By Jack Tecca, Contributor
[Adult Swim; 2017]
Rating: 7/10

Key Tracks: “Pizza Shop Extended”,  “17 Wit A 38”, “Baby Scale”

IDK demonstrates decent storytelling and versatility as well as great production on his new project, IWASVERYBAD. The story of Jay IDK’s struggle between living a life of crime or sticking to the books becomes very vivid throughout the duration this album. Through tracks such as “Mrs. Lynch, Your Son Is The Devil” and “Pizza Shop Extended”, IDK demonstrates his struggles through his bars, which are surprisingly very coherent.

His vulnerable remarks on “Black Sheep, White Dove” compliment the fast violent rhymes on “Dog Love Kitty”. In addition, the album has a pretty good lineup of features such as MF Doom, Swizz Beatz and the returning Chief Keef. The production also does a good job of keeping the listener immersed in the culture IDK grew up with. A few problems with this album include flow complications as well as a break in the album’s content. IDK’s flow seems a little broken at times and it seems as if his slower scheme doesn’t compliment the instrumental. The choruses don’t help much either, as they get a little repetitive throughout the record, but the instrumentals keep the ear thoroughly interested.

There is also a strange break in the coherence of the story of the album, which gets really distracting. Out of the gate, it seems as if the album will all be about the corruption of IDK’s brain. In reality, there’s about a two-song break in the album where he talks about his vices in the form of lust. One song about this would’ve been appropriate due to the fact that this temptation is highly apparent in today’s society, but two just sort of delay the listener from the ultimate climax of the album, where IDK talks about his mother.

Although there are quite a few problems with IWASVERYBAD, time will ultimately determine how good this album is. Through a few good first impressions, IDK is on track to grow his fanbase exponentially. Overall, it’s a solid debut album for an up and coming artist in the rap industry.

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