Whitney Peyton Embarks on a Trip with “Side Effects” (Album Review)
Whitney Peyton is a 29 year old MC from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who rose to prominence in the underground by releasing 3 albums, 2 mixtapes & 4 EPs all independently. She recently signed to Burbank, California powerhouse Suburban Noize Records at the beginning of the decade with my favorite full-length of hers Alpha, going on to leave afterwards to form Alpha Howse & made her debut under the imprint The Audacity only 14 months ago. But now, she’s returning to take us in a trip for her 6th official full-length.
“Leave Me Alone” featuring Enkay47 is a woozy trap opener advising not to bother either one of them since they don’t know who to trust whereas “Make Some Room” gives off more an electronic flare instrumentally getting flirtatious on the lyrical end. “Sometimes” featuring Astray takes the cavernous route so both of them admit they have moments where they just wanna run away, but then “Make Up Ya Mind” featuring Grieves comes through with a more stripped-back approach talking about a relationship where he doesn’t want her to be herself & gets mad when she’s with other guys.
C-Lance’s boom bap production “Climber” might be my favorite beat on the whole album calling out those with no shine who want to climb to the top, but then “Takes One to Know One” delivers the worst feature from Futuristic despite the acoustic trap instrumental & the subject matter of being headcases. “Full Moon” featuring Bag of Tricks Cat works in some heavy synthesizers talking about how something don’t feel right leading into “Get It from My Mom” featuring Reverie paying tribute to their mothers with a trap metal beat from Godsynth.
The song “Into the Fire” draws closer to the end of the album by jumping on top of a moody trap instrumental encouraging everyone that’s listening to live for the moment while the penultimate track “Be Mine” returns to more pop rap turf telling her significant other to take care of themselves & that your heart has to be yours first. “Ring Around the Rosé” is a cloudy closer to tie up Whitney’s 6th album albeit 2nd under her independent imprint by declaring it doesn’t have to be the way it is anymore.
The Audacity although I didn’t enjoy it as much as Alpha still had its highlights & undeniably marked a new chapter in Whitney’s career, but I actually might like Side Effects a tad bit more than the AH debut she put out over a year ago at this point. Only a couple features that under-performed like the predecessor, except the 2 biggest differences are that the production’s better & she has a brand new confidence.
Score: 7/10
