Lil Keed – Long Live Mexico (Album Review)

Lil Keed looks to mark his territory in the rap game with “Long Live Mexico.”

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TOP 5

5. DRAGON

“Dragon” features two individuals that sound like they are cutting onions while they are singing (Roddy Ricch and Lil Keed). However, that didn’t stop them from creating this passionate banger that features lots of low-key bragging and real n***a sentiments. While Keed sounds beyond inaudible on his two verses and the hook, I thought Roddy did a fantastic job of showing the world how bossed up he can be, spitting with his chest out and harmonizing like someone who knows he’s the s**t. Roddy, you made it!

4. ON EVERYTHING

“On Everything” sounds like a trap romance story. Matter of fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Keed was picking petals off of flowers while laying his verses down on it.

Lyrically, I thought Keed was fantastic “On Everything,” as he outlined what he wanted to do to his chick (Among a few other random ass things) very vividly on his verses and the hook. I also thought he showed great composure from start to finish on the song, riding the emotional instrumental he was served with masterfully and harmonizing in a way that wasn’t too overboard. On some real s**t, I can argue with you that this is the best song on the album.

Lil Keed sounds like someone is touching him in the ass inappropriately when he sings on this song.

3. MILLION DOLLAR MANSION

I thought “Million Dollar Mansion” was intriguing to listen to. With the song featuring this vibrant instrumental, Lil Keed and featured guest Young Thug let loose, sounding like two bad ass five year olds that are terrorizing predominately white neighborhoods. While both rappers would sound pretty distinct on any other song on this planet, it was hard for me to decipher who was who on this particular joint (I don’t know if that’s good chemistry or some doppelganger s**t).

Content-wise, both Thugger and Keed are all over the place on “Million Dollar Mansion,” talking about everything from paying their chick’s tuition to paying shooters to erase someone’s son. On the real, you won’t pay much attention to this aspect of the song, because you’ll be way too focused on the zoo-like atmosphere the artists were able to create with their outlandish contributions.

N***as clearly forgot to take their Ritalin before they laid this track down.

2. PULL UP

In “Pull Up,” Keed unites with a couple of pip squeaks in the game in YNW Melly and Lil Uzi Vert. Together, the trio was able to create this bass boomin’/flute-heavy banger that features playground vibes, reckless lyrics, goofy flows, a ton of bragging, action movie sounds and serious slurring. Despite everyone on the track coming across like Animaniacs, I thought it was pretty entertaining to listen to.

1. RIDE THE WAVE

It’s unfortunate that as soon as I pressed play on “Ride The Wave,” I thought I was listening to a Yung Bans album. Once I got past that feeling, I was able to enjoy the song.

“Ride The Wave” has an emotional feel instrumentally, which prompts fearless singing and quite the melodic effort from Lil Keed to come about. While Keed’s delivery is mainly on some mumble-s**t, I thought he did a great job of infusing plenty of passion into his contributions — even though his content mainly revolves around balling and spoiling himself with luxurious items.

Lil Keed sounds like Gunna and Yung Bans’ baby, with Young Thug as the Godfather on this song.

SONG BY SONG BREAKDOWN

1. RIDE THE WAVE (4/5)

2. OH MY GOD (3.5/5)

3. ANYBODY (3.5/5)

4. ROCKSTAR (3/5)

5. MILLION DOLLAR MANSION (4/5)

6. HBS (2/5)

7. TIP TOP (3/5)

8. CHILD (4/5)

9. SNAKE (2/5)

10. PASSITOUT (3/5)

11. PULL UP (4/5)

12. REAL HOOD BABY (4/5)

13. FEAR OF GOD (3.5/5)

14. MAKE YOU PROUD (3.5/5)

15. ON EVERYTHING (4/5)

16. DRAGON (4/5)

17. HIGHER N HIGHER (3/5)

18. RIDE WIT U (3.5/5)

19. JUST A DREAM (2/5)

20. PROUD OF ME (3.5/5)

OVERALL RATING

(C)

To call “Long Live Mexico” erratic music would be an understatement; the twenty track project is borderline deranged-sounding. With that being said, it is also s**t the youth clearly wants to hear today, because throughout listening to it, I got Young Thug, Yung Bans, Lil Uzi Vert, Playboi Carti and Gunna vibes — all individuals that are poppin’ right now. So with that being said, why bash the man’s squeaky ass voice, lack of subject-matters and mumble-heavy deliveries? Why don’t we embrace it?

You know what’s funny about “Long Live Mexico?” If you listen to the beats on it, you would think it was a dramatic album. Plenty of the s**t I heard throughout sounded like some soap opera trap s**t. When you add Lil Keed’s ‘sounding like I’m being stabbed over and over again’ vocals to the equation, you might f**k around with a few tears in your face. With that being said, the production on this album is a savior for sure.

I know, plenty of people don’t talk about s**t in their music, but in this particular case, I thought Keed expanding his subject-matters could’ve helped a lot. When someone is as fearless as he is, talking about women, hustling and shining sounds like settling. I would’ve loved for Keed to talk about his come-up more or how he was the first individual to skip puberty in civilization. I guess beggars can’t be choosers…

Young Thug and Gunna have plenty of clout in the industry, so I wasn’t surprised that their little homie Keed was able to procure so many impressive guests on “Long Live Mexico.” In my opinion, everyone was fantastic on their respective songs, instilling veteran presences, normalcy and sanity into the equation. On the real, if it wasn’t for the guests, I would’ve tapped out by song number 7.

If you like action-packed music, “Long Live Mexico” is for you! There’s never a dull moment on it, and when it comes to pushing boundaries, that n***a went over the cliff by song number 2. While I have quite the migraine after hearing this album straight through, I do applaud Keed’s fearlessness on it and how he stiff-armed any concept of music I’ve ever had in my life.