Lil Wayne and a couple of Chainz had polar reverse begins to their respective careers. Earlier than he might legally drive, the previous was a family title, a teen prodigy sharing levels with residing legends. The latter spent years toiling away below the moniker “Tity Boi” as a bit participant of Ludacris’ Disturbing tha Peace Data, lastly reaching model title (accelerated by a reputation change) standing in his early 30s. Regardless of their divergent arcs, Wayne and Chainz have reached a kind of parity: elder statesmen, torchbearers of a syrupy mix of basic Hip Hop ethos and blinged-out Southern drip.
The years-in-the-making Welcome 2 Collegrove marks the second collaborative challenge by these longtime colleagues and shut associates. The pair launched Collegrove in 2016, an album overshadowed by Wayne’s label troubles and successfully a 2 Chainz solo effort with a handful of Lil Wayne options tacked on for good measure. The sequel won’t see the duo vibing like Ghost and Rae on Solely Constructed 4 Cuban Linx…, however their chemistry is obvious, born out of an actual kinship that authentically interprets on wax.
The album is sequenced like a blockbuster movie, damaged up by 5 scenes narrated by 50 Cent. Thematically, the songs don’t fairly match every scene (“Loopy Thick” ought to most likely be filed below “Scene 3: Women Man”), however these transient interludes successfully body the general big-budget film they’re screening. The album sounds costly, and the manufacturing lineup reads like a Southern rap Corridor of Fame: Mannie Recent, DJ Toomp, Juicy J, and Mike Dean. To not be outdone, New York luminary Havoc gives two of the album’s finest beats on the ODB tribute “Disgrace” and the aptly titled “Bars.”
The manufacturing is one space the place Chainz and Wayne clearly invested in way more than their first go-round. Except for just a few clunkers (the Miami bass-inspired “Loopy Thick” and the forgettable “Crown Snatcher”), the beats sparkle. “Large Diamonds” would match snugly on any peak Large Tymers album, whereas “Lengthy Story Quick” chops up Undertaking Pat vocals into a singular, codeine meets boom-bap masterpiece. Each rappers have at all times flourished over soulful manufacturing and Welcome 2 Collegrove isn’t any exception: “P.P.A.”, “Oprah & Gayle,” and “Can’t Consider You”, although wildly completely different when it comes to subject material, all coax out the very best within the gravely toned rappers with smoother than mink coats instrumentals.
Hitting on the peak of his powers in 2007, Wayne’s scene-stealing refrain on Playaz Circle’s debut single, “Duffle Bag Boy,” helped launch the then-Tity Boi into the stratosphere. On Welcome 2 Collegrove, the roles have reversed to some extent, with 2 Chainz carrying the challenge by sheer charisma and vitality. He persistently delivers witty one-liners torn straight from the Lil Wayne playbook: “They gon’ attempt to take me throughout the border, I’m so dope” (“Important Different”); “Towel below door, however the stress reakin’” (“Presha”); and “We on completely different planes if we is in the identical boat” (“Bars”).
Wayne nonetheless holds his personal, and fares significantly better than his just lately launched mixtape, Tha Repair Earlier than Tha VI. He warbles out an earworm hook on “Lengthy Story Quick,” and spits the album’s finest verse on “Oprah & Gayle,” with strains like, “Hoppin’ outta slide outs/Runnin’ by a walkthrough/Coupe on huge wheels like a pony wearin’ horse sneakers.”
Recorded over the previous seven years, together with tracks from the Collegrove classes (“Bars”), Welcome 2 Collegrove can at occasions really feel dated and slapdash. Opener “G6” may as nicely have been on the primary installment, whereas the Usher-featuring “Transparency,” which rips lyrics from the refrain of a 2021 Chris Brown tune of the identical title, appears like a lazy attain for radio play. A number of tracks have compelled beat switches that appear patched collectively and undercooked.
Nonetheless, the album largely succeeds off the pure chemistry of its co-creators and the big selection of instrumentals that contact on a number of regional rap types that each rappers discovered to beat throughout their decades-long careers.
However the mayors of Collegrove hold it within the car parking zone, displaying a aptitude and perspective endemic to rappers from south of the Mason–Dixon line.
