Bas ‘Too High to Riot’ an emotional display

Jonathan Brunache /Contributing Writer

With “Too High To Riot, New York rapper and Dreamville/Interscope’s Bas attempts to deliver an album that presents variety and an emotional display of the artist’s ambitions and personal efforts.

While it is clear of the artist’s goals are for the album, the execution of it results in a familiar, underwhelming project. The album’s title track, did not give this impression. The track borrows instrumentals from the song “Comfortable” by Chicago rapper, Mick Jenkins, off of his fourth and most well received mixtape “Water[s].”

While sharing the same instrumental from two years ago does contribute to Bas’s album lacking originality, his lyrical delivery help give the impression that it is a different song at an extent.

‘Dopamine’ is another highlight on “With Too High To Riot,” Bas shows a little bit of wordplay rapping “my father got whip it ain’t sick enough, my mother need more treatment like she ain’t sick enough.” It is an emotional reach, musically, towards the audience, however, when the content becomes inconsistent with the message the songs come off as not being genuine.

Another fault in Bas’s project is the similar sound throughout the project. Being a member of Dreamville, the same label as J. Cole, you can pick up on the similar sounds as the album plays through. This is a similar issue J.Cole has had with his past projects.

On “Too High To Riot,” the majority of the songs have no unique characteristics to them in comparison to Chance The Rapper’s jazzy and spontaneous delivery, J. Cole’s ability to maintain a sense of narrative or Kendrick’s overall execution. In short, the album comes across as average.