Hi everyone, Trapthony Raptano here, the internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a review of this new Sexyy Red album, Yo Favorite Trappa Favorite Rappa.

This is the latest full-length album from Missouri native Miss Sexyy Red, rapper, songwriter extraordinaire, coming through with a record here that has been one of my most anticipated this year, mostly because I was such a fan of Sexyy's breakout moment back in 2023, Hood Hottest Princess. And my very positive feelings toward that record and its deluxe edition, uh, have really kind of proven to be one of my more controversial takes of the 2020s. Pretty much every midwit who's ever watched me on the internet has come out of the woodwork in my comments, on social media, desperately trying to write off every opinion I've ever had because I dared to enjoy a trap album with some banger beats, some simple, catchy choruses, and raunchy lyrics.

Which, in the grander scheme of things, are not even characteristics that are specific to Sexyy Red in any way. In fact, throughout her career she's been pretty open and honest about who some of her biggest influences are, referring to herself on occasion as the female Gucci Mane.

But Gucci, and anybody else kind of influenced by or connected to him, doesn't really get the same amount of ire Sexyy does, and I wonder why. It's just been funny, and almost even more entertaining than the music, to see people repeatedly fall for Sexyy's trolls and somehow take her more seriously than she takes herself. I mean, we're talking about a woman here who raps about the color of her booty hole.

And despite Sexyy not changing up her approach to music and social media that much over the last few years, she has still managed to maintain the attention, uh, pretty well of fans and haters alike, even if there weren't that many notable highlights on her last major release, the 2024 mixtape In Sexyy We Trust.

Now, given that tape and how much of a relative flop it was in comparison to Hood Hottest Princess, it leaves me kind of confused as to why she would go in the direction that she is on this new project here. Because Favorite Trappa, essentially what this project attempts to do is present this mixtape-as-album type experience with a lot of subpar mixes, straightforward trap beats. It's very rough, it's very non-commercial, a lot of tracks. Really the kind of release you would put out in between larger albums and projects in order to keep your fans engaged and excited.

But again, we just had an actual mixtape from Sexyy Red back in 2024, and while the idea of Sexyy doing a project that is raw and messy and not really concerned with wider commercial appeal is fine – certainly lends itself to the possibility of really wild, over-the-top hooks and lyrics, which is very much what Sexyy is known for. That sort of, like, raw mixtape vibe on this record is really only skin deep. 'Cause in a one-to-one comparison, in pretty much every aspect that you can think of, Favorite Trappa is literally everything that was on Hood Hottest Princess but dialed down.

The beats aren't as well engineered. Engineered or as produced. They don't hit quite as hard. Rarely do you get an interesting sample or a memorable melody. The feature list for somebody who is at Sexyy's level of exposure is really dismal and underwhelming. Like, we're talking about a woman here who has collabed with the likes of Nicki Minaj, Drake, has gotten public endorsements from people like Tyler, the Creator. Why not use these connections with these people who clearly want to do something with you and team up on some tracks and features that are actually exciting and will draw some attention to this project, even if it is for a casual mixtape-type appearance?

But none of those interesting names pop up here. I mean, Key Glock is easily the best feature on the project, but he's not really somebody who I think is gonna draw me back to this album again. Although I will sidebar here and shout out the track "Cut Like Us," because between Sexyy, Pretty Pinkk, and Ghetto Beisha, there is a really fun collaborative energy on this track, just something I would have liked to hear more of on the 17 other cuts here.

So again, no real interesting features to speak of, production bland, predictable, uninteresting, not really elevating this project in any way, or even going quite as raw and noisy and out of pocket as, uh, what you might want a mixtape like this to feel like. But even more devastating than all of that are Sexyy Red's vocals and flows all over this project, because for some reason she sounds asleep at the freaking wheel on this thing, and I just don't know why.

This is not the energy level she was at on Hood Hottest Princess, or even her last mixtape. Like, did she record this thing in a short span of time while she was tired or her voice was worn out? Her rapping and her delivery just sounds very underwhelmed, sounds very unenthused, sounds very muted on every single one of these songs. In fact, most of the time the ad-libs sound more hype than her actual flows and choruses, with the exception of maybe a few tracks. But for the most part, this project is very sleepy.

And not only are the vocals toned down, but I feel like a lot of the writing is toned down too. And listen, I know that every Sexyy Red hater out there knows, or at least thinks they know, that her lyrics suck, they're trash, she's an awful writer. And look, I understand that she's not, like, big on wordplay or anything like that. But at least for me, part of the appeal, the selling point of Sexyy Red's music, is just how audacious and over-the-top it is, how self-effacing and raunchy and funny she can be. And she does not bring that energy to her usual degree on this record.

In fact, I feel like there's a lot of lost potential left on the table here on a number of songs that start with really funny titles and premises, but Sexyy Red Sexy Red doesn't manage to say anything funny about them. Whether it be "Richer Than Alla My Opps," "Bitch I'm Awesome," even "Team Lil Booty," "Tatted Asf" too.

I would say the only tracks that rise up to that usual level of Sexy Red ridiculousness are "Hood Bitch 2," as well as the poorly sung and highly sexual "If You Want It." But outside that, it's really hard to feel like you're in on the joke with this project because there are little to no jokes to be found.

Of course, also with this project trying to frame itself as a mixtape, you have all of these you know, shouty DJ drops and passages and intros that for the most part come across cringe and kind of mismatched because the energy levels of these songs for the most part are really low. Like, DJ Holiday, when he does appear on this thing, he sounds more excited to be there than Sexyy does.

God, this is just such a boring, uninteresting album, and it's really sad because I don't think it needed to pan out this way. And that's not to say that Sexyy Red needed to, like, switch up her sound massively or do anything too radical or different to make a great record. Like, she could have simply stayed in the same lane but continued to invest in her music in ways that made it sound bigger and more over the top and just more exciting. Bring in more cool inclusions, either through collaborators and guests that we're familiar with, or new faces and producers who might do something a little bit different and contribute to Sexyy's world in some way.

But if this is all Sexyy Red can manage at this point in her career, I don't think she's that focused on the music at all. In fact, that weird viral clip of her kinda freestyling some crazy shit over a Michael Jackson instrumental was way funnier and way more interesting than pretty much everything she's done here.

Yeah, I'm really at a loss with this one, I gotta be honest, which is why I'm feeling probably a light to decent 2 on this one.

Anthony Fantano, Sexy Red, forever.