2017 was the biggest year in GoldLink's career. At What Cost would become his highest selling album and its lead single Crew would attain 3x platinum status and even get nominated for a Grammy, a first for GoldLink. After a two year wait, GoldLink is back with the release of Disapora, his debut studio album after three previous mixtapes.
At What Cost was known for its summertime vibe but Disapora takes these vibes to the next level with its dancehall influence. These vibes are connected to the album's title, which is a term used to describe the dispersal of millions of people of African origin all over the world but especially in the United States and Europe. Features on the album use terms like "ting" and GoldLink taps into an African accent on tracks such as Yard and No Lie featuring WizKid, a dancehall artist who is notable for his work on Drake's Views. The production is more bouncy on this album as well and beat switches on Cokewhite and No Lie show that GoldLink is willing to experiment with his production choices. Songs like those are where GoldLink sounds at his most comfortable and shows a side to his artistry that he never fully explored before.
GoldLink compliments the bops with harder hitting tracks such as Maniac, Rumble, Tiff Freestyle, and Cokewhite, which is a collaboration with rapper Pusha T. All of these songs put GoldLink's rapping at the forefront and he doesn't disappoint but Cokewhite becomes the standout song on the album due to his chemistry with his guest. GoldLink actually manages to keep up with Pusha in his own way. While Pusha shines due to his colorful lyricism and clever use of wordplay, GoldLink shines due to his urgent flow and even delivery.
A couple of filler songs such as solo tracks More and Spanish Song and an uneventful collaboration with singer Khalid entitled Days Like This, stop this album from being even greater and becoming a high level project for GoldLink. Still, this album demonstrates GoldLink's growth as an artist and he now has a blueprint on what to expand on for his next project.
Final score: 8/10
No comments:
Post a Comment