I wanted DaBaby's "KIRK" to be trash, but it was good

I dove into “KIRK” expecting to loathe it. I expected to sit down, and write a review so emphatically negative that I would be banned from further creating album reviews for this newspaper in the future. I dove into this album with a blatant bias towards lyrical rap music. My rap catalog today is admittingly very niche, ranging from Chicago natives like Saba and Noname to Atlanta and Dreamville’s JID. As a general rule of thumb, I typically avoid hip-hop music that is mindless in its purpose, and created with no true meaning besides creating a general good vibe. With that being said, I surprisingly enjoyed this album - a lot. I think DaBaby creates his own music in the same process in which he structures his features. In the past year alone, DaBaby has created himself to be the premier “feature” artist, meaning other rappers and musicians aspire to include him on their songs for a verse or hook. Features are supposed to lighten the mood and bring life to a song that could become monotonous without it. In “KIRK”, most of the songs sound the same—like his features—but I think that is what DaBaby wanted. By using the same style in which he phrases his features, DaBaby is attempting to craft a continuously upbeat atmosphere. He is not trying to be thought-provoking or consistently switch styles, as those are not his strengths. “INTRO” is the exception to this. I truly encourage you to look up the lyrics when you are listening, or else you will miss the powerful emotion in the song. It is essentially a three minute commemoration of his father, who passed away shortly before he reached the pinnacle of the rap scene. For those like me who had low expectations (lyrically) for this album, this song was a shell-shock. It had me listening closely and attentively for the rest of the album.  Besides “INTRO”, DaBaby's songs are like an average sit-com. I can thoroughly enjoy the vibe he creates, but rarely connect emotionally like one can like with Kendrick Lamar’s “good kid, m.A.A.d city” for example. It’s clear DaBaby has vast talent in rap, whether it be flow or the occasional lyric, but I will rarely walk away enlightened as a listener. However, I do not always have to walk away more enlightened after an album—sometimes music to dance and hype up to is just as important to the global vocabulary of music as the songs with fierce philosophical ideologies and agendas. KIRK in particular does a superb job in filling the rap lane he attempts to create music for, which is all a listener can ask for. 4.5/5