MADEINTYO – Sincerely, Tokyo (Album Review)

My favorite Pip Squeak in the hip hop game has finally gotten his chance to show the world that he is more than just a ringtone rapper with the release of “Sincerely, Tokyo.”

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TOP 5

5. 2 FLIGHTS

“2 Flights” is probably the toughest track MADEINTYO made in his life. He sticks his chest out like Janet on it, actually intimidating children 13 and under with his savage lyrics. Matter of fact, he sounds like he is using his grown man voice throughout his raps.

In all seriously, I think his lyrical content is excellent on this joint. He legit sounds like a n***a that doesn’t care about the chicks he’s jilting’s feelings, dropping bars that are blunt and as rugged as it gets. I definitely enjoyed listening to him play the bad guy here, and I owe this mindset of his to the villainous instrumental he was served with.

4. CHUCKY CHEESE

“Chucky Cheese” has a lame title, topic, approach and purpose, but I can’t help but f**k with its musicality! With K Swisha blessing the track with this fun-loving instrumental, TYO gets looser than Tyreke Hill against sorry defenses, spitting unregulated bars, utilizing a consistent flow, and gifting us with wacky bars. I love how the song flows, even though I feel 10x dumber after listening to it.

3. RETRO 88

“Retro 88” features classic MADEINTYO. It reminds me of the “Skateboard P’s” of the world.

“Retro 88” is gimmicky, simple as s**t, and has a splash of old school vibes to it. When it is all said and done, it’s probably the catchiest song on this album. As for it’s content, it’s very limited (Did you expect anything different?)…

2. ON THE MAP

“On The Map” is some serious music by the normally goofy TYO. It has that bop to it that our hero usually f**ks with, but its dark feel is what will catch your attention.

On his verses, MADEINTYO does a good job of letting the world know what he’s all about, gliding through the track dropping off a catchy hook, numerous flows and an urgency I found intriguing. Content-wise, he brags and boasts, talking about making money, eating b*tches like cheesecakes and continuing his grind, but in this episode, it comes across as a lot more bossy.

1. NED FLANDERS

Does MADEINTYO have a partnership with Matt Groening?

BTW, Matt Groening created The Simpsons. Anywho, on “Ned Flanders,” MADEINTYO lets this chick that he’s chasing know that he’s the man because he has diamonds on his neck and Kool-Aid jammers in his pockets. Though I’m not here for his kiddy-ass lyrics, I do like the way that he flows over the song’s oriental beat.

A$AP Ferg provides “Ned Flanders” with rowdy ad-Libs and a verse in which he sounds like both The Terminator and a crazy drunk man! His part is integral to the song’s purpose

I hate to say it, but this “Ned Flanders” song is pretty dope!

SONG BY SONG BREAKDOWN

1. ON THE MAP (4/5)

2. RETRO88 (4/5)

3. CHUCKY CHEESE (4/5)

4. 2 FLIGHTS (4/5)

5. OUTSTANDING (3/5)

6. LIL BIH (3/5)

7. MOSHI MOSHI (3/5)

8. WHAT’S GWANNIN’ (3/5)

9. FIGURE IT OUT (3/5)

10. NED FLANDERS (4.5/5)

11. JUMP (2/5)

12. ADDICTED POWER (2/5)

13. MARGELIA PROBLEM (2.5/5)

14. SAVANNAH SUNSET (3.5/5)

OVERALL RATING

(C-)

If you’ve followed me on this site for the last two years, you know that I am not the biggest fan of MADEINTYO… I feel like his lyrics are beyond meaningless, his rapping style is the definition of gimmicky, and the way he brags about his lifestyle is annoying as f**k. On this album, none of those aspects changed, but he did at least show some versatility when it came to styles of music.

With 99% of this album featuring the same topics and content, I paid attention to the delivery of his sentiments instead. Throughout, MADEINTYO utilized bouncy flows, gimmicky lyrical content and very dumbed down cadences. He capitalized off of his youthful persona, showing little to no remorse for coming across as a n***a with a lower IQ than Ernest. For a few songs, I was cool with it, vibing out to this infectiously restless approach, but by the time I got to track number seven, his s**t got irritating. With that being said, I recommend that you listen to this album in spurts, cause if you don’t, you might end up inheriting brain damage.

I am a major fan of rappers linking up with ONE producer to do majority of an album; in Sincerely, Tokyo, MADEINTYO did just that with K-Swisha. Since they’ve been buddy-buddies since he first emerged onto the scene, there is certainly chemistry between the two, resulting in both musicians feeling comfortable in their own skin doing what they do best. Never at one point did I feel either of them adjusted their styles to please fair-weather fans, everything felt authentic. I liked this aspect quite a bit with this album, and it is probably the main reason I didn’t give it a lower grade.

There wasn’t a lot of features on this album, but quite honestly, I didn’t think there needed to be. The ones that stood out to me were A$AP Ferg, 24hrs and Tinashe, while the others were primarily forgettable (I was disappointed in Roy Woods guest feature).

I applaud MADEINTYO’s effort on this project, but unfortunately, he didn’t moving me on this s**t. He had his commercial hits, his experimental efforts and his moments to shock the world, but in the end of the day, I felt like he was a bit too content fitting in with the rest of the young cats in the game (We’re talking similar flows, adlbs and content). I think his story is way too unique for him to be content with sounding like all the other cats in the game. If I were him, I would’ve taken advantage of his Tokyo experiences, perhaps creating a theme or featuring some semblance of the culture into the music (He sort-of did it on Ned Flanders, but that was it). Then again, I am not sure how much he cares to make good music.