The Pink Tape - Lil Uzi Vert
To keep this short. This is my favorite body of music this year. This year has been very weak for rap music—forgettable album after forgettable album. The last time we got a project worth discussing was Let's Start Here by Lil Yachty. This new album from Lil Uzi Vert shattered my expectations. I was expecting another poor attempt at a 2016 remake. I was expecting a lot of material with nothing to write home about. While there were definitely dry pockets on the album, I'd say as a whole this album was amazing and definitely one of my favorite projects from Lil Uzi.
Growing up I listened to a lot of Lil Wayne and Fall Out Boy. Eventually, when I got to 6th grade I discovered Lil Uzi Vert for the first time on Wiz Kalifa's song Pull Up. That prompted me to listen to the rest of their discography. For me, Lil Uzi was the perfect blend of everything I loved about music. Great beat selection with hard-hitting drums, fast passed flows that keep me engaged throughout a song, emotional vocals, and vulnerable lyrics. Early on my favorite song was Count Dem Rollz, I have distinct memories of blasting this song in my headphone in middle school. Later on, I absolutely fell in love with The Perfect Luv tape. When Love is Rage 2 came out I was in 8th grade and that solidified me as a Lil Uzi Fan.
This new Uzi album is everything I wanted and more. It was experimental while still distinctly Uzi.
- The first song eased us into Uzi's universe, luring us in with their older sound. It was familiar while still exciting due to its fantastic execution. I love how
- The second song "Suicide Doors" was quite honestly amazing. That was the song that pulled me into the album. If "Flooded the Face" was the wind up "Suicide Doors" was the pitch, and it was a fucking homerun.
- "Aye" was lowkey disappointing. Generally, I hate it when Uzi changes aspects of a song going from a snippet to an official release (the bells on Myron) but the beat switch was a welcome addition to this song. Despite the great chorus, the song felt empty and Travis Scott didn't add much.
- "Crush Em" was simply phenomenal. I love the fast-paced delivery of the chorus. I love the reference to the Myron melody. I love that super melodic "skrr" adlib in the background. The beat switch alone had me on the floor from excitement. This was an amazing song.
- "Amped" was another very exciting song. The chorus got boring after a minute but Uzi's delivery towards the end of the end of the chorus and during their verse was so good. I love it when they extend the last word of each bar and play with their pitch like when they say "Trap life ain't that bad". That part alone scratches a part of my brain.
- The beat on "x2" was crazy. Ken Carson did his thing. Uzi's first verse was pretty boring although it was very funny when they called out one of their fan pages. I love their falsetto on the bridge of the song. His second verse was a lot better, the deep voice and flow switches were nice. Also, I love the character building with Uzi being a Werewolf and Carti being a Vampire.
- I love the chorus of "Died and Came Back". Especially the first line "Ragatoni is not spaghetti", I think this line is hilarious. Also, I love spaghetti and I've eaten it almost every week since 6th grade. I also love the way Uzi delivers the chorus. The rest of the song isn't that eventful and I only listen to it for the chorus.
- "Spin Again" was just a vibe.
- "That Fiya" and "I Gotta" could have been left off the album. Uzi needs to permanently ban Brandon Finessin from entering their studio. He single-handedly produced the worst tracks on the album and honestly, I blame him for ruining Eternal Atake. Uzi was trying their hardest to save these songs, especially on "That Fiya" and still couldn't pull it off. This 2 track run was atrocious.
- "Endless Fashion" was a true gem of the album. I went into the song with meager expectations. When it comes to Uzi and Carti albums Nicki Minaj tends to ruin songs. I think Uzi perfectly executed the melody and I think Uzi and Nicki are the only rappers who could have pulled a song like this off. I especially love Uzi's first line of the chorus. One thing I don't like is Nicki referencing Karl Lagerfeld. Yes, I know he died and yes I know he was a fashion icon but he was also a huge asshole who promoted unhealthy body images which is especially distasteful when you look at the body images Nicki herself has promoted in her past. Nicki immediately makes up for this when she references Virgil Abloh saying "My niggas'll blow like Virgil, I got that duffel". Already it's a great double entendre comparing the "blow" of a gun to a different kind of blow. But it takes on a whole new layer when you look at Virgil Abloh's creative past. His first fashion house was called Pyrex. After some legal trouble, Virgil shifted to a new brand Off-White. The "Off-White" symbolizing the product of the "Pyrex". This all ties in very neatly with Nicki's bar, illustrating what may be inside Nicki's duffle. This was a great song and one of my favorites on the album. Also when Uzi said "I rock Junya on wannabes" they were referring to Junya Watanabe the Japanese fashion designer. I was hoping they said "wannabes" to set himself up for an Itzy reference since it's well-known Uzi loves K-Pop and Itzy loves their shoulder moves as much as Uzi but that never came.
- The melody on the chorus of "Momma, I'm Sorry" reminds me of Dax for some reason. The Cheif Keef reference is cool but the song overall is a miss for me.
- The first verse of "All Alone" wasn't that great but I liked the second verse. That Cheerio line is stuck in my head.
- The beat on "Nakamura" makes me slightly forgive Brandon Finessin. This song is truly anthemic. I love the high-energy beat and I love how Uzi hits the ground running with his first verse.
- "Just Wanna Rock" was cool when it dropped, now it's overplayed.
- Harder than any song on this album and any song I've heard in a while, "Fire Alarm" slaps.
- "CS" is overrated and Uzi did his thing on this song. The vocal performance was great. This song fits well into the overall theme of the album. I also don't want to underplay System of a Down's work on this song. The lyricism and overall arrangement of this song is amazing.
- "Werewolf" was a cool song. It didn't appeal to me. The only part of the song I enjoyed was Uzi's and they weren't nearly present enough in the overall song.
- "Pluto to Mars" sounds like a generic Uzi song. The snippet of this song was cool but I could have gone without this song ever being released.
- "Patience" kicks off the final chapter of this album. I love this song. The chorus is so catchy, the beat is amazing, and Don Toliver's vocals are the perfect backdrop. I love the bridge of this song. Uzi pulls off another perfect falsetto taking me right back to the No Luv Lost days. This is truly a gut-wrenching song.
- "Days Come and Go" is another heartfelt song. Honestly, it sounds like it would have fit right into the Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack. A very catchy song that's very fun to sing along to.
- I never thought I would hear this kind of storytelling from Uzi. On "Rehab" Uzi details his experience going through rehab and getting clean. It's a beautiful song. The detail alone is incredible. Also, it's lovely how they give credit to the people who helped him while they were in rehab. I think this is the most personal song I've ever heard from Uzi and It's the only time I've ever paid attention to the lyrics of an Uzi song.
- "The End" is honestly the perfect outro to the album. I love how the song constantly switches up styles. It reminds me of an anime outro which is the perfect conclusion to an Uzi album.
Uzi had me growling in my car singing along to this album. This is the first album I've ever gone out of my way to buy a physical copy of and I don't regret it. This is honestly my favorite body of music to come out this year and my favorite body of music in a while.
I held off on reviewing this album for a couple of weeks because I wanted to give myself time to live with it and enjoy it. In that time it has only further grown on me. This is a great project and although I don't do numerical ratings anymore, Pink Tape is a 10/10.
Favorite Songs
- Fire Alarm
- Crush Em
- Suicide Doors
- Endless Fashion
- Patience