One of the most anticipated albums of early 2017, was the second studio album from Hip Hop’s Migos. The album’s release faced the high risk of being criticized as “overrated” or “overhyped,” but it’s safe to say that the Migos did not disappoint their listeners. In both interviews and lyrics, the Migos have expressed that the purpose of this album is to let people know how unappreciated they have been for their contributions to Atlanta trap music and Hip-Hop in general. If people didn’t appreciate their contribution before, they definitely have reason to do now.

                Culture: The first track of the album starts off with a major key, as DJ Khaled’s hooks listeners with his “They try to play us, they play themselves” declaration. Khaled does what he does best by blessing the track with hype, which immediately raises anticipation for listers, as they wait for the beat to drop. Appropriately titled Culture, the intro establishes why the group dubbed the album such title, as listeners can expect to later get a better understanding in the coming songs. I wish Migos actually released this particular track prior to the album release so that it could have served its purpose of setting the stage on a bigger scale. 4/5

                T-Shirt: T-Shirt’s growing popularity is well deserved. I recently discovered (thanks to Twitter) that the beat of this song is in fact, a slowed-down version of the ’04 throwback “White Tee” by Dem Franchize Boyz. If you don’t believe me, check out the instrumentals to both tracks. Being that they paid homage to Dem Franchize Boys, this made me appreciate the track even more. The Migos’ signature and sometimes humorous ad-libs (“Bitches call me papi…” “—Bitch!”) givs the song so much more character, even more so than usual, which makes it that much more fun to sing along to. 5/5

                Call Casting: This song had to grow on me. I disliked it the first time I heard it, which was before the album release. The weirdest part is, I can’t exactly put my finger on what bothered me about it. I guess the best way to explain it is that I get a vague feeling that I’ve heard the sound before. At this point, I like this song enough to listen to it once if it comes on, but not enough to put it on repeat. 3/5

                Bad and Boujee: I think most people have already reached the consensus that this song is a hit, being that it’s currently the number one song in the country. This song become a social media sensation, which helped make it Migos and Uzi Vert’s most successful track on their young careers, as it top Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart. The track was so catchy and popular that anyone with the slightest awareness of Hip-Hop and popular culture can realize that Bad and Boujee’s impact has been inescapable and unavoidable. It appeared everywhere from IG captions, memes to background music of YouTube makeup videos.  The main testament to how enjoyable this song is has to be its remarkable ability to stay enjoyable despite all its publicity. Bad and Boujee hasn’t been played out yet. It’s getting there, but not yet. And for what it’s worth, Uzi’s verse is bad, but not terrible. He most definitely ruins the vibe that song has going for the first three minutes, but the awkwardness of his verse is the kind of awkwardness you grow to accept over time. 5/5

                Get Right Witcha: Get Right Witcha is one of my personal favorites. Both the beat and chorus are amazingly catchy. I like the song so much that I’m willing to pretend that I didn’t hear the line about “Going to Thailand with them ch*nks”. 5/5

                Slippery: Slippery has a smooth, hypnotic beat and bass that makes this song great to bump in your car. The pairing with Atlanta’s rap veteran, Gucci Mane was great in my opinion. His verse was short and sweet, but you can’t make an album based on how much you’ve contributed to the culture of trap music without including one of the kings of Trap music himself. 4/5

                Big On Big: Another great song. The chorus is catchy and memorable and I wouldn’t be surprised if this track became a single off the album. If so, I can see people quoting this song under IG pics of them holding up wads of cash. 4/5

                What the Price: What the Price is a nice, laid-back shift in comparison to the rest of the album. This song, complete with Migos’ heavily auto tune assisted “singing” reminds me of a Travis Scott song, which might be why I enjoy this song so much. However, despite the heavy “Travis” vibes, I never forgot that this was a Migos song and it fits in great with the rest of the album. 4/5  

Brown Paper Bag: Another one of my personal favorites, Brown Paper Bag is no different from the majority of the other tracks that instantly excite as soon as it drops. Takeoff, who I find to be horribly under appreciated, gives the perfect ending to the song with his verse. The rather abrupt cut off of the beat after his part was a risk, but ultimately worked really well. 5/5

                Deadz: I wasn’t sure about this track when it first started. I thought it was going to be…weird, to put it blatantly. Not a good, eclectic weird that ultimately it works out in the end. Just when I figured that I was not going to like this song and when I was getting ready to skip it, the beat kept me hanging around. As the beat drops, Migos and 2 Chainz blesses the track with a comfortable flow that only they can pull off. Once again, 2 Chainz proves himself as being an underrated asset in trap music. His verse improved the song for me by a long shot. 3/5

                All Ass: As a woman, I could’ve personally lived without this song, but I can still acknowledge that it’s enjoyable. No Migos album would be complete without a strip club anthem so I knew it was coming. Ironically enough, I feel like there were several other songs that accomplished the purpose of the raunchy stripper joint even more so than this track. 3/5

                Kelly Price: Being that this is a song featuring one of my favorite artists at the moment, Travis Scott, I was disappointed that this was one of my least favorites. I still have to take a few seconds to decide whether I want skip this song when it comes on in my Apple Music library, but I usually end up playing it. Compared to other songs, Kelly Price is relatively boring and generic. Almost every album has at least a couple “filler songs”, and this was definitely that for Culture. 2/5

                Out Yo Way: As the closing track of the album, Out Yo Way contained a slight shift from the usual raunchy, playfully “ignorant” trap lyrics that is a usual from Migos. This track is rare and a relatively sensitive homage to the family members of the Migos. The group’s members, Quavo, Takeoff and Offset expresses their appreciation, dedication and encouragement from over the years. I think I speak for everyone when I say that no one expects Migos’ lyrics to be exceptionally profound or meaningful, but the fact that they took a stab at it makes the message more meaningful in an ironic way, which brings the album full circle. 4/5

Thanks to Quavo, Offset, and Takeoff, we now have a whole hour’s worth of new club bangers and an appreciation for Migos’ contribution to the trap rap culture. I can listen the entire album without skipping a track, and that’s a rarity. For the overall amount of fun it is to listen to this album, I give it a 4/5. Culture is definitely worth the listen.

~Taylor Duncan