JID’s latest album The Forever Story throws out an album’s worth of great music… and a full album’s worth of just okay music.
JID is an artist who I haven’t listened to much despite being aware of him for a long time. My main exposure to him before his latest album was through features on Denzel Curry albums. I wasn’t a fan of his verse on the song SIRENS|Z1RENZ, while I also found all features on the track Ain’t No Way lackluster at best. Because of this, I wasn’t overly excited when I heard that he had released a new album.
I’ve heard how great JID’s music is for a long time, but I wasn’t terribly attracted to his style. When seeking albums to write about, however, I thought it might be time to solidify my opinion once and for all by listening to JID on his own album as opposed to just on features.
The Forever Story is JID’s third full length solo studio album. He shows up on this project with no shortage of songs, as the project clocks in at just under an hour (more than that if you count the removed album closer 2007). Personally, I find short and sweet more effective in most media.
Don’t get me wrong, that’s certainly not a dealbreaker for me. Oftentimes though, I feel like something which goes long could make some cuts to create a more enjoyable experience. I was worried going into this album that it would feel bloated or overly long.
It kinda does.
First things first, I’ll say the first seven tracks of this project are the best run of tracks in 2022 so far. The opener, Galaxy, is a sweet and harmonious introduction which sweeps the ears and disappears in no time.
The following track Raydar is my favorite song of this album and is, in fact, one of my favorite songs of the year. JID samples The Last Poets track Mean Machine to bring a chaotic energy to the album before educating us on how he rolls. A mid-track beat switch cranks up the intensity as JID raps at a high velocity.
Dance Now follows up with with a fantastic beat (interpolating a song from Hasidic band Zusha) which gives JID a chance to be less serious and flex his hook muscles with a great pre-chorus and chorus. The two uses of the phrase “Dance Now” (bullet dancing and dancing with the devil) got me going.
Crack Sandwich is my other favorite song from this album, as JID gets super focused on this track reflecting on his past with his family. Along with a super strong bridge and hook, JID seems really earnest and honest talking about getting in a fight alongside his brothers. In fact, the third verse is so good, it almost makes up for the most preposterous bar on the album (“R.I.P. I miss my dawgs like Mick Vick”).
My favorite feature comes on the following track Can’t Punk Me as Johnny Venus and Doctor Dot of Earthgang join JID for a high energy track. Doctor Dot has the worst bar of the track (“Runnin’ up buildings like The Grinch in Whoville”) as well as the best bar which refers to Mahatma Gandhi’s early racist tendencies.
21 Savage has a similar performance on the following track Surround Sound with a very stupid bar (“Pillsbury man, I keep dough with me”) as well as a great bar (Back in the day, I invest in the block, Fast forward, now I’m investing in stocks”). The last verse from JID overstays its welcome, but the song overall doesn’t disturb the flow of the record.
Kody Blu 31 is a tribute track to a fallen friend of JID and it does really well as a somber but hopeful anthem. I could imagine a whole arena of fans singing along with the hook of this song (which urges the listener to “Swang on”).
Surprisingly, JID’s singing on this track was not bad at all. I’m surprised he didn’t lean on singing his own hooks more often considering the rise in dreary singer/rappers over the past few years. This track does successfully what I feel the later track Better Days doesn’t succeed at. They’re both similar in themes, but this song seems more thematically appropriate.
After that track, we get a pair of sibling tracks titled Bruddadem and Sistanem. The former is a dreary tribute to JID’s brothers featuring a boring verse from perpetual lackluster feature machine Lil’ Durk. The latter is a low energy tribute to JID’s sister.
Sistenem is probably the better track. Reading the lyrics for this track, there’s a ton of wordplay and multi-layered bars which fans of JID can’t stop going crazy for. Despite this, this track doesn’t really do it for me.
It’s not even a bad song, but JID’s flow doesn’t do anything interesting and he doesn’t say anything which grips the attention of the listener. The voicemail dial cutting off JID’s flow does bring more attention to the meaning behind his words (especially from the third verse), but these two tracks were the point where my attention in the record began to waiver a bit.
The following track isn’t fantastic either, but Ari Lennox’s singing on the hook helps vary up the sound after six minutes of JID talking at me.
Stars is a fun track reminiscent of Frank Ocean track Pink Matter in regards to both the beat and JID’s flow. This connection is furthered by a direct reference to Pink Matter’s rap feature Andre 3000. Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def) contributes a fun guest verse which provides some fun bars (albeit with an uninspired flow/beat combination).
I was not impressed by the time/numbers theme of I Got the Time which permeates the hook, but JID brings some fun lines which maintain the attention. Shout out to Lil’ Wayne for bringing a guest verse and saying almost nothing, but really slowly. Money was an okay track with a strangely bright and happy beat led by this looped guitar and children’s vocals. JID dissing Joe Rogan and Hulk Hogan is pretty funny, but the rest of the song is just fine.
The last official track of the album Lauder Too is the definition of what could have been cut. An overproduced hook and an annoying flow from JID makes this my least favorite track and an unassuming end to the album. There’s actually one more track meant for this album called 2007, which was released on YouTube. The sample on the beat couldn’t be cleared, but JID mentions in the video that this was meant to be the album closer.
I wish it was.
2007 is a seven-minute epic journey through the early life of JID featuring spoken word verses from JID’s father as well as J. Cole (who signed JID to his record label Dreamville). JID details playing football on a scholarship in college before dropping out to become a rapper. While I don’t think the album needed to be any longer, 2007 is a perfect ending to this project.
The biggest strength of this album seems to also this album’s greatest weakness. JID bounces from topic to topic, maintaining this really hectic atmosphere with his words which also give him the freedom to knock out bars about whatever he wants. As the album rolls on though, the words start bouncing off my ears as they all start feeling the same. Interesting flows and different inflections could help prevent this, but JID doesn’t go much in that direction (especially on the second half of the record).
What does this all add up to?
Well, I’d call myself a JID fan now.
I think this album was a bit bloated, but I can’t deny how great the opening stretch of the album is. I think the flow of the album being weak is less to do with the quality of the last tracks but more with a lack of variety combined with a long length. I think the last half of the album has plenty of great stuff to offer, but I just found it less interesting than the first half. Personally, I’d recommend tracks 1 (Galaxy) through 7 (Kody Blu 31). If you really enjoy them, maybe listen to the rest of the album, but I probably won’t return to them again.