Waka Flocka Flame "Flockaveli"

For all the Hip-Hop purists and backpackers Flocka must seem like the epitome of the classic question “What’s wrong with Hip-Hop?” Waka Flocka Flame is not going to stretch your mind with lyrical acrobatics, but if you’re in the streets he will set the tone for everything you’re about to do and have you amped up to do things that belong in the streets and not necessarily on the radio. The majority of the album is produced by Lex Luger with a handful of other producers making appearances mixed throughout the album. If you look at the track listing one thing that jumps out right away is the number of features. The album has 17 tracks with features on all but four of those. Say what you want about his wordplay and complain all you want about his chants, but when you look at the album’s Billboard charting you’ll see he has had 3 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 already. That’s not bad for any artist’s first album, but even more impressive when the artist is so maligned by some of the most vocal haters in Hip-Hop. Waka should have made his song “Fuck This Industry” the lead off track just to get that clear right off the top; Waka Flocka is in the streets heavy.

My top picks from the album are the obvious charting singles “Hard In The Paint”, “O Let’s Do It”, and “No Hands” along with “Bricksquad” and “Karma”. The downfall of having the same producer creating the soundscape for the majority of the album is that the all the tracks start to sound alike real quick. The track lengths are too long with 12 of the 17 tracks exceeding 4 minutes. That’s a product of the chants going for 16 bars on a lot of the songs. I wouldn’t recommend this album to any Hip-Hop purists but if you’re in the streets doing things that belong in the streets then this album is your soundtrack. If you’re getting amped up for a football game or a heavy workout on the weights, this album is your soundtrack. This isn’t made for nice guys sitting behind computers twitter-thuggin…this is made for the streets and bangin’ out of trunks on the block.

1. "Bustin' at 'Em" Produced by Lex Luger, SouthSide
2. "Hard in da Paint" Produced by Lex Luger
3. "TTG (Trained to Go)" (feat. French Montana, YG Hootie, Joe Moses & Baby Bomb) Produced by Lex Luger
4. "Bang" (feat. YG Hootie & Slim Dunkin) Produced by Lex Luger, Tay Beatz
5. "No Hands" (feat. Roscoe Dash & Wale) Produced by Drumma Boy
6. "Young Money/Bricksquad" (feat. Gudda Gudda) Produced by Lex Luger
7. "Fuck the Club Up" (feat. Pastor Troy & Slim Dunkin) Produced by SouthSide, Tay Beatz
8. "Homies" (feat. YG Hootie, Popa Smurf & Ice Burgundy) Produced by YoungPrince-n-Purpz
9. "Grove St. Party" (feat. Kebo Gotti) Produced by Lex Luger
10. "O Let's Do It" (feat. Lil Capp AKA Cap) Produced by L-Don Beatz
11. "Karma" (feat. YG Hootie, Popa Smurf & Slim Dunkin) Produced by Lex Luger
12. "Live by the Gun" (feat. RA Diggs & Uncle Murda) Produced by Lex Luger
13. "For My Dawgs" Produced by Cedric "Yayo" Herbert
14. "G-Check" (feat. YG Hootie, Bo Deal & Joe Moses) Produced by Lex Luger
15. "Snake in the Grass" (feat. Cartier Kitten) Produced by Lex Luger
16. "Smoke, Drank" (feat. Bo Deal, Mouse & Kebo Gotti) Produced by Lil Jon, NIKO
17. "Fuck This Industry" Produced by Lex Luger