On January 26th, 2018 the rap group the Migos, composed of rappers Offset, Quavo and Takeoff released their latest album Culture II. This was their latest release after their hit album Culture that featured hit songs like “Bad and Boujee” which was basically a cultural movement in rap that inspired so many other artists, and even created artists. The album Culture was released in 2017 and it certainly lived up to the name. Not only did it have “Bad and Boujee” but it also included songs like “T-Shirt” and the title track “Culture” featuring DJ Khaled.
I always have a problem when artists put out albums as the sequel to their last album. This is because they really have to make it live up to the name. Since they named it Culture II, I was expecting it to be two times as better than their previous release, but it fell short. First of all the album is complete with 24 tracks. That is a lot of tracks for a single release. Also, albums should probably consist of about 12-15 tracks, because it narrows down the best of the best. Having 24 tracks creates a lot of filler, and the listener can’t pick out the best ones. It also grows tiresome listening to an album that is over two hours long.
Although it is long, it is not all bad. One of the stand-out tracks is “Stir Fry” which is now a single with a full music video. Also the verses on “Narcos” is an enjoyable listen. I find it annoying that they labeled one of their songs, “Emoji A Chain” because that phrase is not going to last throughout history. Imagine listening to a song called “Emoji” in the future when they have no idea what it is. If you want to create art that will last, make sure you don’t put terms in there that are only relevant to 2018. “MotorSport” is one of the best songs featuring Nicki Minaj and Cardi B, which is a great track that united the two biggest women in rap. The single “Supastars” really does nothing for the rap group but make them sound like any old rap song on the radio when they are known for creating songs that didn’t sound anything that any artist has done before.
Watch The Migos Latest Music Video for “Stir Fry” here:
In 2018, music has gone from CDs, to purely streaming services. The way artists get money is from how many people are listening to their songs on Spotify or Apple Music. It is really hard to get money this way because of the system. Some musicians might only recoup 15 to 20 percent of the streaming revenue they brought in. On Spotify the average “per stream” payout to rights holders lands somewhere between $0.006 and $0.0084, which is basically no money at all. So how do you get around this while still making a profit? Play the system. Create an album that is the sequel to your hit record, put as many songs on it as possible and rack in the money. It is clear that the Migos only wanted to make money on this album, which is sad since they seemed to work so hard to achieve their status in the rap world so why not come out with a good album that proves everyone wrong?
Craig Jenkins from Vulture.com states,
I would like to believe that they didn’t make this album strictly for money because maybe they just couldn’t come up with another hit song. This might have been it for the Migos, or hopefully, this is a wake-up call to step up their game. All of the songs aren’t bad, but they take too long to get into them, and nearly every one of them goes too long, causing the listener to lose interest. Maybe they will come out with an EP in the future so they can re-release some singles with better quality. Overall I was expecting more from them and this certainly fell short.
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