Steve 'Flash' JuonHaving only experienced Stunna 4 Vegas through his cameos on albums by other rappers, I thought it was time to give S4V his proper due by taking a look at “Welcome to 4 Vegas.” I had some reservations though because at least one widely circulated list put him as high as No. 4 on a mythical “worst rappers ever” top 50. Having inspected that list though I can say that there are plenty of terrible rappers that didn’t even make it. Where’s IceJJFish? What about 7K Tha God? The list is pretty SUS anyway given it includes the likes of Ludacris, G Herbo, Logic and 21 Savage. I can’t take it seriously for even a second, but I did wonder what Vegas did to earn that much hatred.
There’s certainly nothing in “HARD” that tells me the North Carolina rapper deserves that No. 4 spot. The beat is just kind of “aight” and the bars aren’t the best I’ve ever heard, but he’s spitting clearly and holding the tempo down without any trouble. He’s not mumbling, he’s not punched in, he’s not AutoTuned, he’s fine. “I kick her out like martial arts/Her nigga broke, but that’s his fault/I make her spread them legs apart.” Okay, he’s tasteless and misogynistic, but that doesn’t make him particularly good OR particularly bad. He’s basically par for the course in terms of what rappers trying to get signed sound like, although he’s already with Interscope so he made it to the big leagues. Congratulations S4V.
S4V tends to like minimalistic instrumentals that are heavy on the bass thump, and that at least helps him stand out a little from his peers on songs like “Gun Smoke.” There’s clearly some inspiration from what drill and grime rappers are doing, and that’s alright, because North Carolina can do what Chicago and London do all day if Vegas is any indication. The topic material is what you’d expect from the song title — Vegas is bragging about what he’s packing and what’s going to happen if you make the mistake of crossing him. That probably shouldn’t come as any surprise though given he did a song with DaBaby called “Rich Off Words.” Kirk beat the charge based on self-defense though, but let’s hope it never even comes to Vegas having to pull a tool and prove he’s a man of his word.
Typical Stunna 4 Vegas songs are sub-3 minutes, but not at the super short extreme where you could finish the entire album in under 20 minutes. In fact “Welcome to 4 Vegas” clocks in at just over a half hour, which is healthy by present day standards, although it may not feel long enough to listen to while playing the games he raps references. If you’re playing Grand Theft Auto 3, 4 or 5 while listening to “GTA” your session will still be going long after the song and the album are finished. You could leave the whole album on loop at get through it four times before taking a bathroom break.
I honestly think most of the haters don’t like Stunna 4 Vegas because (1.) he’s young (2.) he’s showing off his wealth in your face and (3.) some idiot made a list and put him on it. He’s a little too into bragging about how bad he is, how much pussy he gets, and how he’s not one to be trifled with. That doesn’t make him a bad rapper though — that makes him a typical rapper. There’s a huge difference between the two and if we lose sight of that then nearly every rapper who puts out an album would be “bad.” Typical is okay. I’m not going out of my way to listen to “Welcome to 4 Vegas” on a regular basis but I don’t feel like a half hour of his music made my life any worse.