GloRilla’s Debut Album Is Mostly GLORIOUS
mastermindfotoo
It would be easy to call out GloRilla’s Kirk Franklin feature as the moment she got back to her church choir girl roots. But that would be ignoring her core function as a minister for disaffected baddies. Since breaking out with “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)” a little over two years ago, Gloria Hallelujah Woods has wielded repetition and hard-earned life lessons to preach the word of GloRilla, a rowdy ’round the way girl who knows too well the virtues of getting money, ratchet ass friends and, above all else, staying “fuck nigga free.” It’s a gospel that’s made her a fringe superstar, and it’s as potent as ever on GLORIOUS, a propulsive debut album that mostly lives up to its name.
At 42 tightly wound minutes, GLORIOUS understands the power of momentum, its tracks spilling into each other with kineticism and everygirl charm. This is a self-contained playlist for drunken Uber rides, with the girls gassing you up for an epic soundtrack to Ladies’ Night. The intro is a customary rags-to-riches victory lap, with a theatrical soul sample helping Glo distill a classical vignette of aspiration and actualization. It’s ostensibly by-the-numbers stuff, but GloRilla’s voice — an authoritative husk framed in gangsta conviction — makes you feel like you can run through a wall. Or down on a chick who had the nerve to approach you about her man being in your DMs. Shoulda listened to Glo’s advice, girl.
That charisma is more or less inescapable, as GloRilla’s decisive bars have a perfectly symbiotic connection to super-charged production. Embedded with triumphant horns, jittery piano keys, and pummeling percussion, these beats could make you sprint a marathon. For “Hollon,” she attacks an Unk sample with searing directness and a bouncy rhyme scheme: “I got hands for a ho, I get bands for a sho/ He want chance after chance, after chance, nigga, no.” Packaged with a simple, yet confrontational hook, it’s vintage crunk chaos courtesy of a girl who was only three when I shouted “To the window/ To the wall!” at my fifth grade dance.
Threading it all is a sense of emphatic power. It’s everywhere from the lyrics she writes to the song titles, many of which, if you read out loud, are literally commands: “Hollon.” “Stop Playing.” “Step.” “Let Her Cook.” It should get repetitive, but her energy and the frenetic pace of it all makes it easier to let her stay in the kitchen. And she cooks just as well when other chefs get involved, too.
I’m not sure of the percentages here, but any time Glo links up with another woman on wax, it’s pretty much buckets. For “Procedure,” she and Latto turn into the baddie version of Jadakiss and Styles P, laying out the protocol for approaching lit chicks with a lot of Insta followers and even more money. The Sexyy Red-assisted “Whatchu Kno About Me” is a fun “Wipe Me Down” remake where Sexyy takes home Bar-of-the-Day: “I’m with my peoples, and we comin’ 50 deep/ You ain’t know I was a hitta ’cause I’m always lookin’ fleek.” The Megan Thee Stallion and BossMan Dlow tracks are fire too.
While Glo has no issues getting the party started and keeping it going, her attempts at slowing things down can be a little mixed. “Don’t Deserve” is a Muni Long collaboration that’s well-intentioned, but stilted; the plainly spoken hook sounds like some bars GloRilla wrote for a verse, but said, “fuck it,” and told Muni to sing as a hook instead. The syllables slide off the edge of the beat in multiple spots, and they lack the symbolism or phonetic symmetry to be worth repeating. The aforementioned Kirk Franklin-assisted track, “Rain Down On Me” is sweet, but kind of just “meh” in execution. His presence doesn’t feel like much more than a fun novelty.
She has more success with “Glo’s Prayer,” a conversation with God about how to avoid being one of those naive girls she so often raps about. The prayer sounds as earnest as a country girl’s prayer is supposed to, and her blunt honesty injects a convincing level of vulnerability into a young woman who usually feels like a Terminator. That sensitivity has always been there, though. On her breakout single, she brags about not having to worry about a “fuck nigga cheating,” but there’s a quiet sadness in guarding yourself so you don’t have to worry. If most of Glo’s debut is a raucous girls’ night out, tracks like “Glo’s Prayer” are the sobering morning after, where you realize guys you might just be stupid enough to try being loved again.
These are the multitudes of GLORIOUS. The LP is probably a little better than her already dope mixtape Ehhthang Ehhthang. There are a couple more misses here, but Glo makes up for that with more genuinely personal songwriting and extending the vibes for a longer effort. Composed of anthemic hooks, powerful slick talk and even more potent self-belief, GLORIOUS stands as a refined and expanded version of GloRilla’s best work. If you were looking for words of wisdom on how to avoid being a victim of cuffing season — or, just turn up with the girls or the guys — her latest might be your new testament. In Gloria’s name.
COLD AS ICE
That Mexican OT - "War Wounds" (Feat. Maxo Kream & Lil Keke)
Texas’ sophomore or junior of the year taps in with established vets from the Lone Star State, and it doesn’t disappoint. The beat is a murky and stylish one that could soundtrack a mediocre ’80s detective flick, and the bars are as playful as they are skillful.
BigXThaPlug - "Law & Order"
Admittedly, I kind of cringed when I first saw this one. After all, how many folks have rapped over this damn sample? But BigX put a fun enough spin on it to make it all work, and his threats and penchant for vivid micro-vignettes make it stick as much if not more than the other ones. Sorry Luh Tyler.
LL Cool J - "Spirit Of Cyrus" (Feat. Snoop Dogg)
Alchemy. That’s the word I keep returning to every time I hear LL Cool J’s latest album, his best in at least 20 years. I’ve got no choice but to give a lot of credit to Q-Tip, who produced this one with the same fervor and imagination as We Got It from Here… Thank You 4 Your Service. This particular song appears to take the perspective of Christopher Dorner, who went on an infamous killing spree after he felt his claims against police corruption were silenced. The beat here sounds like judgment day, and LL’s bars — as well as his tone and inflections — emanate convincing wrath for one of the best tracks of the year.
Future - "Plutoski"
Future’s been in cruise control a lot these last few years, but 2024’s been his redemption year, with Mixtape Pluto being the latest example. There are a number of standouts here, but “Plutoski,” with its unnerving murmurs and opiate soundscape, is my favorite.
Benny The Butcher & 38 Spesh - “High Stakes"
As a child of the early ’90s, I’m always going to love multisyllabic rhymes and vivid plug talk. 38 Spesh and Benny The Butcher deliver both with “High Stakes,” a cut from their forthcoming Stabbed & Shot 2 project. Benny takes home the trophy for best bar in the song: “Now we got a sports firm, look what a high became/ Three bricks and my nephew four, they both a toddler age/ I put a block of yay’ in a blender while he potty-train.”
Skepta & Flo Milli - “Why Lie?"
Skepta dives into his melodic bag for this one, and Flo Milli joins him there. The beat is ethereal and vibey, the vocals and lyrics vulnerable yet kind of playful. It’s a keeper.
Maxo Kream & Tyler The Creator - "Cracc Era"
Maxo and Tyler are two-for-two now, and I think I like this one more than “Big Persona.” I want to hear them together more — no three-year gap this time.
Rod Wave - "Fall Fast In Love"
Rod Wave is basically the King of Sorrow, but I’ve always loved his blissful love songs the most. “Paint The Sky Red” is my favorite. But “Fall Fast In Love” is up there, with his billowing melodies spilling out like a young Reuben Studdard’s.
Juice Wrld - "Both Ways"
Having interviewed him six months or so into his rise, I think about Juice Wrld quite a bit. What a malleable voice and a love for rap. He may not be here in the physical, but he left more than a few tunes behind. This is one of my favorites from among his posthumous drops.
J. Cole - "Port Antonio"
I had to separate my disgust with Cole’s whole thing earlier this year to accept that “Port Antonio” is pretty dope: dreamy beat, acrobatic rhymes, some succinct bars about the Kendrick-Drake situation, all that. He’s a little melodramatic, but it’s a dope song nonetheless.
ROAST ME
Majin Buu on Lenox ave https://t.co/5kFVtnAMfj pic.twitter.com/KPGddT8Xgj
— Jawnny Deep (@JawnnyDeep) October 13, 2024
