The GOAT - Polo G
Intro:
Polo G is one of Chicagos hottest young stars in the industry. He’s gained a lot of traction and popularity in a very short amount of time. His debut, Die A Legend, was a hit among fans and critics. I’m no different as I liked that project and his other material leading up to this new release. So with that being said, let’s get into the review.
Strengths:
You’re gonna get what mostly people go to Polo G for on this album, introspective street raps about his life in Chicago. He occasionally brags and even attempts some more love/relationship based songs on this project. Of the few relationship songs, I’d say my favorite was Beautiful Pain; which to me had the best execution of the topic. I also think Polo is great at painting pictures with his words, despite not being a technical lyricist (2nd verse on I Know). However, he can still pull out nice lines when he’s rapping; especially when he’s using his more aggressive rapping style.
This could be a very ignorant statement, but I don’t really hear anyone using his specific melodic flow (and I listen to a lot of rappers). The way he scales his voice up and down kind of reminds me of nursery rhymes, but I mean that in the most positive way as I’m talking about how nice the flow is. I think the fact that he doesn’t rely on autotune like most of his peers adds on to my enjoyment. Nothing tops his actual rapping delivery when he’s being aggressive instead of melodic. Moments of this appear on songs like Flex and Go Stupid.
Weaknesses:
Most of my issue with this album don’t even really come from Polo G himself. BUT, as much as I praised his style above, he really doesn’t switch it up on this album AT ALL which really makes the album feel sluggish to listen to after a while. I think if he added more hard bangers and cut back on the singing a little, it would’ve added more variation. Another thing, the song “Martin & Gina” is easily the worst and the only one I can actually say is trash. It appears so early in the tracklist and has some really corny lyrics. Feature wise, I think Juice Wrld and BJ the Chicago Kid complimented him well on their songs. Unfortunately, I don’t anyone else gives a good performance. Lil Baby to me is the worst offender as what ruins his verse isn’t himself, but the horrible way the engineer mixed it.
I didn’t speak on the album’s production until now, and I’d say it’s mostly decent with some fire beats. But my biggest flaw with the album is the HEAVY reliance of guitar & piano. Literally, almost every single track has either a very similar piano progression or very generic guitar playing. Even the drums and the way a lot of the beats are structured are very generic and reminiscent of Juice Wrld, Trippie Redd, etc. Even the legendary producers are guilty of these issues. Mustard’s beat on Heartless is not special at all and Mike Will’s on Go Stupid isn’t terrible, but I hate the melody.
Overall: 6/10
I think it’s a cool but above average album. Polo G himself is still doing his thing, and the main attraction to this project will probably be his lyrical content for a lot of people. The biggest thing that bring the album down is the lack of variety. Between Polo G not switching up his flow much and the abuse fo pianos/guitar, I can see many people listening and getting uninterested halfway through. Regardless, I think Polo is mostly consistent and still has potential to release a truly incredible body of work. Thank you for reading and be sure to listen to the album below if you haven’t heard this project yet. I’ll be giving my final thought at the end of the month.
