BRAVADO INTiMO...

the take

i've been somewhat of a casual fan of IDK and his music for the last six years or so. i listened to maybe five of his last six projects before this one (the only one i haven't listened to yet is "USEE4YOURSELF"), and enjoyed every single one of them, especially "F65". Plus, i've seen him perform as an opener for Pusha T in 2022 and he killed it. Okay, so maybe i'm a notch above "casual fan". Either way, i was excited to see he released what's actually a deluxe to his 2024 album (which i didn't know he dropped). IDK has yet to disappoint me fully, and this album really continues a streak of great music. Each track is subtitled either "B" or "i", with "B" being the more braggadocious/boastful tracks and "i" signifying more personal/intimate tracks. To be quite honest, i'm leaning more toward the "i" tracks as my favorite ones on this track, but it's hard to ignore the "B" tracks that are fucking bangers, like "DENiM (B)" with Joey Bada$$ (which i listened to before the album dropped and always loved), "S.U (B)" with Denzel Curry (c'mon, it's Denzel fucking Curry... need i say more?), and "MARiO COiNS (B)" (possibly one of the best openers to a deluxe portion of an album i've heard in a long time). But even though the "i" tracks don't exceed the greatness that's "DENiM (B)", it's much more consistent in terms of their respective sound and how complete they are. "SWiTCH (i)" with Conway the Machine is such a beautiful track with two rappers spitting on a level to where this could've been a song on a Conway/Griselda track, while "PAPERCUTS (i)" incorporates the Neo-Soul sound enough to where it doesn't overpower the track itself. if anything, this album really solidifies IDK's versatility because he can go from "MiLES TRUMPET (i)" to "CHECK (B)" easily, as his vocal performances, whether it's straight spitting to R&B, are exceptional. And the deluxe tracks included just solidifies my point. it also solidifies how amazing this album really is.