Hi, everyone. Herethony Theretano here, the Internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of the new Ab-Soul album, Soul Burger.

Ab-Soul, a rapper, a writer, a lyricist who is signed to one of the most progressive and artful labels in hip hop's mainstream today, that would be Top Dog Entertainment or TDE, formerly the home of Kendrick Lamar, who recently left the label for more independent pursuits, also to beef with Drake.

Immediately after his departure, there was a lot of talk about what the salience of TDE would be going forward. Would the label be as relevant and as impactful without its guiding star there on the roster? Also, consider that similarly, conscious collectives like J. Cole's Dreamville Records were getting more popular and bulking up its roster.

But this anticipation of the floor just collapsing underneath TDE just has not happened. As the label has gone on to see one success after another in recent years, there was SZA with her commercial splash of a sophomore record, SOS. This year, they also dropped the critically acclaimed Schoolboy Q album, Blue Lips, and helped build Doechii into the rap sensation she has long deserved to be.

So TDE has very much been on a run as of late, and they are trying to continue continue that streak with another one of their mainstays. That would be Ab-Soul here dropping his sixth full-length project. And Ab-Soul continues to be, on this record, one of the most unique voices and lyricists on the label. In fact, I would call him one of the most difficult artists to categorize. While it is true that for years he has had a lot of crossover appeal with backpack legends such as Lupe Fiasco, who actually features on this album at one point. Comparatively, I would say Ab-Soul, content-wise, tends to be a lot more metaphysical, sometimes hedonistic, sometimes socially subversive. He's really the rapper most likely to lead you down a dark rabbit hole of conspiratory Google searches while also favoring production and song structures that sound like they're close to doing something a little accessible.

But Soulo usually finds a way to sidestep that with disorienting switch workshops, experimental effects, grading, and sometimes freaky sense of humor. And on top of it, his catalog tends to be such a mixed bag that from record to record, I really truly do not know what I'm going to it from a new Ab-Soul album.

For better or worse, he continues to defy any expectations that I could possibly have for his music. However, I did find this record to be one of his easiest to sum up, as repeatedly from track to track, we hear Ab-Soul accomplishing these impressive lyrical feats. But all of this effort is being poured into some of the most hairbrained musical ideas that you will hear on any hip hop record this year.

I mean, take the opening track "Nine Mile", for example, where to start, we're getting a lot of raw bars and witty wordplay over just a'capella vocals from Soul II Soul's "Back to Life". Then suddenly the song breaks into a bunch of self-effacing bars that are essentially a play on the Papa Doc verse that Eminem's character performs in the 8 Mile movie when he's in the midst of his battle with him in the film. This comes complete with a warped variation of the instrumental from that part in the movie. It's definitely odd. One of the weirder conceptual clashes of ideas I've heard on a hip hop record in a minute. But what is even the point, really? Because all these disparate ideas, they don't come together into something that is greater than the sum of its parts.

While you could argue that the point of this song is essentially for Ab-Soul to reveal to us that he is more troubled and obsessed with money than he may seem, given just how heady his music is and how successful he is. The surrounding chaos of references and cartoony flows take away from any personal impact that could have been conveyed here on this track. Not to mention the pacing and transitions on the song fail to really build up any actual momentum across the whole thing.

Unfortunately, there are similar problems undoing the rest of the record. While the frenzied flows and eerie keys and trap beats on "Payday" feel like bit of a throwback to Ab-Soul's Control System days, the lyrical substance isn't really there. On top of it, the odd EDM-esque beat switch up around the midpoint of the song detours the track into no man's land, and it never quite recovers.

The Good Burger reference that ties into the title of the song right after comes across as deeply unserious, and it leaves the track just feeling like a very out of place obnoxious interlude.

Past this point, though, I will say the first leg of this record goes down relatively smooth, even though it does leave a bit to be desired.

Be that on the song "All That", which is like a warped Bay Area bop, a bit darker than you might usually get out of something in this lane. A lot of gangsta-themed content in the lyrics, which you don't usually get in a lot of Ab-Soul's music, too. While I do like this direction and the song structure of this track is most definitely sharp, the verses are so understated that they're in one ear and out the other. The chorus is just about the only part of the track that truly goes.

Following this, "California Dream" is similarly subdued, but it does kick off with a very strong opening verse from none other than Vince Staples, who, for whatever reason, does a better job of framing the narrative concept of the track than Ab-Soul does in the second half. As this California dream that's being rapped about is more of a nightmare, given all of the experiences that Vince Staples is referencing on the song.

So we have this track where Ab-Soul is being outshined by a feature, to one down the road with Doechii on "I, Myself, and Me", where we're just not really getting enough out of the potential collaboration here. Doechii mostly just lends background vocals to the song. And while I know her versatility allows her to contribute to tracks in ways that aren't just simply rapping a verse. I mean, come on, this woman is a super talented lyricist. We want to see her rap, and it's not like she couldn't contribute to what this song here is all about, given that it's a track about Ab-Soul dealing with the pressures of fame and fan expectations, given where he is in his career, hearing that same perspective from an artist who is entering a very intense phase of her career could have been interesting as well.

But that potential was not really realized on a track that, frankly, is more interesting narratively than it is musically, given how odd the groove of the beat here is and just how off-putting Ab-Soul's flows are.

Sadly, even though this record does not really start off at a super high point creatively, it somehow falls off from here around the midpoint as "Dnd" is one of the most underwhelming and forgettable songs I think Soulo has ever recorded. Then following this, "Don Julio 70" proves just how pointless of an exercise trading bars can be when you have little chemistry or aesthetic overlap with the person that you're rapping with, as hearing Ab-Soul trade bars with Fre$h feels like listening to Immortal Technique trade bars with, I don't know, Tyga.

Then "Go Pro" featuring Ty Dolla $ign feels like an exercise in mixing so many sounds or genres together, you don't really know what any of it is. The track feels like several different aesthetic ideas coming together, and then they're all washed out with psychedelic effects without a real strong song or hook to pull it all together. As a result, what you get is this cold, stale stew of sounds that have been left over in the freezer since 2013 and then are spiked with LSD.

After this, "Saudi Sweats" feels like I'm plunging even deeper into some tripped-out Willy Wonka fantasy with some absolutely awful singing from Ab-Soul, topped with these flute arpeggios and idyllic strings. It sounds like one of those blissful, cheeky interludes you might get from a Kendrick album where you are being delivered some self-aware narrator commentary, something like that. But there's not a story arc on this album to give a track like this any discernible purpose.

Oddly, though, some of the best moments on this record come toward the end of it, be that on "Squeeze 1st 2" or even "Bucko Jr.", for example, which I think are two of the most barred up songs on the entire record. Ab-Soul doesn't even really take the time to build out choruses for these songs, to veer away from the lyricism of the track. He's just rapping and rapping and rapping and rapping without an interruption in sight, Which is great. I mean, not super duper catchy tracks, but they at least stand well on their lyrical merits, and they don't indulge in any off-putting switch-ups that ruin the momentum of the song.

There's also "Crazier" with JID, which in my opinion is just godly. Really the best single from the record, too. Not only are Ab-Soul's and JID's respective performances on this track awesome, but it's a great beat choice as well with these awesome little wailing some drumming tones tones, some droning bass, as well as primal drums. It feels almost like an Armand Hammer type beat.

We also get "Peace" featuring Lupe Fiasco, who I mentioned earlier in the review. For this one, my fingers were crossed for something that was going to be fireworks and focused. But given that it is Ab-Soul and Lupe Fiasco, I guess I can't be surprised. They decided to go the low-key, multi-phase, moody, conceptual route with it. For sure, the track comes out interesting and compelling in its own way, with a big final verse being written from the perspective of a close friend of Ab-Soul's, DoeBerger, who he lost several years ago. This then causes him to reflect on his own self-destructive behavior, his perseverance and will to live.

Despite this relative high point on the album, somehow the record really fails to stick the landing in its final moments. "The Sky is Limitless" is an awkward rework working of the "Sky's the Limit" single from Biggie's Life After Death record. I mean, it's obviously a classic track, but even with his own lyrical talents and guest vocalists, Ab-Soul can't seem to make the song work in his favor. It's an odd instance of imitation, as is the closing track "Righteous Man", where he seems to be rapping out his own variation of Kendrick Lamar's "How Much A Dollar Cost" with, yeah, mostly the same instrumental.

He's using this as an opportunity to spit a series of bars that reflect on his own morality as a person, as an artist, much in the same way Kendrick was on the original track. This seems to tie back in a way to the opening song on the record. It's like, once again, Ab-Soul is using a song or a track or an artist that seemingly is near and dear to him to express like his own personal version of the thing about that track that I guess draws him to it.

Which is an idea and a concept that I think could have played out well if he had went into it with more creativity, more of an emphasis on novelty. But instead, what he's doing here comes across more like this elaborate rap cosplay, which I don't think he has to do in order to express the feelings that he's looking to express around his own well-being or his sense of human decency.

Yeah, it's not necessary.

And as an artist who has created some of the great and fantastic tracks that he has, I think he's capable of much more, which is why, personally, I found this album to be so disappointing. So yeah, I'm feeling a light 4 on this one.

Anthony Fantana, Ab-Soul, Forever.