kodak black project baby 2 all grown up artwork

Which is especially troubling considering not just his many ongoing run-ins with the law but his tiresome, outspoken homophobia and all-around unrelenting insensitiveness. “Everybody tellin’ me I need to change/But then y’all gon’ complain when a nigga change/Bossed up you sayin’ lately he ain’t been the same/Fuck it y’all just wanna hate me anyways,” he raps on “Unexplainable.” The mixtape paints a portrait of an obstinate youngster unwilling to really be held accountable for his actions. So much of Kodak’s most evocative writing requires a cold self-analysis and wise-for-his-age world-weariness, but here he only turns his piercing gaze toward those he believes have wronged him, and walls himself off to avoid any maturation in the process. But he comes off as disingenuous on a bloated release of limp ballads and his most colorless punch lines. The project is an uneven collection of love songs and self-gratifying ego-boosters that seek to depict a troubled romantic and workhorse snared by street life.

His latest mixtape, Project Baby 2, is less measured than he’s been in the past and plays against his strengths. He is an introspective MC who dwells on personal tragedies, and his music delves deep into miscreancy, the kinds for which he stands accused or convicted of committing. But these crimes haven’t stifled the momentum of the 20-year-old rapper, who, despite controversy, is more popular than ever. Pac came out, and a probation violation postponed his tour earlier this year. The pall cast by these charges (and sometimes petty misbehavior) hangs over each new Kodak release. That has largely held true: For every platinum hit or Top 5 charting album, there’s been a corresponding arrest and prison stint, all overshadowed by a felony charge of sexual battery.

Since Kodak Black emerged as a prodigious talent at the front of the new rap class, it’s been clear the only thing that could derail his run would be violence.

Kodak black project baby 2 all grown up artwork