Kamal Morgan
Contributing Writer
Last December, when I heard the news that “Culture II” by Migos would be dropping in January, I was ecstatic. 2017 was the year of Migos after they dropped their hit song in 2016, “Bad and Boujee,” and were a huge shout-out by Donald Glover at the 2017 Golden Globes, where their popularity skyrocketed. They released another single, “T-shirt,” before dropping “Culture” on Jan. 27. It was an instant hit. Songs such as “Slippery,” “Kelly Price,” “Deadz” and “Brown Paper” were amazing songs that I couldn’t stop listening to.
Throughout 2017, the trio released an abundance of music for their eager fans. Offset released “Without Warning” with 21 Savage on Halloween; which, in my opinion, was one of the best collaborations of the year. With Offset’s flow and 21 Savage’s unique punchlines, it had much to offer. Then, on Dec. 21, Quavo released the highly anticipated “Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho” with Travis Scott. They even created songs for their record label Quality Control in the “Quality Control: Control the Streets Vol. 1” album. The group gave us so much good music in a year, causing fans and critics to believe their streak could not be stopped.
Just like anyone else, I didn’t feel as though Migos would disappoint me. As it turned out, I was wrong. The first clear head scratcher was the 24-track list accumulating to one hour and 45 minutes. It seems like hip hop artists are jumping on the trend of putting as much music out as they can and spending less time trying to truly develop each individual song for a shorter, better album. Examples of this are Lil Yachty’s “Teenage Emotions” 23-track album and Drake’s “More Life” 22-track album. I still had optimism, for it was Migos, arguably the hottest rap group in the world right now.
The first couple of songs had me rocking my head and feeling the triplet flow and creative adlibs that Migos are known for in their songs. Eventually, I started to realize that each song was nearly identical to the next with little differences outside of the beat. There wasn’t any song I could say was noteworthy beyond the others and deserves to be placed on a pedestal of a great Migos song.
The main problem with Migos’ type of music is it can be very repetitious and lose the focus of its listeners who don’t feel that they are experimenting or trying to take risk with their sound. I felt this very early on and had trouble continuing to listen to an already long album. There were a few good songs such as “Higher We Go,” “BBO,” “Autopilot,” “Flooded” and “Beast.” I don’t expect these songs to be as good as “Bad and Boujee,” which not only was a popular song but also had memes to help popularize it and became slang unto itself. This album did have its one real high with Takeoff delivering the best bars on every song he was on and finally getting the recognition he deserved as the best rapper in the group.
The album didn’t live up to expectations in terms of pure quality, but for any fan who just wants to listen to songs in their car or at a party, this album will be the right place to start.