Life’s a Gamble by Rich The Kid | Album Review
4th studio album from the New York rapper
LISTEN TO Life’s a Gamble : APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY
It has been four years since we last witnessed a full LP from Rich The Kid, with the release of BOSS MAN. However, given his current career peak following his first number-one song, it was only a matter of time before this album would come to materialization.
Rich The Kid named executive producers Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign for the album, which makes sense after their success on “CARNIVAL”. It is not the first time such big names have looked at the Rich The Kid. On his record debut record, The World Is Yours, he got attention from artists such as Kendrick Lamar and Lil Wayne, with the latter having a whole collab album together.
I have never really understood what was so attractive about Rich The Kid as the rapper. When you hear such names in conversation, you would expect the artist to be influential, or have a striking flow, but this is not the case.
Despite the chance to advance his career, Rich The Kid prefers to remain at the same level as four years ago.
Even with different producers involved, like Murda Beatz, D.A. Got That Dope, Kanye West, Digital Nas, and DJ Durel, the album maintains a consistent sound. There are some unique exceptions where production sounds not bad, and in contrast with others is prominent. Those tracks also were a great fit to the artist’s pitch, and dynamic with instances like: “Intro”, “Sometimes”, “Gimme A Second 2”
The problem that I have with such albums is that they do not have any essence in them. I had the impression that many artists started to move away from the soulless trap genre, perhaps exploring unfamiliar territory or incorporating unfamiliar elements. However, Rich The Kid’s latest work contradicts my point entirely.
On this entire record, you won’t find any moments where you would say:
Oh yeah, that was nice.
The best feeling that I had during that record was that:
Oh, it was not the same as before, or oh, this is not dull.
When we talk about the features, we have Chief Keef, Offset, French Montana, BIA, Quavo, Kanye West, Ty Dolla $ign, and others. I can’t say that guest verses were memorable, except Quavo on “Keep It Exclusive”, and the second Kanye bar on “Gimme A Second 2”:
“I need to see if the sex is good. I’m a sexist.”
Plainly, this record is the definition of the most useless, mediocre, and boring release. While some ideas could have been implemented more effectively, they remained within the realm of ideas.
Typically, with a lackluster trap album, you can still stumble upon a few catchy tracks or unexpected surprises that make your head bang. However, in this case, the only thing that will make your head bang is the frustration of how stupid it sounds.
To sum it up, this is just bad. It has nothing good to talk about, except one track that I liked, “Sometimes”, but this one exception won’t make the whole thing much better. One pro of this album is that it is relatively short, and it helps you to get through the whole thing much faster.
FINAL RATING: 1.5/10 ( DRAMATICALLY BAD )
FAVORITE TRACKS: “Sometimes”, “Gimme A Second 2”
LEAST FAVORITE TRACKS: “Tell Me”, “Hold On”
Scores guideline:
0 – 2 (dramatically bad)
2.1 – 4.5 (bad)
4.6 – 6 (mediocre/mid)
6.1 – 6.9 (Ok)
7 – 7.5 (good)
7.6 – 8.6 (great)
8.7 – 9.9 (amazing)
10 (perfect)
