Hibachi for Lunch is a free, surprise mixtape dropped by 2 Chainz on October 28th, 2016. It's seven songs long, and it marks his fourth release this year; the full length collaboration album with Lil Wayne, Collegrove, and three mixtapes. The name and art of this mixtape has listeners, myself included, hoping that maybe 2 Chainz will do more Oriental-themed music; however, his last Asian-themed album, Daniel Son; Necklace Don, barely had any of that style we were promised. This track has guest appearances from Quavo, Gucci Mane (ugh), Ty Dolla $ign, and Future, so I'm obviously not too happy with that feature list, but we'll see how they do. It also features some very prodigious producers, like Mike Will Made It, Buddha Bless, Mike Dean, K Swisha, and much more.
As you'd expect, the first song, "Countin", goes pretty hard. The instrumental is pretty typical with distorted bass and some ligher synths, but just isn't as charming as a lot of Chainz' old work. It lacks the amazing punchlines or simplistic melodies that have become his trademark. However, I do love how he says "Yeah" for the background vocals.
"Diamonds Talking Back" is probably the biggest banger on the mixtape. It really showcases his charisma, is pretty easy to jam along to, and the way that he says "boom bing" is absolutely perfect. It's about his human-like diamonds proving just how good and rich he is. The instrumental by Supah Mario is also really interesting, with some almost Yeezus reminiscent work at the end of the song. It's just so infectious, and some of the lines are so good, like "2 Chainzzzzz!/ A lot of z's because you [all] sleep." I can totally imagine this becoming a big hit.
"Good Drank", featuring Gucci Mane and Quavo, opens with a very interesting piano melody, but it's just not as good as those signature, instantly recognizable melodies in "I'm Different", "Watch Out", or "El Chapo Jr." Chainz flow is pretty great on this track, and Quavo does amazing on the hook, but Gucci Mane comes in and destroys the song as always. His verse is just his weak flow and talking about Kevin Durant. If they cut off Gucci I might like this track, but now I certainly don't.
"Lil Baby" is a real mess of a song. Featuring the horrible Ty Dolla $ign and his equally annoying voice, In this song, they attempt to "serenade" their girlfriends, or as 2 Chainz barks out like ten times in the song, his "SHAWTY". I honestly hate this one, from the boring production, to the stupid hook, to Chainz' weak lyrics. Sure, his flow is good on this track, but that is outweighed by everything else.
"Day Party" has the type of happy sounding instrumental that seems really popular these days, in between "Hotline Bling" and "Broccoli". This song has a lot of potential to be a great party song, as the name suggests. The way that he says "You, you, you, you" on the hook is very danceable, however, this song is extremely short.
"Doors Open" ft Future is probably the biggest banger off of the album, with that signature Juicy J "Yeah H*e" in the production. It has some of 2 Chainz' best lines on the mixtape, such as "then I skate away like Winnipeg", "Remember when I used to play basketball/ now I'm out here playing ratchetball (ooh)", and my favorite, his "some" raps on the third verse. Future doesn't add too much to the song other than his enthusiasm, but that's all we need; doesn't matter if we can understand him or not (hint: we can't).
Finally, "Here We Go Again" adopts a more somber tone then the rest of the album, or most of Chainz' work in general. However, that's quickly destroyed by his ridiculous lyrics on the verses. The Mike Will Made It instrumental is really the best on the album, and actually fits the supposed theme of this album or Daniel Son; Necklace Don, at least in my opinion. The hook is downtempo, but the lyrics just don't suit this theme that could be great.
Overall, this mixtape completely fails at this theme that 2 Chainz is misleading us to expect with the last two mixtape names. I really wish that he would actually use the Asian themes like he did in "Big Amount" or "Here We Go Again", but for some reason he just insists on continuing to use this cliche generic "big rapper" theme. Hopefully he comes up with some shred of creativity soon.
Final Verdict:
48/100
Favorite Tracks: Diamonds Talking Back, Doors Open
Least Favorite Track: Lil Baby
Afterword: I would really love to get some comments! Requests, Critiques, or anything else would be great.
Comments
Post a Comment