7/10
2017 was a huge year for “THE WORLDS GREATEST BOY BAND BROCKHAMPTON”. Dropping a three album trilogy titled SATURATION I , II, and III the band mustered a lot of praise and high expectations for the future. This year, they dropped their fourth studio Album Iridescence, which is apparently the first installment of the next trilogy the band will be trekking into titled, “The Best Years Of Our Lives”. Iridescence is also the band’s first project without Ameer Vann who was kicked out of the group due to allegations of sexual misconduct. At the rate BROCKHAMPTON is dropping music, with this being their fifth record in only a little over three years, they most likely will have a very large discography in due time and this most certainly will not be the last we hear of BROCKHAMPTON. As with BROCKHAMPTON’S other music the production on this record is very unique with lots of flying chords and synths throughout. At times the album seems a little bit overproduced but it’s not an opinion changing factor on the album as a whole. For me, the track list on this record is just a little bloated. The first half of the album has very few notable tracks or verses that really stand out if any. In fact in the scheme of the entire album a lot of the tracks on the first half seem completely unnecessary. Some of the negatives and low points on this album only sound okay because of stand out performances by Joba throughout this album and there isn’t any shortage of them. This is the most mic time in BROCKHAMPTON’s discography Joba has received thus far and he makes great use of it on this record. He has amazing performance after amazing performance including my favorite verse on the record which I will get into later. The intro track NEW ORLEANS features the members ranting in sort of this turn like fashion over a banger type beat. This track didn’t have much substance to it and the verses seemed to lack emotion besides Joba’s verse which was passionate and greatly delivered. THUG LIFE is simply the second half of the NEW ORLEANS track and features the same pre-chorus by bearface. Both tracks seem unneeded and aren’t particularly enjoyable. Most of the tracks after THUG LIFE aren’t truly notable at all and lack a lot of substance. They also suffer from the overproduction I previously talked about on this record. Many of them such as BERLIN and WHERE THE CASH AT seem like a bunch of production techniques that all clash thrown onto singular tracks. This trend pretty much continues till the track WEIGHT. This is the first of a few very powerful emotional ballads on this record. WEIGHT features a few members of the group rapping about personal issues they’ve had and how they have weighed on their music careers respectively. It also features a very well executed beat change that completely switches the tempo and feel of the song. This is the part of the album where it really starts to swing for the better, it truly goes uphill from here. DISTRACT is a catchy and fun beat with Kevin Abstract spewing some fun bars and muttering (UH) at the end of each line in almost a trap like way. The next track TAPE features a lethal verse by Kevin Abstract with some quick and clever lyricism. There’s also these quad and triplet base drum hits playing in the background that build this sense of urgency and anxiousness that really fits the track well. J’OUVERT’s first verse is a banger with Joba essentially screaming about all his frustrations which then transitions into Merlyn Wood’s smooth and silky verse flawlessly. VIVID’s beat is a little less personable than the previous tracks but Don Mclennon gives us one of the more lyrical verses on the whole record with a solid vocal performance as well. His verse has some insane quotables and references such as “It's elementary when all you speak is rudimentary
Paradiddles hidden in riddles vapid and accessories”. Essentially he is referencing a paradiddle which is a basic drum rudiment as rudimentary or simple. Making the comparison between other rappers and being simple minded. The whole song is basically a lyrical showcase for Don Mclennon and a very enjoyable one at that. After that, comes another emotional ballad in SAN MARCOS. This track features yet another set of the amazing strings and guitars which are plastered all over this record which flys into an amazing verse by Dom but an even better more emotional verse by Joba. This verse by Joba is the best, most emotional, and best written verse off the whole album by a landslide. With him talking about his thoughts of suicide, co-dependency and his fear of commitment all within this verse in a very straight forward but amazingly executed way, followed by a tear jerking performance by the London Community Gospel Choir, repeating the phrase “I want more out of life but this” this track is easily my favorite off this fifteen song track list. BROCKHAMTON’s Iridescence is at times fun, emotional, and even light hearted. This album truly sees its better days in the second half which is frankly an amazing bunch of tracks. This album suffers from a weak intro and first half, but overall is not a bad record at all.