![]() ![]() “Lethal injection by the needle, I ain’t forcin’ nothin’ on my people/And they ain’t force it on me neither, we both addicts, so we equals,” he raps as he tries to weigh the effect he had on his community on “Undefeated.” His delivery on the album intro is icy and understated as he reflects on how his mother’s death left a hole in the family. It’s a waste of Gee, who is otherwise still a good rapper with an ability to condense complex emotions and conflicts into just a couple lines. Save for the punchy, drum-fueled burst of “Blow Up” and the smooth elegance of “Us,” this is some of the most uninspired production I’ve heard this year so far. The flute-led beat of “Slam Dunk” does roughly sound like it could have been on Lil Baby’s It’s Only Me-too bad that’s probably the worst Lil Baby album to be inspired by. “If I Stop Now” has a piano-driven groove so plodding that even resident Florida sadboy Rod Wave would say it’s a buzzkill. On “Ball Like Me Too,” the 808s are lifeless, the rhythm is slow, and the Shirley Bassey sample is played out. Did Yo Gotti accidentally send over the Moneybagg Yo scraps folder? Too many tracks coast on vague familiarity. With MAD, it’s hard to pin down where Gee is on the map-unless he’s explicitly telling you by jacking T.I.’s singsongy “24’s” flow on “The One & Only” or tapping Boosie for a song called “Hotboys.” It’s hard to feel anything when the music sounds like it’s from nowhere. Baton Rouge in the way he carried himself like a walking wound. Gee’s breakout 2020 mixtapes Ion Feel Nun and I Still Dont Feel Nun worked because his central location in Louisville allowed him to fold stylistic elements from many Midwestern and Southern cities into relentless raps full of melancholic memories, cruel imagery, and twisted humor. It’s a relatively by-the-book 14-track album that interrupts his coldblooded, stone-faced raps with wannabe Lil Durk melodies and strips away the regionality of his production in favor of generic “trap” made for the playlist grind. ![]()
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