The perfect Maxo Kream songs really feel like Spike Lee dolly photographs: focusing tightly on a personality whereas slowly tilting their world off its axis. “Roaches,” from the Texas rapper’s breakout launch, Punken, nimbly shifted from rosy childhood nostalgia for FUBU and Limewire to an anxious grownup account of attempting to guard his household throughout a hurricane. “Spice Ln.,” from Brandon Banks, started with a proud rundown of his road rep and morphed right into a twisty entice saga that’s tragic and humorous. Autobiography fuels Maxo’s storytelling, however he’s at coronary heart a stylist who molds experiences and syllables like clay.
He spent 2021’s Weight of the World flexing his vary as he cruised over throwback trill, smoky soul loops, and wavy entice. Though the narratives weren’t as vivid as these on Brandon Banks, the songwriting was polished and dynamic. The various soundscape highlighted the elasticity of his flows and coaxed out fleeter storytelling. He makes an attempt the same showcase on Personification, a group of goon, swag, and cloud rap billed as a reflective spin via his profession up to now. However there’s not a lot of an arc to the Maxo Kream Künstlerroman. These feckless songs simply really feel like facsimiles of his previous work.
The déjà vu is supposed to show development and progress, however the callbacks and echoes are extra typically redundant. Brooding opener “Mo Murda” blandly rehashes concepts in regards to the overlap between faith and gang life that Maxo already explored with verve on “Cripstian” from Weight of the World. It doesn’t assist that the middling verse builds to Maxo cornily labeling himself a “hypo-Crip,” a pun even Ab-Soul would keep away from. ”Drizzy Draco 2” recycles a Brandon Banks music title for a lesser observe that mixes two strains from earlier in Personification: “All my opps can go to hell, they’ll’t stay on Earth no extra/I’m the Crip John Wick, flip a opp to John Doe.” The bars weren’t even memorable the primary time he stated them.
The fixed retreading is dizzying. “Cracc Period” once more pairs Maxo with Tyler, the Creator for mixtape-era shit-talking that’s enjoyable however spinoff of their 2021 team-up “Huge Persona.” “Smokey” harks again to “Huge Worm” from The Persona Tape, utilizing the Friday characters for a generic road story about repaying money owed. Memphis horrorcore observe “Triggaman” repurposes ad-libs from Maxo’s 2016 music “Hit Mane,” however isn’t as scenic or menacing; the full of life Denzel Curry function is the one saving grace. Familiarity may be an efficient setup for shock or refinement, however these songs frustratingly spin in place.
