Steve 'Flash' JuonEarly in Tyga’s recording career I felt that he had leveraged his connections to become an established rapper, and given the quality of his lyrics and music, I wasn’t mad about it at all. Over the years though Mr. Stevenson has inexorably moved from meaningful to meaningless, coinciding almost directly with an increased presence on radio and in the clubs. It’s the worst kind of positive reinforcement possible. The more drinks he popped, the more asses he slapped, the more money he flashed, the better he did on the charts. At this point he’s devolved to no longer even having time for full album titles or song names. His newest release is “NSFW” and features a song called “GFU” that could just as easily have been called “STFU.”
The only thing worse than his performance here is his guest Mike Sherm, who drops stupefying lines like “You ain’t tryin’ to swallow cum, why you coming over? Bitch stay yo’ ass home.” To any woman in Mike’s life, please take his advice and stay home. I did have some hope for this album though when I got to the DJ Swish produced “Underdawg” though, because he starts out the song with the words “this shit feel… nostalgic.” Unfortunately what he feels nostalgic for is sounding like Wiz Khalifa did 10 years ago, not what Tyga sounded like almost 20 years ago. It’s not a bad song but it’s not special.
He’s definitely not the underdog at this point. Everybody trying to chart like he does or make the M’s he does IS. “She say she ain’t never been in The Hills/she say she ain’t met a rapper that’s real.” Well I’ve never been in The Hills either, but if that’s an underdog, it’s only compared to whatever mansion Jeff Bezos lives in. Besides being confused about his status he’s confused about what it means to flow. On the Pliznaya produced “Gone” he barely changes his vocal pitch one iota the entire song. He’d probably be the easiest rapper to make an AI version of in history. I’m not sure the track’s hook ISN’T AI.
Pliznaya and DJ Swish collaborated for the lead single “Slave” and once again I got my hopes up for nothing. “If you ain’t here to have sex, what you here fo’?” The song title could have led to a story of how Tyga is trapped by industry expectations to be crass, vulgar and horny for his audience. Instead he leaves me concerned any woman who he’d partner with will wind up being a “Slave” in a sex dungeon, forced to listen to a slowed down version of Britney Spears on loop while his prisoner. “I’m a nasty-ass nigga, I can be a slut/gotta fuck three girls cause it’s good luck/make ’em all 69 then they lick it up.” I’m not mad at him for wanting to get his nut, I’m mad that the man who recorded “Careless World” sank to a new historic low in terms of prostituting himself.
Tyga has reached self-parody status at this point. “NSFW” is 46 minutes of Michael Ray Stevenson searching for the lowest common denominator of popular rap music and then doing the limbo to see if he can go any lower. The smartest thing about “Dumb” is that Big Sean and Flo Milli are on it. The best thing about “Pop It Off” is that Lil Wayne retained more of his soul as a pop star than Tyga could. He populates this album with guest stars throughout and they all turn in better performances than he does. Even mediocre “hip-hop heartthrob” rappers like Lil Tjay are above his level now on “Whodie.”
Even though the title “NSFW” is meant to titillate potential buyers and listeners, the truth is this album is about as SAFE as it can get. His sexual escapades are filled with explicit language, but the teens and 20-somethings listening to him have already said and heard far worse. For this album to be “not safe” he would have had to do something to rebel against the status quo or challenge societal norms. He’s not worried about the plight of trans people, nor the rising cost of groceries, nor the sweeping ICE raids targeting minorities across the country. The only thing he’s worried about is having enough ICE in his champagne bucket in The Hills to keep his drink cold.