Rapper Lil Pump released his highly anticipated second studio album, “Harverd Dropout,” on Feb. 22. The young Florida rapper’s music has been viewed as controversial as rap purists deem his repetitive choruses and quick verses lazy. Despite this, his larger than life persona and catchy songs have built him a tremendous following that continues to grow. Lil Pump was one of the most coveted free agents in music last year, which earned him an eight million dollar record deal that kicks off with this album.
Considering the hype that surrounded this album leading up to its release, there is no denying that “Harverd Dropout” fell far below expectations. Pump stuck to his typical style and executed it well; the album was filled with brief songs that mostly consisted of him blurting the same phrase an excessive amount of times in between verses about how rich he is.
However, many of the beats sounded similar as if to accommodate Pump’s limited ability, which made the listening experience quickly tiring. It is as if the entire album was made to be listened to in multiple sittings as opposed to listening to it all the way through.
The only distinct positive from the album stemmed from the tracks featuring other artists. Pump solicited the help of many big name artists including Lil Wayne, Lil Uzi Vert, Quavo and Offset. Nearly every song with a feature stood out, possibly because having another artist on the track brought the diversity most of the songs on the album lacked.
“Be Like Me” with Lil Wayne was one of the biggest songs on the album. While Pump maintains his typical sound, Wayne’s flow is a stark difference, as his more lyric-driven rap and light use of autotune balanced out Pump’s style and made for one of the only memorable songs on the album.
The worrisome part of this album is that Pump performed exactly to his abilities. His entire rise from Soundcloud and ascent into stardom was based on his flashy persona and unique style of rapping. Although none of Pump’s qualities have changed, his album came off as slightly boring and its lack of positive reception foreshadows what may be a falling out of love between fans and the very same style that netted the rapper his major record deal just months prior.
Of course, as long as he remains the public figure that he is, Pump will continue to have a massive following. However, it will be interesting to see if Pump will change his musical style in any future projects after seeing how this album fares.
Overall, “Harverd Dropout” was mediocre at best and left much more to be desired. That being said, Pump is currently one of the biggest figures in the rap game and will continue to remain a prominent member in the culture despite this underwhelming performance.
