Lil Tecca - We Love You Tecca 2 ALBUM REVIEW
This is the Second Studio Album from New York teenager, rapper and singer Lil Tecca.
Tecca has burst onto the scene in the last 2 years after releasing the internet hit ‘Ransom’ which has racked up nearly 900m streams on Spotify after only 2 years. Tecca released one mixtape, on which Ransom was featured, ‘We Love You Tecca’. It was a record that spotlighted Tecca’s potential and talent. It did feel very samey, however and the production was very basic, trap 101. This was going to be hard to change though due to Tecca’s explosion with Ransom being that sound and him knowing that it works. Tecca was only 17 when he released We Love You Tecca so when he announced that he was releasing his debut Studio Album ‘Virgo World’ only a year later, fans were surprised and what we seen from the record was that Tecca clearly rushed it and didn’t put much time into developing new sounds and ideas or really any interesting new aspects to his music at all.
1 year later and we get a new single which would turn out to be the lead single for ‘We Love You Tecca 2’, REPEAT IT with Gunna. It had the similar summery trap instrumental that helped Tecca blow up, but this time Tecca was sliding on the beat really well and let the summery vibe take centre stage and never got in the way of a great trap instrumental, which Gunna took advantage of in a great way, having the best performance on the track out of the 2. This single left me intrigued in a new Tecca record for the first time as I had never been impressed by his music before, and unfortunately this new project proves the reasoning for my previous attitude towards his work.
We Love You Tecca 2 is essentially ‘Summer Jams: The Album’. It features very boring and similar trap instrumentals that kind of blend together listening through because they all sound the exact same. The record actually starts off pretty strong because the aesthetic hasn’t gotten boring yet, with very fun and wavy tracks like the previously mentioned REPEAT IT, NEVER LEFT and CAUTION. But this sound very quickly burns out with tracks like SEASIDE with iann dior, NO DISCUSSION, YOU DON’T NEED ME NO MORE and FEE. They all have the same hi-hat pattern that basically every new wave trap song has, with the same 808 rhythm and the same boyish vocals that go in one ear and out the other. After this blip comes the best track on the record in my opinion, CHOPPA SHOOT THE LOUDEST with Chief Keef and Trippie Redd. Trippie delivers a fantastic, animated hook over a hyperpop, playboi carti electronic type beat that Trippie used so well in his recent LP. Chief Keef and Tecca both perform on their verses and the three of them mix together very well. The last leg is very mixed, the best being BANK TELLER with Lil Yachty which features an amazing instrumental with a grand and rich flute passage that changes between a high and low pitch when the vocals change between Tecca and Yachty. The vocals from Tecca are nothing special but at least don’t get in the way of the instrumental, and I thought Yachty’s performance was actually an addition to my entertainment of the track. 7 of the last 11 tracks bored the living shit out of me (ABOUT YOU, LOT OF ME, INVESTIGATION, YOU GOTTA DO BETTER, NADA, WHATEVER, EVERYWHERE I GO) but the rest having a fun melody and good flow from Tecca, even though the vibe off of the intrumentals doesn't really change at all (DID THAT, BANK TELLER, MY SIDE, SHOOTERS). I think the words to describe this record are Typical, middle of the road, and non-inspired. Tecca doesn’t try to change up anything here and he seems to care more about the ‘vibe’ of his songs than actually making interesting and innovative music, as he says on the track DON’T NEED ME NO MORE, “I been worrying bout a vibe, you been worrying bout a lot”. Tecca is content to keep going the way he’s going because he knows it’s making him money and right now that's probably all he cares about.
Lil Tecca still has so much potential and he uses it on a decent deal of tracks on this thing, but he needs to evolve in the next few years or he’ll turn into the new Chief Keef, irrelevant before the age of 21. If you need some background music that makes you feel good early in the morning, this is the record for you. But for someone that wants to see evolution and improvement, you’ll be a little disappointed.
I rate this new Lil Tecca a Light 4.