Hi, everyone. Servethony Facetano, here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this Don Toliver album, OCTANE.

Here we have a brand new record from Houston native, rapper, singer, songwriter, Don Toliver, who has long been, without a doubt, the most stand-out and successful artist on Travis Scott's Cactus Jack label. However, as instantly recognizable as Toliver typically is within the context of JackBoys and all that, I think he's fully yet to do anything that has really had a greater impact on hip hop music in the five or so years that he's been relevant. And while I've long seen potential in the future of what he's doing, especially with these different eras across his catalog, like in 2023 when he was very much in loverboy mode on Love Sick, or a year later with HARDSTONE PSYCHO, where he delivered this multi-phased album with production that ran a little dystopian, sometimes rock-influenced. The visual aesthetics were like part biker gang, part Mad Max.

But with OCTANE, I'm really failing to see what the point or direction of this one is, especially given how massively underwhelming the lead singles to this album were, "ATM" and "Tiramisu", which really, now that I've heard the entire record, are like some of my least favorite songs on the entire project, with their super flavorless, nocturnal, vibey beats that sound like the sort of shit you get after a few YouTube beat searches. Toliver's performances on these tracks are also pretty sleepy, meandering, and that is when he doesn't sound like he's bleeding like a young baby sheep or goat, which has basically been his appeal for years now.

But honestly, the further he goes along with this, refusing to grow, advance, progress, improve in any significant way, the more stale and predictable it all feels, obviously. I mean, no wonder the underground is taking over right now because Toliver and his contemporaries who very much rode in on a wave created by Travis Scott. Travis, who in his own right is very much a massive influence on what artists like Playboi Carti and the like are doing. Still, Scott's direct offshoots haven't really offered anything new or refreshing in years. And the allusions to anything psychedelic or intoxicating, it all just falls flat because it's no longer vivid. It is stale. We've heard these sorts of beats over and over and over again. We have heard these sorts of autocroon vocals over and over and over again. Not only that, but done better on landmark albums like Astroworld. Toliver is truly not adding anything to the meta of this sound, of this lane, at all with this album. There's nothing subversive or even the least bit mind altering about any of it.

In fact, I'd even say the sound of this record is grating, especially on cuts like "Call Back", where the additional vocal effects on Toliver's singing makes his performance pretty much unlistenable. We also have "Tuition", another super low point on the album, which is this skeletal, stripped back inner monologue moment where Toliver is basically giving us every dumb unfiltered thought popping into his head as he's watching strippers dance, which I mean, I'm totally down for a strip club anthem, an ode. But the music on this track is very stiff, it's very awkward, it's low impact. The sound of it isn't anything I could imagine anyone legitimately dancing to because again, the whole thing sounds like a dream, like an inner thought. And honestly, I could give less of a shit about what a man thinks when he's at the strip club looking at strippers. I know what he's thinking, probably the same shit I would be thinking. There's nothing significant, profound, or interesting about any of that unless you find some way to turn it into something poetic or metaphorical, possibly.

I don't know. It's just painfully lazy writing. Again, I get that Don Toliver is not the artist you go to for lyrics, but you've got to supplement your song with something when it sounds boring. Even when Toliver does hit upon a slightly catchy flow, such as on "Excavator", the lack of variation or progression just sees him beating a decent idea into the ground. Honestly, when this album is at its most Toliver-able is when the production or features are buoying the album and making it at least a little stimulating, like Yeat on the song "Rendezvous". Even Travis Scott and Toliver have a pretty good amount of chemistry thematically and vocally on their track together, where they pen some actually funny and romantic bars over some buttery RnB-flavored melodies.

But then, simultaneously, I'm blown away but also disappointed by moments like the opening track, which begins with these incredible horn chops and sections that give this record an epic beginning. But then, Toliver squanders it with this goofy-ass chorus, where he's talking about riding around with his significant lover, not other, but lover, which I mean is fine. Could be a bit of a turn of phrase, but he doesn't say significant, he says "signicophant", which I mean, I'm one to talk. I mix up words and phrases all the time. I got ADHD head. I don't have the best verbal processing in the world. But Toliver has enough co-writer credits on pretty much every single one of these tracks to make you wonder why there wasn't anybody in the studio anywhere just being like, 'hey, man, that sounds kind of goofy.'

Production also carries on the blaring, banger, beat of "Gemstone". The track "Body" as well. "OPPOSITE", I would say, too. Meanwhile, the final moments of this album are pretty much a wasteland. The song "TMU" tries to bring this sexy vibe, you're chilling with your girl in the car, she's popping a molly. A molly in 2026, yes. While I kind of get what Toliver is going for here with this disembodied refrain of this woman singing about being together and being young, hearing lyrics about how Don wants to pick this person up and call the school before he does that, it's a pause moment, especially as he continues on about wanting to take this person to the island. It's not the time for these kinds of bars. It's really not. Then the closing track is this sugary synth pop cut with autocroon vocals, and it's just derivative slop with, believe it or not, a goddamn Kid Rock interpolation of the song "All Summer Long", which obviously itself is a ripoff of "Sweet Home Alabama".

It's like what happens when musical influences go from being this cute game of artistic telephone to pretty much a human centipede. We're just piling crap on top of crap and then coming out with more crap. Yeah, I was not enjoying myself on this album, honestly. A handful of fun beats and some okay features. But Toliver's lyrical writing, his songwriting is honestly worse than it's ever been. The musical ideas are mediocre as hell. One forgettable song after the next. A handful of cringe moments, too. And really nothing to look forward to from here. I feel like we're just basically treading water on this album. We're digging deeper into a stale sound that has gone nowhere for several years now. If Toliver is to remain relevant outside of the Travis Scott bubble, he's going to need to offer something thoughtful, standout, or new in some way, and OCTANE just does not do that, which is why I'm feeling a strong three on this album.

Anthony Fantano. Don Toliver. Forever