The somewhat lackluster tracks “Win Some, Lose Some” and “I Know," fail to make full use of features by Jhené Aiko, the talented R&B songstress.
The album loses considerable speed after the midway point as Sean’s affinity for half-baked themes resurfaces. Sean often loves to speak of quantity, whether it's cars, able-bodied women, or his work ethic, but the repetition of “stories on stories”, “blessings on blessings,” or “two girls is breasts to breasts to breasts to breasts” is gimmicky and distracting. His “stacking” style is also heavily prevalent. At times it works, but Sean relies too much on what should be a sparingly used skill in his repertoire, often to the point of exhaustion. Without the distraction of the background music, he’s able to put more emphasis on his lyrical ability. He has a penchant for purposely stopping the beat, ripping off a few extended lines (cramming as many words into a bar as he can), then allowing the music to eventually catch up. Sean’s usual lyrical quirks are in full-flight on this album, but his polarizing habits often trip him up. The soulful production is spellbinding and multi-layered, sampling Ambrosia’s 1978 soul track, “ How Much I Feel.” Sean lacks the gravitas of his peers to be a geographical pallbearer the way Drake can for Toronto, or Kendrick can for Compton. And getting to hear West, who's done little rapping lately, get back to his roots in his typical, ego-affirming manner is a treat. It’s the kind of song that makes finishing an album difficult for the listener, warranting multiple repeats at the expense of listening to the rest of the record. He also alludes to social injustice-think Ferguson protests and abject poverty-while simultaneously issuing a warning to his competitors in the genre.Ĭredit card used to be EBT, in the D though that’s D-EBT, I’ve been thinking about becoming a cop, So I can murder some niggas one by one off legallyĭark Sky Paradise does have artistry: The album peaks with “All Your Fault” featuring Kanye West. The intro track “ Dark Sky (Skyscrapers),” acts as a harbinger for the rest of the album, as Sean touches on his breakups, his relationship with his family, and his place in the rap game. A gloomy, almost sadistic overtone hovers over the project, and the theme is as dystopian as Kanye West’s latest Hunger Games-esque foray into fashion. Given this ambivalence, it's perhaps fitting that the overall theme of Dark Sky Paradise is paradox it's reflected in the title itself. But on his latest offering, Dark Sky Paradise, Sean has finally made a full-length album more worthy of the hype-an album that could broaden his audience beyond hip-hop obsessives, something the mediocre Finally Famous and Hall of Fame failed to do. Despite moments of greatness, his records tend to be aggressively inconsistent, leading fans to develop a weary sense of skepticism.
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