Despite evidently not being able to spell (or rap for that matter), Lil Pump is a self-made
millionaire at 18 - and he’s decided to spend his new album telling everyone
that school is for losers.
That’s about as deep as the
lyrical content goes on Harverd
Dropout. The SoundCloud rapper spends the rest of his bars boasting about taking
Xanax and driving Lamborghinis. The line ‘Like
a lighter, bitch, we ignant’ on ‘I Love It’ is about as witty as the
wordplay gets (because ‘ignite’ kind of sounds like ‘ignorant’, I guess).
But of course, judging Pump for
his poor level of poetry is kind of pointless considering that no sane human being listens
to him for his lyrics. It’s the fact he’s so ‘ignant’ that makes him so
rebellious and therefore loved by young people. He also has some ridiculously
fun beats behind him – ‘Drop Out’ and ‘ION’ are undeniable bangers – and his
flow is actually pretty tight.
That said, this album is still
largely a pile of wank. Even if you overlook the mind-numbingly soul-crushingly
banal lyrics, there’s still the issue of Lil Pump’s energy. For someone showing
off about being a millionaire, he has the enthusiasm of a homeless person. Maybe,
that’s the point – he’s too cool to care – but this lack of conviction ends up
making tracks like ‘Vroom Vroom Vroom’ sound like he’s having a stroke. If you’re
going to start making car noises like a fucking toddler, at least put some passion
and spit into it.
I’d argue the beats are better
than on his debut album, but otherwise his lyrics and energy have just gotten worse. Once
people grow tired of trap beats and Lil Pump is too old to rap about school, he’ll
have absolutely nothing going for him and everyone will abandon him for the
next teen rebel icon.
★★☆☆☆
TRACK TASTER: