I Love You Say It Back - Key!
Intro:
Key! is an Atlanta native that has been an influential artist in today’s rap scene. I was always aware of him throughout the years through blogs and features, but I didn’t start checking him out till his collaboration project with producer Kenny Beats. The two compliment each other’s styles very well and have made some great songs. From that, I found myself always excited to check for Key!’s latest solo work.
Strengths:
My favorite aspect of Key!’s music is how loud and expressive his voice is. His delivery always has a lot of personality. The versatility in the way he manipulates how he sounds almost always sounds good. He always has a decent variety of catchy flows and melodies he can use depending on the song.
As you the album title might suggest, the subject matter consists of themes like love, heartbreak, Key!’s lifestyle, and romance/lust in general. The only feature is Bobby Raps; who gives an anthemic chorus on the song “Boys Dont Cry”.
Lastly, the production on this album sounds a bit more quality/high budget to me than his other recent ones. The beats are all mostly well mixed, and there’s a variety of styles/moods. I always thought Key! sounded best on bouncy trap drum patterns; similar to songs like Sugar & Rice and Let’s Go. Most of the melodies on this album are retro, synthy and atmospheric. Some of the songs even gave me Kanye/Travis vibes (“Anakin” & the intro song).
Weaknesses:
The few weaker moments/elements on this album take a lot away from the great performance and versatility from Key!. I do know this style of music isn’t lyrically focused, so this first point doesn’t bother me too much. But, Key! has some basic lines mixed in with his catchier/wittier ones. His delivery and flow make up for this usually, but a song like Out The Way has lines like: “N***** don't want beef like it's Five Guys/ Five Guys, Five Guys” sound like filler from the uninteresting vocals.
There are times when Key!’s vocal performance is more interesting to me than the beat (Ex. “First Date”), even though most of the beats are solid. However, despite his versatility, Key! doesn’t sound great on every beat. Especially on the song Spend One Night which also is the cringiest display of this album’s themes.
These issues are mostly common in the last three songs of this 10-track project (with a run time of 24 minutes). Better track listing/sequencing would’ve done justice to the potential of this album in my opinion.
Overall: 6.5/10
Key! comes through with more great music, and is even closer to reaching his full potential in my eyes. Most of the album’s weakness were mainly present during the last-third of the songs. If the album didn’t end off so weak, I definitely would’ve given it a higher score. He’s shows to still be pretty great at making infectious trap bangers. Thank you all for reading and be sure to listen to the album yourself with the link below.
