The Real Testament

the take

Plies has always been a rapper whose singles are infectious, to say the least, but whose albums are just... existing. (But for some reason, I can listen to his mixtapes with ease.) That's why I've randomly decided to give Plies' debut album, "The Real Testament", a listen so I can get a grasp of how good his music people say it is. Removing both "Hypnotized" and "Shawty" from the tracklist because those two are my clear-cut favorites, Plies delivered an okay album. Over the course of about an hour, Plies schools us on the subjects he knows best: money, girls, and keeping it real (hence, the title of the album). As long as the beats are nice enough to flow smoothly over and sound even a bit different from one another, almost any rapper can succeed with that formula. Key word: "almost". Unfortunately, Plies is one of those rappers where he tried to succeed but ended up in a gray area. By that, I mean that the aforementioned topics is all he raps about, with little or no switchup in flow between the songs, which makes it come off as a bit redundant on its own after a while. What's worse is that the production on here sounds like a lower-tier budget Rick Ross album, which somehow goes hand in hand with Plies' hardcore lyricism just enough. A part of me is shocked at how this isn't better than I thought. Then again, another part of me is shocked at how this isn't worse than I thought while listening. Shit's crazy, to be honest.