Trippie Redd Tries To Be A Rockstar In "Life's A Trip"

"Rockstar" has always been an unbinding term, but it seems a lot of artists are using it pretty ambitiously nowadays. Specifically, rappers. Trippie Redd tries to be a rockstar in Life's A Trip, but doesn't realize his jarring voice and affinity for drugs doesn't quite serve him the title.

For what it's worth, Trippie Redd attempts to do something different... though something familiarly different. Opening track 'Together' kicks things off smoothly with a nice beat and some carefully autotuned vocals that make for a nice hook, until the end of it where his scratchy, loud annunciation of "forever" is just gross. It completely takes you out of the mood the beat tries to establish. His voice is simply so jarring that it is the single factor that often ruins a song. 'BANG!' is another example of where this weird growl he does doesn't come off as rambunctious or cool; it's just dumb, in both sound and execution. Closing track 'Underwater FlyZone' thankfully avoids it, for the most part (it's still in there a few times), but actually shows some pain. However, it also reveals that Trippie Redd is clearly just trying to fill the gap of emotional hip-hop that XXXTentacion has left, and doing it less effectively and less genuinely.

Trippie Redd really doesn't have a sound of his own. When he's not trying to be XXXTentacion, he's riding off the coattails of every other trap artists who came before him. The only thing he's got for himself is that awful growl. He does make the most of it, though, and while there's no identity there's still at least some passable tracks. His collaboration with Diplo, 'Wish,' provides a nice chill atmosphere and he actually delivers a pretty solid flow. 'How You Feel' is an average track without any ups or downs, though those whispers are pretty weird. Travis Scott provides the album's single banger with the dynamic 'Dark Knight Dummo,' where he is thankfully the majority of the track. Trippie Redd simply doesn't have the ability to carry a song by himself yet that has his own unique touch to it.

Trippie Redd tries to be a rockstar in Life's A Trip but instead comes off as a wannabe: someone with no identity trying to ride off the death of a fellow artist while riding off the coattails of others in hopes of finding one banger. It's a pretty sad display, but there are moments that show it's not hopeless for him. There's potential in there somewhere, he just has to make it his own.

Favorite Track: Dark Knight Dummo

Least Favorite Tracks: BANG!, Bird Shit, UKA UKA

Rating: 56 / 100

Stream or buy Life's A Trip on Apple Music, and follow our 2018 Playlist on Spotify: