Hi, everyone. Glizzthony Ocktano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new Key Glock album, Glockavelli: The Don.

Key Glock is a Memphis rapper who is recently coming off of his most successful record to date, and he is hitting us with another heoping helping of tracks on his latest here.

Now, in regards to Key Glock's style, his sound, his presentation, I don't know if there's a lot to say because he's the artist where what you see is pretty much what you get. He is a steady and consistent spitter with a very great ear for beats. He gives us a lot of relaxed and very entrancing flows on his tracks. You know, think 21 Savage if he could come through with maybe a bit more oomf and swagger to his performances.

It also should be noted that this guy came into the game under the wing of his legendary and influential cousin, Young Dolph, of course, through his Paper Route Empire Collective. The two had collaborated frequently until Dolph's tragic murder in 2021. But if there is a silver lining to that very dark cloud, it's the fact that Glock has been riding a commercial high since the release of his last album and has really been coming into his own artistically.

With Glockavelli here, though, I will say for the most part, it does sound like he is running pretty much the same play that he did a few years ago on his breakout Glockoma 2, the deluxe of which actually brought him even more attention. And yeah, in my opinion, I think there are most definitely really pros, mostly pros, but still also cons to taking that approach on this new record.

I mean, first of all, with this LP, there is very little in the way of versatility or growth to make note of, especially on the song structure side. Glock, historically, is not super big on hooks and choruses, and for the most part, he just picks a hypnotic flow and a great beat to do his thing on top of, and then he just does it and ends things before any given track starts to overstay its welcome. I mean, case in point, the deluxe edition of this album contains 21 entire songs, and in total, it doesn't even pass an hour of run time.

And miraculously, we're also talking about a featureless experience on this record, too, as Glock, once again, even with the increased fame and hype behind this new album, decided, Yeah, I don't really need anyone else other than me to carry this record.

But that decision has led to a lot of tracks on this LP that tend to blend together. That is, unless Glock happens to drop a super funny or outlandish bar or picks a beat that happens to bring a very bold or attention-grabbing sample, like with the great organ and string combo on "The Grinch", the epic gospel touches on the opening track "Hallelujah". Furthermore, the chill R&B-flavored female vocal harmonies that paint the background of "Made A Way", or the track "Sunny Days", which features a very simple but prominent and effective sample of Bobby Hebb's "Sunny", which just sounds fantastic as the backbone of the song.

However, not every sample on this record is super complementary. Like, for example, on the song "Blue Devil", we have a pretty obvious grab of some passages from Willy Hush's "Tell Me Why Our Love Has Turned Cold", which if you're at all a rap fan, you will instantly recognize as already having been the backbone of the Three 6 Mafia classic "Stay Fly". And while, sure, as a rapper, you can do that, that's your artistic choice, but I feel like fans are naturally going to compare the two songs in their head, especially given that the sample is employed in much the same way. I mean, really to a less impressive degree in this instance. But yeah, honestly, I just don't really see what this song adds to the greater rap canon, given that we already have a major classic doing pretty much exactly this.

Plus, beyond that, I'll say while I do think Glock's rapping and lyricism on this project is as charismatic and as solid as it was on his last record. I'm finding maybe a few less catchy moments here and there that aren't really sticking with me, lyrically speaking, after I'm done listening to the project.

And once again, I found the overall flow of this album to be a lot like that of a compilation with definitely there being highlights throughout, but they're not really being much highs or lows or rhyme or reason to my ears anyway, in terms of why certain tracks are being placed in certain places. I mean, the closing track "3 AM in Tokyo", for example, I feel like literally could have been placed anywhere on the album and you would have had much the same experience with the record.

I mean, if there is a major improvement or I guess overall change to note with this record when comparing it to its predecessor, it's that I do think the production does tend to take maybe a bit more of a melodic, harmonious, and cinematic approach here and there. I think in terms of beat choices, Glock really wanted to show his softer side in some instances. However, this doesn't really coincide with a change in his rapping or lyrics in any way. So as a result, any shift in Glock's ethos as far as production choices go, more or less feel like window dressing.

So, yeah, overall, while I did find Glockavelli to be a very simple, straightforward, solid, enjoyable project, super consistent, the record didn't really bring the increase in ambition or the widening of Glock's versatility or what I saw as his full potential on the last album at all, really. And I fail to see what this record brings to the table that his last didn't. It doesn't really function as a replacement. It does many of the same things and I just see no reason to go to this record after having heard it, knowing that I much prefer Glockoma 2.

With that being said, it's still very much worth a listen in my view, especially if you enjoyed anything he's done in the past, which is why I'm feeling a light to decent 7 on this one.

Anthony Fantano, Key Glock, Forever.