Guido SternAttempting to live off the success of Soulja Boy’s website promotion-in-title, J.Carr offers a mixtape that lacks the lyrical exhibition to impress underground fans nor the musical quality to play through in a car or club. Rhyming over both original beats and predictable compositions from Kanye and others, the Miami penman is as forgettable as he is listenable.
The tape starts off somewhat promising; DJ 61’s bassy “Ghostin” is a serviceable banger and J.Carr brags, “you can’t see me — cause I’m ghostin’, flamboastin’ and coastin’ // ghostin’, never look back I’m in motion.” By the time the bass is replaced by the 808s of Yeezy and Deezle’s “Let the Beat Build,” it becomes apparent that J.Carr isn’t any more compelling than the hundreds of internet rappers who’ve rocked this beat.
Most of the mixtape is similarly ordinary. The average length of each track is between one and two minutes, making it difficult for him to gain new fans with the tape even if it isn’t impressive. DJ Holiday unnecessarily brings back J.Carr’s verse on Jim Jones’ “Summer Wit Miami,” causing irritation before he ever raps his 40-second verse in entirety. In fact, J.Carr probably records more quality hooks than verses within the tape, from the cold “Never Be Like You” to the surprisingly catchy “My Choppa,” which proclaims, “Betty Crocker muhfucka!” J.Carr seems somewhat aware of this as he leaves only a few bars of actual rapping in favor or repeating his chorus.
While J.Carr has his brief moments of flair (“now all I see is waves like I’m taking off a doo rag”), there is little on “JCarr Music Dot Com” that will have anyone anticipating his debut album, “The Carr.” Methinks he should spend less time emulating Soulja Boy and more time polishing his rhymes and flow.