Album Review: The Lost Boy by YBN Cordae
Everyone's favorite newcomer, YBN Cordae, shows his potential with ‘The Lost Boy.'
Taken from Phil’s defunct blog, The Wax Report, an extensive review of the most important albums, covering everything from production to lyricism and overall cohesiveness.
It’s the underdog story, almost too perfect to be true: Within a year, YBN Cordae works from a slightly more serious sidekick of the SoundCloud star YBN Nahmir to one of the most renowned debutants of the rap year. Where the somewhat insecure-looking boy with twists from North Carolina was otherwise recorded as the periphery of the GTA rapper crew YBN, Dr. Dre, Chance the Rapper and major labels are now behind him. And the reason for all the hype? His debut album, The Lost Boy, is provided by this. He can just rap damn well. Sometimes it’s so easy.
Damn good rapping, but it has different shapes and colors. Cordae shows a whole range of them here. Instead of relying on imposing stunt raps or pointless word sports, he varies storytelling and insights into his fast-paced lifestyle and experiments with different sounds and production types.
The obvious standout is “RNP,” a J. Cole-produced track with an irresistible groove and chipmunk sample, on which Cordae and one of the funkmasters Anderson. Paak alternates with captivating chemistry bars. It has this ‘little brother-big brother’ dynamic, which is peculiar to many of Cordae's songs, an attitude of youthfulness that still seems wise.
This attitude, with which Cordae understands the joy and hype of modern hip-hop, but also brings an ear and a heart for the frustration of previous generations and therefore skillfully targets their nostalgia again and again. The aforementioned Chipmunk sample may already be a little in advance, but this nostalgic sound is most likely to take place in the era around 2004, between Kanye West’s The College Dropout and Common’s Be, but supplemented by the gospel rap bonds that are also celebrated in Chicago this decade.
According to this, not only “Bad Idea” with Chance the Rapper is a moment in which you feel reminded of Acid Rap: Cordae also channels gospel, hunger, and faith in an extremely sympathetic and tangible way on songs such as “Wintertime,” “Way Back Home” or “Family Matters.” He does not sell his way and his problems as the center of the world but lets it shine through that he has already done a lot, be it difficult kinships or the search for identity after dropping out of college.
The fact that he still hops on a Take A Daytrip trap instrumental does not detract from his narrative. After all, he has Gravitas and Flow to handle boom-bap and trap equally, and the fact that he later raps on “Nightmares Are Real” next to Pusha T and on “We Gon Make It” next to Meek Mill speaks for his flexibility and talent. Small highlights in the pacing of the record are the interludes: “Sweet Lawd” is a warm soul skit, and “Grandma’s House” is an endlessly sweet gospel session with Cordae’s grandmother.
No wheel is actually reinvented on The Lost Boy. But how, of course, YBN Cordae already came together on his debut album competence, songwriting, and sympathy is impressive. It is a varied, dynamic, and charismatic project with a latent mixtape character, which is not only wonderfully accessible and fun to hear but also brilliantly introduces a new face in the lyrical corner of the rap landscape. If J. Cole is the “Middle Child,” then Cordae gives birth here as the youngest child. But he could hardly be further away from a nest hook.
Solid (★★★½☆)
Favorite Track(s): “Bad Idea,” “RNP,” “Family Matters”