Once known as an innovator of rap music, and a staple in the late 2010s SoundCloud explosion, lately, Ohio crooner Trippie Redd has been stuck in a creative rut that’s rendered him unsure of what music to make. Instead, his last few releases have been marked by ripping off artists he once influenced (Juice WRLD, The Kid Laroi), or was once as influential as (Lil Uzi Vert, Playboi Carti, to name a few). His wails of blase lines have become stale, the passion seems sucked out, and most importantly, it sounds bad.
Trippie’s last few albums have come and gone, with only leaked single “Miss The Rage” to hold him in the public consciousness. Unaware of his dire need to reinvent, Redd has released A Love Letter To You 5, an album that changes nothing about his tired formula. It’s sonically grating, completely boring, and so obviously not inspired by love that the title is almost ironic.
Throughout ALLTY 5, Trippie Redd is adamant about using mediocre beats. Nearly half the album’s instrumentals contain a variant of the same campfire guitar riff. They sound like a college sophomore trying to wow freshman girls in the quad with the one-chord progression he learned from three guitar lessons. But, they aren’t completely indistinguishable. Usually, there’s some defining element to each beat that serves as a runway for Trippie to land just the right droll and unlikable bar that gives the song a unique reason to never press play again.
On “Action,” the man has the gall to say “The way you walk I know you got perfect feet,” and, not four tracks later, drops a pearl on “Took My Breath Away,” with “Like a little ponytail, I’m always on the back of your mind.” It’s tempting to say some of these lines might be AI-generated, but even Chat-GPT couldn’t produce something as offensively banal as “I can’t let nobody else have you, you make me feel good, make me feel good,” repeated four times throughout “A Feeling.”
Numerous tracks find Trippie unabashedly biting flows and cannibalizing famous beats. The instrumental on “A Feeling” is a blatant “Sunflower” rip-off, and “I’m Mad At Me” so faithlessly reenacts Young Money’s “Seeing Green” that it feels like the desecration of a national landmark.
He does a Lil Uzi impression on the second half of “Wind,” and shows his deep admiration for Playboi Carti with “Trip McKnight,” which plays like “Miss The Rage” meets Carti’s “Vamp Anthem.” Several songs, like “How You Alive” and “Thinking Bout You,” sound like JuiceWRLD freestyling to a ukulele, but without the authenticity that the late Juice would have obviously evoked.
And then there’s “Took My Breath Away,” just about the weirdest song Trippie has ever released. Atop a glorified Ariana Grande type beat, Trippie does three impressions: Lupe Fiasco, Drake, and Tupac. One wonders the purpose of such homages; Was he too cheap to pay for the Drake feature and too integrous to have AI pillage Tupac’s voice for a posthumous feature? It’s bizarre, but it’s ultimately one of the best songs on the album. Trippie’s a pretty solid rapper when he’s in his Tupac cosplay bag.
There are other success stories here. One of the best Trippie Redd rap songs in recent years is “The Hate,” which loops a joyous choral sample and shows off Trippie’s tenacity when he decides to rap, rather than wail.
By and large, the best songs on the album have features, and they all outshine Trippie. The Kid Laroi bodies his verse and chorus on “Wind,” and Skye Morales’ vocals are well worth the time spent listening to “Took My Breath Away” and “A Feeling.” Roddy Ricch is inspired on “Closed Doors,” and Tommy Lee Sparta offers a good change of pace during his chorus on “Helicopter.” While these features are solid, it doesn’t take away from how little Trippie contributes.
This album is a tinderbox for the raging fire of old-head disdain. The constituent tracks are nearly all dispassionate, market-tested gruel. It’s as romantic as a Hallmark Valentine’s card, and sonically interesting as whatever is playing in Macy’s whenever you happen to stroll by. Lil Yachty escaped from his Soundcloud creative rut after a couple listless years, and unfortunately Trippie will need his own Michigan Boy Boat or better yet, “Poland” in order to maintain his status. ALLTY 5 isn’t that album, but rather another error, and potentially, his worst yet.
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