Day 92 (Same-Day Delivery): Quavo & Travi$ Scott — Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho
Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho (aka the grandson of Chico Dusty), is a linkup tape split between Quavo and Scott. Its cover art evokes Ralph Steadman’s approach to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and the mixtape is appropriately decadent and depraved. Whereas Without Warning triangulated the quiet storm talents of Offset, 21 Savage, and Metro Boomin, this one uses more outgoing pieces to achieve more vanglorious ends, more an effort by Q & T to hold their place than expand their territory.
From a conceptual standpoint, this is the musical accompaniment to Rembert’s piece filed from ComplexCon. It is Quavo, cashing in on being “Huncho”, which is being Quavo. It is Travi$ Scott mostly being “Jack”, b.k.a. Travi$ Scott, whose clout I’ve never truly understood. He’s the halfway point between Kanye and Kid Cudi, but I somehow like him less than most of those things. If you only played someone his isolated ad libs, and then you played them his verses, that person would probably say “Wow, I didn’t know that a dolphin could rap.” It’s interesting that he and Kylie Jenner are expecting a child. Because one of them is improbably moving the culture despite it not being clear exactly what they do, and the other one is Kylie Jenner.
As V I Lenin once asked, what is to be done? Well, Buddah Blesses some beats, Scott lets some of his own birds fly, and things mostly proceed as scheduled. Huncho and Jack each make surface references to Kaepernick kneeling and slavery at times, but it would be a stretch to say that the tone was politically inspired. It’s mostly about being materially comfortable, with a hook about jet skiing in Dubai that sounds like a Bobby Bottleservice joke. If I could go jet skiing in dubai, I’d probably rap about it too though. That’s a serious flex.
Well, in this echo chamber, hyperpolarized culture we live in, there are two types of people: those who have already listened to Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho, and people who will hear it in the background of your life at least once. It’s not bad, but given the Q4 duets of Future & Young Thug and Offset & 21 Savage, you’d have a hard time arguing that this tape raised the bar. But it’s more of a bronze medal than a participation trophy.
This is Day 92 in my 100 albums in 100 days series, where I review a new album or EP I haven’t heard in full before every day through December 31st. Check out yesterday’s post or see the full archives for more.
