Post by StevePulaski on May 24, 2015 0:05:49 GMT -5
Free Crack II (2014)
By: Lil Bibby
By: Lil Bibby
Rating: ★★★
At nineteen years old at the time of its release, Brandon "Lil Bibby" Dickerson sounds less like an impressionable teenager and more like a hardened, concrete image of gangsta rap culture. The towering personality, armed, dangerous, and ready for anything, he conveys on his sophomore/sequel mixtape Free Crack II echoes that of more experienced rappers like Freddie Gibbs and even Tupac Shakur in the rugged vocal department. His presence is big and his flows uniformly solid enough to back up such a promising aura.
Bibby kicks things of by showing where his skill lies, predominately in longer tracks that showcase lyrical complexity and rich flows that accentuate the brutish personality the "Chiraq" culture is known for brewing. Songs like "Game Over," featuring Lil Herb, a similar rapper to Bibby in flow and personality, and the mixtape's lead single "Dead or in Prison," accentuate the coldness this culture is known for. Bibby brings his A-game on both tracks, clearly being mindful of his flow but making great use of the production he's provided with in both cases. After hearing both songs, you almost feel the need to cleanse your music pallette with something more positive.
Songs like "Boy," accompanied by the likes of T.I., and "I Be on It" provide the mixtape with a change in variety, going from decidedly cynical to more humbly charming. Despite this change, Free Crack II is never uneven, nor sacrifices its nihilistic tendencies for a pop pier sound. Bibby is consistently bringing the pain, just presenting it in a slightly different way, and the aforementioned songs showcase that the young Chicago rapper is no stranger to variety.
Free Crack II ranks highly amongst drill mixtapes, mainly because whilst Bibby experiments with his sound, delivery, and flow, he never sacrifices lyricism (something Chief Keef needs to learn). He has found a middle ground that calls for exploration and personal growth in addition to gaining leverage in an already crowded genre. For a mixtape so dark, surprisingly, this is a fun effort to peruse through.
Recommended tracks (in order): "Boy," "Dead or in Prison," "I Be on It," "What You Live For," and "Game Over."