Trippie Redd - Pegasus (Album Review)
Trippie Redd is back with his highly anticipated album 'Pegasus'. The album has been teased and leaked many times but Trippie has dropped it with a staggering 26 tracks and arguably the worst album cover of all time. I'm a fan of Trippie Redd, but he's been on a decline since his amazing 2018 - but could this be the start of a turn around?
For an album this long, the production is consistently great as it's full of heavenly beats with harsh, deep synth bass' and 808s, such as 'The Nether' which partners with a piano that bounces off the harsh elements of the beat as Trippie talks on a hard breakup. It's not phenomenal due to how short it is but it had a nice flow, delivery and a solid verse over this nice beat which gives us our first good song. There's banging beats on here, such as on 'Sleepy Hollow' which has this Halloween type beat as he talks on leaving his opps headless like Sleepy Hollow, and he pulls from this theme with some hard lines, "Talk down on the gang, you can get some hollows (Yeah, ha) // Leave a n**** headless, Sleepy Hollow (Bah, phew) // Pull up in a Dark Knight Murciélago (Skrrt)". We finally get a banger on the 2nd half of the album and this song just slaps with a mean hook and some fun flows and vocal inflections. There's also some more vibey beats, such as on 'Hell Rain' which is again very R&B like with slow drum patterns and bass and nice piano keys as the track talks on shooting at people and flexing as well as drugs. HoodyBaby's hook is unique, and fine for what it is as Lil Wayne rides the beat perfectly and hits every kick and snare, sliding on it to give us a good verse which says a lot with little words, "Smoke up all the weed in 24, I'm a poor, poor, poor soul // More and more rain flows, black Rolls, just cruise // No umbrella, no coat, I'm stuck, she's cold, yeah". It's another R&B type track, everything is just OK but Trippie's verse gets tiring easily. A few misses instrumental wise but overall it's very solid and consistent.
Lyrically he's not a good lyricist, he's incredibly basic and sometimes outright bad, such as on 'Spaceships', "I just flew two bitches in from overseas (Oh) // They both from Portugal, they both Portuguese (Oh)", as the track focuses on being trapped in his own head with thoughts about this girl over this deep, menacing bass and 808s, which is a very naked beat yet creates such energy from it. Young Thug slid over the beat with great melodies as usual as this track is a banger - a lowkey one but Thug does great and Trippie's vocals are sharp and melodies unique on the hook as well as the orchestral outro being gorgeous. The punchlines on here are also pretty basic, such as on 'Pegasus', "Baby, I'm the one, not the two, Abe Lincoln", as the track talks on a girl who'll ride for him and all his sexual desires with her over this lowkey piano based trap beat which is fine. The vocals on the hook are annoying and just what he does on the track isn't interesting or engaging in the slightest. 'Don' has some funny lines from Trippie, "You are what you drink, so I guess I got a dirty mouth", "Pneumonia in my neck, yeah, pneumonia in my fists", over this deep synth bass with twinkling piano keys which is a great and vibey beat as the track talks on flexing his wealth and status as a gangster. It's a decent track, I can't say much about it and I don't love it but it's a highlight. When he focuses purely on rapping he has a nice flow which while not too complicated is definitely smooth and entertaining, as his main appeal is still in his melodies - he has one of the most unique voices in the game and while they aren't as exciting or glossy as they was in say 2018 - the melodies are still great.
The features were mixed on here with some really good ones, such as Future on 'Never Change' as his auto-tuned crooning actually works here over another banging trap beat as the track focuses on sticking to the street code and that they miss those taken from them. Trippie's lyrics are more heartfelt and personal here, "R.I.P. to my n*****, God bless they souls // N**** be switchin' colors like a Morse code (Yeah) // I swear the richer I get, my friends turned to foes", and I liked this song I think Future was the best on here but Trippie wasn't bad either and it's a great song. But of course there was some bad ones, such as Sean Kingston on 'Red Beam' who drops a pointless verse and adds nothing with some really generic and basic lyrics, "Goin' places that you can't go (Oh) // Who would ever thought that we would make it from the bando? // Remember I was dead broke 'cause I had my bands up". The more evil sounding beat with deep synths and distorted 808s are nice as they reflect on where they came from, and while I don't mind Trippie's hook, Sean's verse ruins the song and wasn't mixed good either. Most of them aren't out and out bad they just fail to make an impact on the track and Trippie is usually the most interesting part of his own song (which isn't exactly a negative). Rich the Kid provides a decent verse on 'Personal Favorite' over this banging trap beat with deep 808s, a great bass and rattling hi hates as the track focuses on girls and flexing, with Trippie being very basic on the song. The song has a nice hook, the verses and vocals are great and it's a good song.
Content wise it mostly revolves around love and heartbreak, as shown on tracks like 'Moonlight' which talks on wanting to spend the night with this girl over this slow drum pattern and heavily influenced R&B style beat. The vocals in that hook and post-hook are nice, it's overall pretty mediocre but better than the first song at least. There's also the common topics of flexing his money and status, such as on 'No Honourable Mention' which has another piano based beat with a light atmosphere clashing with the contrasting and harsher 808s, giving us a decent beat - as the features are poor on here: Quavo was meh and not memorable and Lil Mosey had a nice melodic flow but didn't stand out. Again, this song has no ideas or catchy melodies to it and it comes off quite forgettable. Thematically it's cohesive but it's very bland, surface level and uninteresting content. 'Good Morning' is about waking this girl up with good sex over this glossy piano and vocal samples which clash well with these almost drill, sliding 808s. Trippie has some questionable lines on here, "I beat that pussy up while she snoring", and while it has a cute hook it's a track that don't do much for me.
Other, many other, tracks to look at include 'Let It Out' which talks on letting your feelings for a significant other known over this soft, lowkey beat as Trippie is pretty basic here but the feature in Myiah Lynnae has great vocals and fits the vibe well. Despite that, the hook is OK but on a whole it's quite boring and a cheap attempt at an R&B song and really not a good start to the album. 'Love Scars 4' talks on a girl he loves and asking her to stay but his lyrics are very basic, "And, baby, you're stuck // Transmission went out // Transitions, my house // New positions to try out // Let's go, babe, right now", over this slower, vibier beat with a deep, electric bass which is fire. Trippie's vocals are nice, and this whole track while short and punchy is just alright to me. 'So Stressed' is about spoiling the girl you love over this slower drum pattern and gentle vibe - a similar beat to many on here and not as impactful as others as Trippie is quite basic and bland lyrically. Yung LB had generic lyrics and not much of a presence as overall the song is full of nice melodies but again it doesn't make a lasting impression - then Yung LB fails to add anything but doesn't exactly ruin the vibe either. 'Excitement' is all about admiration for their girls and desire for sex over this harsh bass with some heavenly synths giving us a great instrumental, as Trippie provides some basic but nice wordplay in the hook, "Only in your ocean, you call me Ho-seidon // In control of your water, you're lovin' my trident". The is the first big banger on the album, I love this song - from the vibe to the vocals to the pure catchiness of it, and them chord progressions keep things moving smoothly - my only complaint is it goes on too long. 'Mood' talks on a breakup from Trippie as Chris Brown talks on his girls bad mood killing his vibe with uninteresting vocals and a hook that don't sound good over this generic R&B beat - it's fine but doesn't stand out. The hook on this is ass, and the song is so slow moving and generic and most criminally - boring.
'Weeeeee' has these deep 808s, lowkey piano and overall it just carries Trippie's vocals well as the track talks on sex and flexing with some basic punchlines, "Teach the world, I might become a tutor today // She wan' fuck, I might toot her and boot her today // Call her OVO thing, come from Hooters today (Yeah)". The hook's unique harmonising is fun and the verse's lowkey delivery and smooth flow make this a rare great track on the first half of this album. 'V-12' talks on sex, flexing, cars and diamonds over these pretty piano keys which compliment the booming 808s well to create a great beat and while it's a decent track, it's a bit too short to leave an impact but with a nice rapping verse and solid vocals on the hook, I like it. 'I Got You' has another heavenly beat with light strings and a stripped back beat which is decent but not my favourite on here as he talks on a relationship as the pair profess their love for their significant other and how they'll always be there for them. Busta Rhymes' verse was out of place, his voice didn't click with the track and was offputting as well as lyrically uninteresting and while the hook is OK, Busta just didn't fit the vibe - it's not the worst song on here but not the best either. 'Too Fly' has a heavenly beat, slow vibe and nice 808s as Trippie talks on shooting his opps up with bad and basic lyrics. He rips off Future's style for the hook, there's no originality on the song and it's not good. 'Oomps Revenge Pt.2' has a great beat with a despairing mood allowing Trippie to really spit over it as he dedicates it to his late brother - though doesn't stick to a theme as he touches on how he'll never be unemployed again and flexes his wealth. It's too short to really get into, but with nice rapping and a mean delivery it's the first decent song for a while.
'Take One' has this great 808 pattern and nice piano as he talks on sex with this girl and killing his opps but again it's so forgettable and pointless, and makes me feel absolutely nothing whilst listening to it. 'Kid That Didd' has this heavy, banging trap beat with very dark and booming elements as the track talks on sex, attacking his opps and flexing. Doe Boy's vocals are mixed weirdly but I appreciate his rugged style while Future was quite meh. This had potential to be a top banger with all the energy coming (especially from Trippie), but it was mixed too quietly on the hook and that took some energy away from it, and all we're left with is an average trap banger that could've been so much more. 'TR666' has another slow, heavenly beat with a smooth drum pattern and deep bass as Swae Lee's vocals were nice but he loses the theme of the track which is reaching your dreams if you put the work in, as he ends up just flexing and talking about girls. It's nothing special but I like it, it's giving us a good ending to the album. 'Sun God' is a great ending to the album, with this very soppy, stripped back guitar beat - and I'm a sucker for Trippie's vocals over acoustic guitars and these hopeless synths as he talks on asking for his girls love with Myiah Lynnae's backing vocals being very elegant and atmospheric. It's a nice outro, very repetitive and simplistic but it creates the perfect atmosphere and just sounds nice.
To conclude, this album isn't versatile or gripping enough for a project this long, it's just too bloated at 26 tracks and over an hour and 14 minutes of content. The transitions between tracks are so smooth and great on the ear - and there's some great songs on here with great vocals, harmonising and solid production - but there's many faults too. The feature's could've been better and so could most of these 2 minute songs which were so forgettable, it has a major fall off in the middle and he really needs to go back to his 2018 style to reignite his hype and capture that magic again. If you look at the tracklist, it has many good, mid and bad tracks - in fact these are evenly distributed so I'll slap the score bang in the middle.
FAVOURITE TRACKS: The Nether, Excitement, Weeeeee, Personal Favorite, Spaceships, Never Change, Sleepy Hollow, TR666, Sun God
LEAST FAVOURITE TRACK: Mood
OVERALL RATING: Light 5/10