Album Review - G-Eazy - When It's Dark Out

So I have seen pictures of G-Eazy before and heard of his albums through the internet and his nomination at one of the season's past award shows, but I had never taken the time to listen to his music. Now I have his first album but have never played it, but this one I decided to go ahead and give a spin. So here is my assessment of the new album release by G-Eazy, "When It's Dark Out".

The album gives me something I wasn't expecting, because I was thinking he would have a more soulful, or underground basement sound. Instead I get something that is more energetic and upbeat that reminds me of Big Sean in some respects on "Random" which is actually a decent cut. Speaking of Big Sean, he is the first of the big name features that Eazy has on this album on "One of Them" and it's alright when G raps but Sean takes the song and just ruins it with his run on flow. The song isn't about anything really but the lust for new things and more of them. Now it was somewhat obvious he was a West Coast MC, but the addition of Too Short as a feature shows me G is a Bay Area native who respects the culture and history, and not a 'culture vulture'.

Speaking of that, G-Eazy kind of brings up the issue of his credibility in a small way among a lot of other things he goes over on "What If" which features Gizzle on the hook, along with auto tune. "You Got Me" reminds me of a Drake song with a mean bass driven beat and lyrics that match the patterns of the drums with their start and stop pattern. 'Don't let me Go" featuring Grace is a good song with a slightly distorted affect on the rap vocals contrasted with the powerful clarity of the hook. "Calm Down" is a short Bay area Hyphy track.

"Think About You" with Quin is the quintessential reminiscence track with a soft beat and Quin's voice making it kind of a lullaby. "Everything Will Be Ok" is another song about the lost relationship's with people when success and drive starts to get in the way. This song features singer Kehlani on the hook. "Some Kind of Drug" is about the addiction that comes from a sexual relationship. Marc E, Bassey handles the chorus duties. "Drifiting" features Chris Brown and Torey Lanez.

"Me, Myself and I" is about G-Eazy standing up to make it on his own. It features Beba rexha. "Sad Boy" is a jazzy tune about the personal struggle dealing with touring, life, and making music. "For this" features an artist called IAMNOBODI and the album finishes with "Nothing to Me" which features Keyshia Cole and E-40. This is a track where he talks about his desire to get more when others would be satisfied.

To say I was a bit surprised would be an understatement in a way. There is a lot of soft stuff on this like I was expecting at one point about halfway through the album and that took away all of the momentum. It became monotone and somewhat depressing when a song with a different kind of melody or production style would have helped everything stand out. He also doesn't have the best voice so he needs to do something different at times. the large number of sung choruses also hurts in my opinion because they are all done the same way, as if hoping one catches fire instead of them standing up and out as different compositions. All in all, it's solid but not spectacular.

Rating : 2.5/5