G Phatz – “Walking Threat” (Album Review)
Texas has produced some big names in Hip Hop, from Bun B, to Paul Wall, and even Travis Scott. With that kind of notoriety, how does G Phatz and his latest release, “Walking Threat,” hold up to to the Texas standard of excellence?
The first thing to note with G Phatz is that he has a pretty good voice and sound. He’s definitely carved out a style for himself and knows exactly what it is. This much is great, but my biggest issue with the album is the mans pen. There’s no other way to describe it but basic and contrived. The song Knuckle Up has one of the hardest instrumentals on the whole project, and the production for the song is fantastic, but the first verse is so abysmal that it almost entirely saps my appreciation for the quality of every other nonlyrical aspect of the track.
“You scared, you scared/ Boy we know you fucking scared/
The way you rap, the way you talk/ Bitch we know you fucking scared/”
These are the actual lyrics from the first verse, and while the second is marginally more creative, this about sums up the whole song, so take it as you will.
It’s very hard for me to look past just how seemingly lazy G Phatz’ lyrics are. His delivery is on point 100% of the time, not once did I notice him missing the beat, and the production is incredibly solid. That doesn’t detract from the fact that almost every feature on the album is better written and more interesting than the Phatz verses. He routinely rhymes the same words over and over and often with themselves.
Even with my opinions, G Phatz may very well find himself a cult following of sorts. There is definitely a demographic of listeners that prefer his style of writing, do I’m hesitant to even make the claim that he needs to improve his pen game. But I firmly believe it’s something for him to look into.
Rating: 4.5/10
Highlights: Production, Feature Verses, Tone
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