Headed by the Platinum-selling Atlanta rapper Rich The Kid, rap collective Rich Forever Music have introduced three new signees – Bino, 83 Babies and Airi – with ‘Rich Forever 4’. The reception to 2017’s collaborative mixtape ‘Rich Forever 3’ was so huge that it landed on the Billboard 200; fans have since geared up for a rap spectacular after a year of social media teasing.
However, the Rich Forever pioneers – Jay Critch, Famous Dex, and Rich The Kid – have released a disappointing project.
‘Rich Forever 4’ is full of generic beats with outdated rap lyrics from the label’s pioneers, Rich The Kid and Famous Dex. On ‘Off the Lot’, Rich and Dex rap in the blandest way on dated trap beats, spinning tired tales of lean, weed and sex. Metaphors and clever wordplay dominate in today’s rap, so their once-raw and mischievous lyrics fall flat. This mindless approach to lyricism seems to have spilled over into ASAP Ferg’s disappointing appearance on the track ‘Flex Up’. His lyrics are incomprehensible: “She must’ve got it done India / She threw that gut, don’t hurt me”.
The new signees don’t do much better. North Carolina’s 83 Babies team up with newbie Bino to rap sloppily about guns and sex on ‘Get a Bag’. Even when the rap group enlists Airi on the melodic R&B attempt ‘Tell Me’, the YouTuber-turns-singer cannot help them. The first lady of Rich Forever sings generic love lyrics (“Just want you to hold me and never leave my side / Just hold me, baby, and tell me everything will be alright”) as if to poorly recreate an early-2000s R&B ballad. In general, Airi’s vocals are pleasantly nostalgic and have great potential – unfortunately not on ‘Tell Me’.
If you managed to listen to the whole project, there is one guy who saves the day: Jay Critch, who always turns in the best verse on every song he graces. For example, on ‘Broke As Shit’, he blows Famous Dex out the water as he cleverly flows, over xylophone, about his come-up: “When you getting paid, you know everybody notice it / I stayed in my lane, spent a bag, and I reloaded it”.
If ‘Rich Forever 3’ hadn’t been so impressive, this mixtape might not be so disappointing; ‘Rich Forever 4’ is inferior to everything Rich The Kid and friends have ever done.