 kind of just maintains the energy. It's not terrible, but it's not new and exciting. When I first heard Culture 2 was coming out, I was expecting high level drug dealing shit, like this is that shit you sell Tide Pods too. But what we got was same level drug dealing shit, this is the soundtrack to selling Adderall in your Senior Year of College. I've been here before, I want to go somewhere else, but I will still make that money.
The music isn't bad though! It's just there, I think the real issue is that this is a Takeoff heavy tape. Which really hurts to admit. Takeoff is a great rapper, he gets disrespected because everyone wants a Quavo or Offset feature, but really he's nice too. The only problem with Takeoff is you can tell all his verses were rapped with no eye contact. Takeoff is like the best friend of your best friend who tolerates you but won't be your friend. He'll like pictures of you WITH your mutual friend but he'll never like a picture of just you. So as a result this album sounds like an inside joke you don't fully get.
Another problem I have with this album is that there are no stakes. Everyone already knows its gonna sell well, the singles are gonna do numbers because they're supposed to do numbers. Nothing feels organic, it's like a bank shot free throw. It's an easy bucket. Granted I'm not expecting world changing shit from the Migos, but, I'll put it this way: When I heard No Label 2 I spent part of my tax refund on a Versace Ring and a Gold Tooth. I FELT THE MUSIC. I listen to Culture 2 and I just wanna do my taxes. I heard Bad and Bougie and fantasized about dating a chick that could cook dope. I hear Stir Fry and think about going to H&R Block.
I think this album is Good, but I think that it could've been much better. Offset and Quavo were doing collab tapes while Takeoff saved his best verses for this Album. Takeoff holds this album together, but Offset and Quavo would've made this a classic. I give this 6 Misspelled Instagram Apologies out of 10.