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Dominating the Soundcloud rap era during his come up around 2017, Trippie Redd has become one of the most versatile artists today, producing rage, melodic and countless other subgenres of hip-hop. Now, the artist looks to expand off of his already successful career with his fifth studio album “MANSION MUSIK.”

Coming off of his highly anticipated August 2021 release, “Trip at Knight,” it is clear that Trippie was trying to move away from his melodic and bass bumping hits that brought him up through Soundcloud. Now, the artist is focusing on techno, synth heavy beats that have given him a futuristic tone.

Brought out with mixed opinions, “Trip at Knight” gathered much of the rap industry together, as Trippie brought Drake, Playboi Carti, Lil Uzi Vert and many others onto the project. The same can be said as we dive into the deep tracklist of “MANSION MUSIK.”

Travis Scott, Chief Keef, Future and other veterans in the game assist Trippie on his new project. But through a few listens, it seems that these artists were used only to try and save an album filled with repetitive tracks throughout a 25 song marathon.

Overview and rollout

First announced by Trippie Redd through his Instagram page in October 2022, it looked as though he was gearing up for another classic release, as he shared snippets of his new tape in the since-deleted post. Redd continued to tease the project into January before he finally released the tracklist on Jan. 16 and dropped the album on Jan. 20.

Through the executive production of Chief Keef, “MANSION MUSIK” had a heavy amount of hype going into it once announced. The amount of features and snippets provided a path to success, but instead delivered a mashup of forced verses and failed experimentation by Trippie.

The length of the album doesn’t help its structure — a 25-song tracklist with a runtime of an hour and 16 minutes. With a lack of solid transitions, the project definitely needs a better flow.

The cons over the pros

From the start of the tape, the audience is introduced to the abundant amount of 808 beats that scatter through each song, along with drowning synths and hi-hats that drown out Trippie and the abundance of features across the board.

Even though he has never been known for his lyricism, Trippie failed to put together concise stories and hard-hitting lines in his new release, with many songs displaying countless repetition.

“KRZY TRAIN” and “FULLY LOADED” are two tracks that include three of the industry’s best — Travis Scott, Future and Lil Baby. But all three fail to deliver alongside Trippie. The mixing on “KRZY TRAIN” falls short, with the artist’s vocals dominating over the beat and leaving the audience to hear a toned down instrumental with heavy auto-tuned lyrics.

In “FULLY LOADED,” Trippie Redd states the name of the song a whopping 32 times, with the repetition being the main chorus. Stuffed in between the chorus are Future and Lil Baby’s underwhelming verses.

Additional features, like Kodak Black on “COLORS” and Lucki on “DIE DIE,” felt like a forced excuse to garner more attention to the tracklist. Both songs could have been standalone tracks for Trippie.

Unlike past projects, there is a clear lack of solo performances on “MANSION MUSIK,”
even though some of his best works in “Life’s a Trip” and “A Love Letter to You 3” include a lot more individual records from the , OhCantonio MC.

Standout Tracks

Despite the many cons surrounding the project, there are still several tracks on the album that are reminiscent of the Trippie Redd who rightfully became the megastar he is today.

Track 3, “PSYCHO,” featuring Future, has both rappers deliver sinister verses, diving into the money, drugs and jewelry that are referred to frequently in rap. The two artists work a lot better together on this song than the disappointment of “FULLY LOADED,” but Future continues to dominate the industry through projects and countless amazing features.

“FREE RIO” is one of the few solo tracks on the album, but really stands out with its bouncy, bass heavy, Detroit style beat where Trippie holds his ground on an experimental song. Detroit artists Icewear Vezzo or Babyface Ray could have been great additions to the track, but regardless, Trippie does a great job taking the style into his own hands.

“KILLIONAIRE,” another solo Trippie Redd song, goes back to what fans have always loved about his flow, delivering a mosh pit song with a dark beat and instrumental. He also delivers one of his best lines on the album, within this track, stating “I pull up like Michael Myers, see, boy got the touch of Midas,” meaning that everything he touches turns to gold.

Following “KILLIONAIRE” is a collaboration with budding Memphis rapper BIG30 on “HIGH HOPES,” where the two MCs bounce back and forth with solid lines. BIG30 makes references to his hometown — for example, “MPD know how I move,” referencing the Memphis Police Department and how they have locked him up in the past.

In a posthumous appearance by Juice WRLD, “KNIGHT CRAWLER” sticks out as a great flash into the past. The two have compiled many hits together, such as “1400/999 Freesyle” and “Tell Me U Luv Me.”

Trippie’s verse on “KNIGHT CRAWLER” may have been his best on the project, flowing extremely well over the synth dense instrumental, while Juice WRLD’s vocals offer a breath of fresh air.

Final Thoughts

Being one of the first major albums released this year, the discussion around “MANSION MUSIK” will most likely continue into the coming weeks, and it will be interesting to see if some of the mixing issues will be fixed once noticed by producers.

Though Redd is still capable of producing hits like “PSYCHO” and “KILLIONAIRE,” many of the other tracks on the album simply act as fillers.

Trippie Redd is quite possibly at the peak of his career, attracting over 21 million Spotify listeners a month, but the already mixed reviews on “Mansion Musik” could see him switch things up before the other rumored 2023 release “A Love Letter To You 5.”

Published on January 24, 2023 at 9:57 pm