REVIEW: Juicy J – Stay Trippy

Artist: Juicy J
Album: Stay Trippy
Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap
Label: Taylor Gang Records

Juicy J is quite the interesting character as his current niche within the rap game is virtually unrecognizable in comparison to that of his early days with Three Six Mafia. Now signed to Wiz Khalifa’s Taylor Gang Records, the Memphis icon has become a club staple whose cuts can ignite twerk-a-thons like few others. In the past year, “Bandz A Make Her Dance” in particular has defined his fame and become as massive of a single entity as the man himself. There’s no doubt most people will enter their first listening of J’s third solo record with that song in mind, but it does not take long to realize Stay Trippy finds him attempting to dabble with sounds and topics that focus on more than throwing bandz.

Kicking off the record with a bang, “Stop It” is an explosive track that finds J at the top of his game with his classic, cocky flow painting a vivid picture of his life on top while letting everyone know they can “catch me on that loud pack, blowin’ on that smoke.” A few more tracks in, Chief Keef’s go-to producer Young Chop creates a dirty trap-rap beat for J to begin his aforementioned expansion into other territory and lay down some truly gritty material on “No Hear Not Love.” There’s no lack of violent imagery throughout, and just to drive the message home, Project Pat drops in to absolutely demolish the song before the cut comes to a close.

As expected, Pat’s appearance isn’t the only notable drop-in; Stay Trippy contains an absolutely massive lineup of guest features that compliment J’s work with appearances from a plethora of household names including everyone from Pimp C to Young Jeezy, and Lil Wayne to Wiz Khalifa across ten separate tracks. One of the most notable sightings comes from the current overlord of New York rap, A$AP Rocky, as he stops by and delivers a killer return to the sound of the LiveLoveA$AP days on the standout song “Scholarship.” One must truly stop for a moment and appreciate “Scholarship” not only for its potent guest feature, though, but for its overall existence as well. Listeners will most likely be doing invisible pull-ups until there are elbow bruises on their chests while simultaneously laughing hysterically as it finds J declaring “You a college chick, keep twerking baby; might earn you a scholarship.” Of course, there might not be as much laughter once this begins to bump out of the speakers and the song instantaneously turns crowds into a mass of scholarship-hopefuls showing what they’ve got.

Stepping back from of all the massive sounding joints and their features, Stay Trippy also manages to provide a nice selection of chilled out jams that allow Juicy J to take some of the hype out of his flow and instead space out over equally spacey beats. “Smokin’ Rollin’” and “All I Blow Is Loud” could very well be the soundtrack to get-togethers for all of the grass-types out there as the songs feature, you guessed it, smoking-centric lyrics that compliment their comfortable atmospheres. Moving into even more relaxed territory, the album’s major anti-club highlight occurs when J gets about as romantic as someone who performed “Slob On My Knob” can get on the semi-slow jam, “The Woods,” which also happens to feature an irresistible hook from Mr. Justin Timberlake himself. It is truly a match made in Heaven that cannot be missed.

There is no beating around the bush once it is all said and done; Stay Trippy is an irresistibly enjoyable club-rap album with a ton of personality that also mixes in some street-leaning and lean-drinking material to match.

Score: 9/10

Review written by: Michael Giegerich (Follow him on Twitter)

Mike Giegerich
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