While he knows his way around a beat, Kid Ink falls flat with his rhymes on “Full Speed.”
is an artist who knows his lane and exactly how to drive in it. The tatted up rapper came out of the scene a little rough around the edges with the debut of “Up & Away.” He built his “bat gang” persona and cult following while going on tour with Kendrick Lamar and releasing singles with Chris Brown. Kid Ink learned how to ramp up his capacity and play to arenas of young adoring fans. For the release of “Full Speed,” the MC has found his voice with some stellar production even in places where the rhymes fall short.
He uses that futuristic two-word stuttered rhyme flow that’s characteristic of rappers like Migos. It’s a flow that can become mundane when overused, but Kid Ink knows how to pair progressive rap structures with anachronistic instrumentation. The result is tracks like “Faster,” which stands out thanks to an excellent bass groove.
Kid Ink’s issues are lyrical. He’s got the flow, the concepts, the beats and enough power behind his movement. He falls short with his rhymes, though, and tends to get outshined on tracks like “Be Real” with Dej Loaf. There’s also this issue of exactly where he’s going with some of these vocal theatrics. He actually whispers, a la the Ying Yang Twinz on “Cool Back.” Itap surprising and doesn’t work at all for a song that purports to bring back the legion of “cool.”
“Like a Hot Boy” is a nicely done posse cut that features Young Thug, Bricc Baby Shitro and a twinkling melody. This album is for the clubs and warm weather. The talent is there but the authenticity is missing on “Full Speed.” Obviously he’s got some clout behind him to pull features from R. Kelly, Usher, Trey Songz and Migos, but that can only go so far.
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Ru Johnson is an arts and culture music writer living in Denver. You can follow her on Twitter here.
