Steve 'Flash' JuonIt’s not clear what happened to Kap G. We reviewed “Mood” in 2017 and he dropped “No Kap” in 2018, but he’s been remarkably quiet since then. He had at least four mixtapes before “Mood” but only one since then if Wikipedia’s results are accurate (never trust them implicitly). They also state that he’s had no charting singles since ’17. I can’t say Kap fell into a black hole and vanished from existence entirely, but there’s absolutely no question that few rising stars peaked and descended from it faster. He went from XXL Freshman Class of 2017 to… well nowhere really. Sorry G. Your album title says not to lie and anything else would be untrue.
“Want My M’s” seems to have been the peak of this album. The accompanying music video did two million views, undeniably respectable, but that’s only 1/15th of the numbers he did for “Girlfriend” a year earlier. He’d briefly rebound to previous levels with the single “Marvelous Day” thanks to cameos from Gunna and Lil Uzi Vert, but he hasn’t touched that on YouTube since. What’s really telling is that the artists who go viral and/or superstar status blow that out of the water. Do I even need to tell you how many Future videos have over one hundred million views? I’m not just picking a name at random here. Kap G sounds like a future version of Nayvadius Cash. He’s even collaborating with the same folks — Ty Dolla $ign and Playboi Carti.
Apparently one Future was enough because people didn’t want the sequel. Honestly nothing on “Top 5” is top five though. BosaGotBeats is inaccurate too. Bosa’s got an unremarkable sound. It’s yet another samey same vibe with just enough bass to get by and harp chords that add zero atmosphere. Kap’s bars aren’t going to win contests either despite his XXL cover appearance. “Yeah you a hottie, but I know you thottie/might throw a party, but you not invite/look at my army, swear it look like Follies/that thang poppin, swear it’s like hydraulics.” I want you to stop and ponder for a moment that he rhymed “hottie” with “thottie” and try not to laugh out loud. When he brags in the opening of “Raise the Roof” that he gets a “hundred (thousand) for a show in Beijing/hundred for a show in Cali” you question the voracity of the statement immediately.
When Michael G. wrote “there is not a great deal to absorb in these lyrics” he was definitely not capping. Kap has the depth of a sidewalk puddle after a light shower. He doesn’t inspire you to remember what he said, sing along with his warbling vocals, or imitate his “smoking like a chimney” similes. How was he Freshman Class? Everything about Kap G suggests he should have been held back a year, and this is a year after he made the cover. I don’t get it. Desperate for insight I clicked on the song “Welfare” hoping he might paint a picture with his words. I wanted to hear how he struggled to come up and what his life was like in the past, but instead he spends all of his time celebrating his success in the present.
“Went into The Crew, shoppin cause I can now
Michael Jackson, moonwalkin with them bands now
All my boys legit, no more in the trap house, no
Last year I ain’t really had nothin
This year I made your house in a month”
Frankly there’s a generation gap here and I’d be capping if I didn’t admit it. There were plenty of rap songs about nothing but spending money faster than you could make it when I was Kap’s age. If I were to put those songs under a microscope lyrically they’d get the same harsh words about how vapid they were, particularly if they filled up an entire album to the brim. In some ways though the barrier to entry for a successful recording artist seemed to weed out a majority of hopeful emcees with no charisma and nothing to say. Even the flossy big spenders who got in the door had personality, style, and great production. “No Kap” has none of it. This is at best background noise or the filler between tracks on a mixtape featuring better acts.