JUICE WRLD - VINYL DEATH RACE FOR LOVE [VINYL]

Death Race for Love is Chicago rapper Juice WRLD's second studio album to drop since his freshman album Goodbye & Good Riddance shook the hip hop scene in May 2018. With Goodbye & Good Riddance going platinum in the US, it's no overstatement to say that the expectations for Death Race for Love were set unachievably high immediately upon announcement. Initially leaking „Robbery” and „Hear Me Calling”, both of which followed the freshman Juice WRLD formula of heartbroken, tormented lyrics, many excitedly anticipated somewhat of a sequel to Goodbye & Good Riddance. However, this seemingly was not what Juice had planned for the album. His sophomore project ultimately ended up coming out less cohesive and much more hectic than his debut album with an overindulgent 22 song track list. His style varied from his distinguishable angsty melodies with equally dark lyrics in „Fast” and „Who Shot Cupid”, while other songs like „Empty” and „Syphilis” appear to be reaching out directly to the XXXTENTACION fanbase with their borderline screamo lyrics. This leads to a bit of a stylistic clash between songs that I believe is in part due to the fact that Death Race for Love was worked on by 13 more producers than was Goodbye & Good Riddance. As you work your way through the album there are some songs that feel as though they just don't belong next to each other. With aggressive „Syphilis” preceding a borderline nursery rhyme sounding „Who Shot Cupid” I thought for a brief second during my first listen through that my phone had glitched and began playing a different album. However, hectic as it maybe, I believe this project will be looked back on as one of Juice's biggest stepping stones to the top. This album embodied both the shredding of old layers as well as the growth of new ones. In many songs you could still hear the teenaged hopeless romantic losing his mind, but in others you heard an adult beginning to understand his position in the rap game. With lyrics like „My hand on my trigger, I'ma die with respect/F***in' with my money, you'll get dealt like that”, you can tell that Juice is beginning to understand that there's no reason to be crying about his two month long high school relationships. In some ways I felt that the drastic variation in vibe and sound responsible for creating some of the chaos also made the buzz around Death Race for Love last much longer than Goodbye & Good Riddance. With the release of his freshman album, the overall consensus was the same amongst the majority; all of that was damn good. Death Race for Love left many more people with mixed emotions, with some leaving certain songs on repeat while others refused to listen all the way through. Talking to people about the album, I found that I couldn't nail down one song in particular as the crowd appointed „best song of the album.” It all varied from person to person, which I believe speaks to the album's depth and complexity. Apart from the songs mentioned above „Flaws and sins” and „The Bees Knees” came up often in conversation when discussing favorites as well. It goes without being said that this album was not a project to be dismissed by any means. There were songs that Juice released on Death Race for Love that I believe will prove essential to his development in the long run. Was it a Goodbye & Good Riddance 2? Absolutely not. Not even close. However, in time I'm sure Juice as well as his fans will be thankful for Death Race for Love as he continues to find his style and deliver us with Billboard topping music. (J, Amazon)