Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year, you’ve come in contact with the Migos in some way. Formed by three relatives--Quavo, Takeoff, and Offset--the Migos have taken over the hearts and ears of the public since they dropped their sleek, new single, “Bad and Boujee.” As the song gained popularity, the infamous first lines of the track, “Raindrop, drop top,” have gained a reputation of their own, used in memes and jokes across the internet. The song has been the rap song to listen to for the past few months, and with their explosion onto the popular scene, Migos capitalized on their newfound success and released their sophomore album, appropriately titled Culture. With this album, Migos have turned their homespun variety of Southern hip-hop into a great success, as their laidback and fun-filled approach to rap has struck a chord with the public. The style that the Migos pursue on this album is very trap-influenced and minimalist, but a key difference in Migos’ sound is their sense of unprofessionalism. Despite instrumentals from Metro Boomin, one of rap’s biggest producers, and Zaytoven, a staple of Atlanta hip hop, the production is less polished than the beats of other trap-influenced rappers. The production on this album almost sounds like it was done on a smaller budget than most, using artificial instrumentation and cheaper options to make the beats. While many may see this unprofessionalism and cheapness as a misstep for Migos, I see it as a nice quirk of their music which plays into the vibe that they try to create.
Migos for me has always been what their name says they are: three amigos rapping, and having fun with it. The way that they ad-lib over each other’s verses and are always in the background makes their music reminiscent of rapping with your best friends in a basement or on the street over a homemade beat, a style which I think no one else in rap captures quite like the Atlanta trio. This style makes for some great music, which has clearly made an impression on the public. For example, their big hit, “Bad and Boujee,” is a fun, catchy song, especially with the addition of up and coming Philadelphia rapper Lil Uzi Vert, even if he doesn’t add much lyrical value to the project. They show their sense of humor and charisma in the best ways, and it makes for a smash hit of a song. On other tracks like like “Get Right Witcha,” “T-Shirt,” “Brown Paper Bag,” and “Out Yo Way,” Migos showcase their group energy and knack for fun, making for some of the highlights of the album. However, there are just as many weak tracks as there are strong ones. The opening track, “Culture,” which features DJ Khaled for some reason, is an unpolished, bland starter for the album, and doesn’t exactly hype the listener up for the rest of the project. On “What the Price” and “Kelly Price,” the latter of which features Travi$ Scott, the Migos go overboard with auto-tune and harmony; after the first listen, the tracks get extremely annoying and hard to listen to. It’s clear that they were influenced by Travis’ style, but the autotune is not utilized the same precision that it is on Travis’ projects, and the songs come out to be duds. The cheaper production also has some drawbacks, such as on tracks like “Big on Big” and “Deadz,” which try to replicate live instrumentation with obviously artificial sounds, which is very distracting and makes the songs sound silly. The last problem that I have with Culture is possibly the hardest one to fix. It is the flow and voice of Takeoff, the lowest voice of the three. Takeoff always sounds like he’s not really paying attention, and his flow is often out of sync with the beat. He’s not charismatic like Quavo or fun like Offset, he’s just boring and not fun to listen to. Takeoff’s worst performances were on “Call Casting,” in which his voice does not match with the beat and always feels off-rhythm, “Big on Big,” in which he sounds painfully like Ludacris, and “T-Shirt,” where his flow and vocals on the pre-hook make the song sound much more generic than it could have been. In short, the homespun style that Migos utilize has its benefits and its drawbacks. At its best, we get songs like “Bad and Boujee,” which are fun, and upbeat. At its worst, we get an auto-tune-filled, Takeoff-heavy, overly-artificial track, like "Big on Big." For me, the charisma, sense of humor, and catchiness of these songs outweigh the boring parts, and Culture proves to be a solid listen. Comments are closed.
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