— 28 Jul 2018 —

Written by Deshawn Campbell

You won’t find many rappers with the sort of promise that Compton rapper Buddy was showing in 2011. That year, a very impressed Pharrell Williams signed him to the label I Am Other. Soon after, the two debuted ‘Awesome Awesome’ – a Neptunes-produced track with a video showing an 18-year-old Buddy coasting confidently through crisp, sunny New York streets. Pharrell declared him ‘on his way to being one of those super special artists’. We’re sitting here seven years later with Buddy’s debut album, Harlan & Alondra, and it’s fair to wonder where a lot of that promise has gone.

Despite some incredible backing – Buddy has had the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Robin Thicke, Miley Cyrus and Freddie Gibbs feature on his discography – nothing has really stuck for the Compton native. He’s no longer signed to Pharrell’s label and he hasn’t come close to having the kind of hit that might cement his spot in hip-hop. He made some headlines with his Ocean & Montana EP, produced entirely by wunderkind Kaytranada, and featuring the sunshiny single ‘Find Me’. But instead of building on some of that goodwill, Harlan & Alondra feels like a debut rap album in all the worst ways.

Admittedly, it starts strong. Opener ‘Real Life Shit’ is a classic struggle anthem and makes it easy to root for him, featuring a muted beat with a smooth hook from Buddy and some unremarkable but endearing verses. ‘Shameless’ is even better, playing on those same themes. Buddy sits so deep in the beat he sounds like he’s half-asleep, and it’s a nice pairing with the G-Funk synths lasering in the background. From there, it’s mostly downhill.

Buddy’s biggest problem is that he’s difficult to define. He’s certainly not on par with the better lyricists in hip-hop (“the spotlight came on me and changed my life/so don’t approach me on a bad day and expect me to be not nice” – huh?), and he doesn’t’ evoke a ‘mood’ or have a concrete, identifiable personality like a Danny Brown or Tyler, The Creator. He takes few risks on his beat selection, and he’s not a particularly exciting hook-writer. There are plenty of great rappers who mine the middle lane, but they find ways to differentiate. Buddy still sounds like the same rapper who released ‘Awesome Awesome’ back in 2011.

It doesn’t help that Harlan & Alondra follows every fucking single debut album trope. There’s the struggle song (‘Real Life Shit), the sweet love song (‘The Blue’), the sex song (‘Speechless’), the “thoughtful” song (‘Find Me 2’). You can almost hear him clicking his pen and ticking off the boxes of the debut rap album checklist. The production across the album is uninspired, only occasionally giving hints of an older-school vibe with its G-Funk leanings that actually suit Buddy well. The guests are notable – A$AP Ferg, Ty Dolla $ign, Snoop Dogg, Khalid – but they feel more like they’re doing Buddy favours than anything else, phoning in forgettable performances all-round (hilariously, Ferg literally phones in his verse on the music video for ‘Black’).

There are occasional glimmers of hope. ‘Trouble On Central’ is a surprise right in the middle of the album. Buddy cooes wistfully over the verses and gives some actual insight into his life (“going downtown on the blue line metro/car overheated and I can’t afford a rental/broke down Chevrolet, sitting on Central”). The sunny chorus sounds like a clever interpolation of Skee-Lo’s on ‘I Wish’. It’s a rare moment in the album that has a bit of personality and life – as if for a brief second A&Rs weren’t hovered over Buddy’s shoulder while he was recording.

It’s that lane where Buddy has seemed most comfortable as a rapper. On last year’s ‘Find Me’, Kaytranada gave him a gorgeous backdrop to simply bask in. He has a pleasant singing and rapping voice – equal parts Goldlink and Boogie. He just generally sounds good, but doesn’t really know how to work that into great songs. Buddy’s trying to be The Next Big Thing, but he hasn’t looked like he might be since those halcyon days in 2011.

There’s undoubtedly talent in him. If he focuses on the sound cultivated on the Ocean & Montana EP he could conjure a beautifully sunny hip-hop album. But Harlan & Alondra doesn’t fulfil Skateboard P’s prophecy. If Buddy is ‘super special’, he’ll have to actually prove it before his nine lives run out.

5.4