Album Review by: Matthew Mahr
Denzel Curry comes back with a new record which make question my future as a fan of his music.
So, Spotify has this feature where in December, they tell you what artists you’ve listened to the most over the course of the year. Denzel Curry was my #2 most listened artist in 2020 as well as my #1 most listened artist in 2021. The reason I mention this is to say that I am a big fan of Denzel Curry.
In fact, I’d call his 2018 project TABOO/TA1300 one of my favorite albums of all time. Since 2016, he’s been on a generational run, releasing four high quality projects in five years. 2021 was the first year without at least an EP from Curry, building interest and intrigue about what his next step would be.
The months after his 2020 project UNLOCKED were spent mostly working on remixes and appearing on tracks with artists like Yungblud and J.I.D. Personally, the cut I enjoy most from this time period was his collaboration with Rico Nasty and Jasiah on the song Art of War. It’s hard, it’s aggressive, and it opened the door seemingly for two great artists to work with Denzel more often in the future.
Around the beginning of 2022, Denzel released a few tracks in short succession, hinting that there may be a new full-length project on the way.
I was very excited.
On March 25th, we got Denzel’s fifth studio album in Melt My Eyez See Your Future…
…It’s alright.
I don’t think anyone would expect another undertaking like TABOO from Curry. After all, his last two albums were much more laid back. A collection of Florida rap jams and a collaboration album with Kennybeats based on a short movie about breaking into the internet aren’t exactly high brow ambitious concepts, but they’re still good. I thoroughly enjoyed both projects because Curry was still operating on a high level lyrically and was aided by production which worked to his strengths.
Sonically, Curry is going in a whole new direction. You’d imagine this would create a more ambitious and creative process from Curry. However, I think the opposite happened. Curry seems to be going for a more laid back sound, amplified by an increase in choir backing vocals, autotune, and slower tracks.
UNLOCKED gave Curry a chance to show that he could rap on more laid-back tracks and he knocked it out of the park. Despite this, there’s something different about this record.
TABOO was a very ambitious project. Denzel had a very dark sonic vision complimented by the three-act distinction of the album (Light. Gray, and Dark). Despite some really dark and aggressive production and flows, Denzel still had fun on this project. The first half of the record had songs like SUMO and MAD I GOT IT which were produced in the same vein but were much less serious.
I think that’s my number one complaint about this album, it isn’t any fun. Denzel has always been open about mental problems he’s had in the past but has always been able to balance more intense music with his fun music. His first two projects were very good at providing a balance of fun and impressive tracks with more serious and intense tracks.
That’s not an inherently bad thing though, to have an entirely serious album. Purple Mountains Self-Titled Album is essentially a cry for help and I still find myself going back to that record all the time.
That leads into my second issue with this album: Focus.
Curry is at his most introspective on this record, talking about things like the government, growing up poor, being discriminated against, the crushing reality of fame and suicide. He’s made some really high-quality tracks about all of these subjects. Oftentimes though, Denzel will talk about all of these things at once on one track, meaning that important subjects don’t feel like they’re being given the respect Curry certainly is trying to give them.
In place of some of the more fun and wacky bars you might find on a Denzel project, levity is brought to this album through… anime and Japanese film references.
We’re told in the lead single Walkin that this is a “Zel Kurosawa Film”. The track The Smell of Death conceptually is about the manga Fist of the North Star. Later in that track, he tells us he’s going to go “Naruto in Saga Mode”.
I didn’t really care about any of this.
I enjoyed the first three tracks the most out of the whole tracklist. The first track Melt Sessions #1 has very “first track on a rap album” energy. It reminds me a lot of Get Up 10, the opening track from Cardi B’s Invasion of Privacy.
Walkin was the lead single off this album, and it’s probably the most focused song on this album. It essentially details all the struggles in Denzel’s life, capped off with his saying that despite all of the things in his way, he just needs to keep walking through it. I’m not in love with it sonically, but it’s probably my favorite track here.
Worst Comes to Worst probably has my favorite hook on this album which is a shame because it’s not fantastic. Denzel has had fantastic hooks on past projects, but they’re not really here on this album. The beat here is more bass heavy which I appreciated, complimented by Denzel breaking out some biblical imagery to describe his mental state.
Frankly, Worst Comes To Worst was most memorable to me because it’s shades of the old Denzel on this track. It’s a track he conceivably could have made a few years ago.
Much of the tracks which came after kinda melted together. They started sounding the same and became less memorable. Even after taking notes and listening to the album multiple times, I still found myself only remembering parts of the songs I didn’t like. The autotune hook on X-Wing is annoying. The features on Ain’t No Way are either forgettable (Rico Nasty), wasted (Jasiah) or just okay (J.I.D.).
The T-Pain feature on the track Troubles didn’t do much for me which is a shame because I’ve been enjoying the T-Pain renaissance we’ve been living through the past few years. The annoying and pointless feature from 454 completely ruins the song Sanjuro. Slowthai brings something to the table on the track Zatoichi, but Denzel’s words began falling into the background at this point.
Denzel isn’t necessarily bad on this project as a rapper, but I found the style he stayed in to be a bit boring. In an interview with the Miami New Times, Denzel said “Y’all are not going to hear the same type of Denzel anymore”. If this is the sound that he’s happy with, I’m happy with it. With that said, I don’t think I’ll be seeking out his next project.
I’d hate for Denzel to think he’s moving backwards or stagnating. As an artist, you have to be able to move on from your past. Fans seemed to enjoy this project so I do think this is a me thing unfortunately. I just didn’t care for this style from him. He came across often times as scatterbrained and boring. I hope the best for him, but I think I’ll stick with his last few projects from now on.