George Watsky, an American poet and rapper, has been in the music scene for many years now, this is now his 5th full length album and it is rumored to be his last. Rumors that he neither confirmed nor denied on his twitter page saying “Someone commented that this last album sounded like a retirement album and the truth is I don’t know.” Also going on to clarify “I’ll only do another album if I feel I can make a better one.” If this does turn out to be his last record he will definitely be going out on a high note because this is definitely one of my favorite Watsky albums. I wouldn’t say it is the favorite but definitely his second best album to date.

First of all, the production and instrumentation on this project is some of the most intricate and interesting instrumentals I have ever heard Watsky rap over and I think it really shows his versatility as a rapper that he can rap over these different types of beats. The album starts out with a very jazzy, gospel feel, then evolves into more jazz, funk beats, and then it finds its way into more modern, basic piano hip hop by the end of it. On the last third of this album the beats are more minimal, and ballad-like, opting for a piano melody with some bass and some 808 drum machines. These beats do stagnate by about the halfway point of these songs but the melodies on these instrumentals are definitely ear-grabbing and catchy enough to make you want to listen to them more. And Watsky does sound good over these tracks, he feels the most comfortable rapping over those beats than any other instrumental on this album.

That leads to the next point which is Watsky himself. As I said at the top of this review Watsky is an American poet, and he has been very active in the slam poetry scene as well as appearing at high profile poetry readings among the country. Watsky is definitely a poet first, and it shows in his lyrics. His lyrics are very intricate, and vivid, and poetic. One of my favorite tracks on this album is the second song “Talking to Myself” because the lyrics are just absolutely stunning over a beautiful piano instrumental. I also really love the introductory track which hits you in the face with the gospel sound and you get the feeling as the listener that you are just diving head first into this album, it’s great. Another thing is the way Watsky delivers his lines on some of these songs border on spoken word poetry which is a tendency that he has shown on some of his past projects but becomes most apparent here. The song “Knots” is basically a spoken word poem over a piano track. “Summertime in New York” is the same just with a jazz instrumental in the background. The first verse of “Talking to Myself” is a spoken word verse as well.

I will say where Watsky falls short is certainly on the tracks where he tries to sing the whole thing. “Chemical Angel” is sung by Watsky from beginning to end, and it does not sound good. He just sounds really out of place on this track. He does a similar little trick on “Stick to Your Guns” where he utilizes this monotone melodic flow that I do not care for at all, and it is not a good sound for Watsky at all. However, Watsky does manage to stay away from that for most of the album and that is definitely to his benefit. If anything I feel that this record definitely shows a lot of growth that Watsky has undergone over the years. The work he does on this album is much more sophisticated, and much more refined than on his first few projects. And this is a very sophisticated sounding project when you listen to these instrumentals and the content that goes along with them.

That will bring me to my final point which are the lyrics and themes. The songwriting on this project is a little hit or miss, it has some fantastic highs, but it also has some real low points as well. There will be some points where he delivers an incredibly whack punch line, some of which border on some of the worst Dad jokes you have ever heard. “Summertime in New York” had me cringing for two and a half minutes straight, each line on this song was somehow even worse than the one preceding it. “Going Down” is easily the worst song on this entire project with its all too vivid lyrics depicting him both giving and receiving oral sex. But those are really the only low points I could find on this record the rest of it has a pretty clear overarching theme with some underlying tones as well. He touches on certain political issues that are going on in this country but not so much so that I would say this is a political album. He also talks about religion and faith, but again, not so much so that I would call this a Christian rap album. I would say that this is a journey of re-discovery for Watsky where he rediscovers his faith and himself in the process. The jazz, and gospel undertones that a lot of these instrumentals have indicated to me that he has a newfound love for God and religion and how it affects his views on politics and also his views of himself. He also seems to have come to grips with the fact that not everybody is going to get what he does, nor are they going to like him as a person, and that's okay, because he now loves himself enough where he doesn't have to seek the validation from strangers to make him happy. All those different things are pulled together by how he has rediscovered his faith and in doing so rediscovered his love for himself.

So overall this is a very solid project, it has its low points for sure, but even with those low points this is a very well thought out, well-constructed, and coherent record. Watsky himself brings a lot more energy, and passion than I’ve ever heard on his past projects. His lyrics are beautifully poetic as usual with a Watsky song, and the instrumentals compliment the intricacy of his lyrics very well. This is definitely an album that I recommend you listen to. If this is indeed Watsky’s last rap album, then there would be absolutely no shame in him going out on this note.