Starz — Yung Lean: Review
Yung Lean has always been a musical revolutionary in the same way Kanye was making conscious rap cool in the mid 2000s. In his case it is the progressive and multi-layered atmospheric hip-hop that descended from cloud 9. From the xannie-inducing “Yoshi City,” and “Kyoto,” to more prominent mixtapes, his popularity became marked as a brand — aka the “Sad Boys.”
As the years progressed, he has shifted about the cabin and has put his hands on different takes on the sound — even going down the singing route. It doesn’t work for everyone — unless you’re a drug toting cynic.
Starz continues to bend genre dynamics with oblique — yet thematically (sonically) resonate with an overall concept. Yung Lean isn’t devoid of openness and his focus on themes like depression, love, and addiction has more oomph than previous outings. Unfortunately Starz suffers from poor gravitational pull. A lot of the songs feel like hanging out with the calmest guy in the world and his lack of adventure is completely annexed from his cerebral cortex.
The album carries itself with consistency and at moments pushing above some limits with tracks like “Yayo,” which weighs on a Miami lifestyle on a cloud-like instrumental that makes one want to cry while holding a kilo and crying at a corner inside one of Miami’s hottest night clubs. And then there is “Pikachu.” It’s definitely something since it used a rhyme for “Coke from Peru.” It’s inspired, but it brings nothing that new to the mold.
When Starz hits its low point it isn’t severe, but those moments become forgettable from the get-go. “Boylife in EU,” however, reigns opposite as we see Yung Lean give us one of his more intimate tracks. The oozing atmospheric bass heavy instrumental with the ominous harmonics adds a lot of life to a broken ballad about a broken person, mentally.
Unfortunately not all his vocal pitches and crooning amount to much. There are moments where the shell breaks off and Yung Lean spits some fire bars, like on “Violence.”
One of better standouts comes in the spacey — self titled track, featuring Ariel Pink. It’s a croon fest for the ages. Trust.
Yung Lean slowly progresses forward in his career making small bits of greatness along the way, but his short-comings never mask the ceiling he could potentially reach. Starz is a definitive standout from the Swedish artist and has proven he has the potential to be a phenomenal artist.
