Welcome to Emerging Artist: Listen and Review. Here, I pick from the pile of up and coming artists and review their most recent work.

This week I have chosen to review Lil Uzi Vert’s “THE PERFECT LUV TAPE”.

Released August 1st of this year, this mixtape is still very fresh despite the majority of the tracks already have over a million listens on Soundcloud. Coming as a followup to his immensely popular “LIL UZI VERT Vs. THE WORLD” released this past May, the XXL Freshman star continues to make headway with his mix of heavy trap with semi contemporary lyrics.

Musically, Lil Uzi chose to stay close to home and avoid producing anything too terribly new. In a side by side comparison between “THE PERFECT LUV TAPE” and “LIL UZI VERT Vs. THE WORLD” it is clear that Vert has become comfortable with his status in Hip-Hop. Vert has felt no pressure to develop much as a writer, instead deciding to focus on creating ear wormy hooks and bridges, sometimes to the point of avoiding content filled verses in general. There are also a lot of tonal similarities between “THE PERFECT LUV TAPE” and “LIL UZI VERT Vs. THE WORLD”, which can be attributed to a similar team, mostly producers Maaly Raw and Don Cannon. This being said, Uzi didn’t avoid seeking new sounds in his beats, using samples from Nard & B in “Seven Million Ft. Future”, DP Beatz in “Alfra Romeo AW30”, and Metro Boomin in “Ronda”.

From the listeners viewpoint, this mixtape is well deserving of some good reviews. It also doesn’t deserve a lot of credit. This mixtape is not going to change the rap game, it may make Uzi a star, but not a visionary. The lyrical material is too outplayed and repetitive but still relevant. Uzi is coasting off of his ability to make stellar hooks and bridges with great ease as an excuse for making careful and thoughtful lyrics, which makes this mixtape perfect for passive listening. Great material for a party, or background music for conversations with friends, as long as you and your company do not mind lyrical content that is vulgar and often sexually explicit.

With that in mind, I give this mixtape a solid 7/10 purely for how enjoyable the beats are, coupled with the tonality of Uzi’s voice.

Check out Lil Uzi Vert “THE PERFECT LUV TAPE” on Soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/liluzivert/sets

Lil Uzi Vert “THE PERFECT LUV TAPE” track list:

1. Do What I Want
2. Of Course We Ghetto Flowers 9ft. Playboi Carti & Offset)
3. Original Uzi (4 Of Us)
4. Money Mitch
5. Side Line Watching (Hold Up)
6. Alfa Romeo AW30
7. You’re Lost
8. Erase Your Social
9. Rona (Winners)
10. Seven Million (ft. Future)