Back in 2014, Riff Raff delivered his debut album Neon Icon, which saw him declaring himself
as ‘the white Gucci Mane with a spray tan’
and dropping nonsensical rhymes like ‘dyslexic
in a four door mango lexus’. Riff Raff knew he wasn’t a poet and embraced
this, like a bad b-movie revelling in its bad acting and awful CGI.
By contrast, the rapper’s latest instalment Peach Panther essentially feels like
the makers of Sharknado attempting a
serious movie. In fact it almost makes me question whether Riff Raff was ever
an intentional joke.
Limiting the subject matter to five things, Peach Panther sees Riff Raff
rambling exclusively about his love of codeine, his love of Versace, the
diamonds on his wrist, how much money he has, all interspersed with a few
references to martial arts. There are no random displays of madness, no head-scratching
skits about the moon or curious lines like ‘rap
game Uncle Ben pulling rice out of the oven’. Other than a creepy song
about a quinceanera (a fifteenth birthday party celebration for girls in Spain), his topics seem to run
in circles so that the whole album feels like an endless trip on a hamster
wheel.
This is made worse by the fact that Riff Raff’s arrogance now
seems real and Kanye-sized. The song '4 Million' sees the rapper boasting about how he made 4 million dollars last year. Indeed bragging can sometimes come across as funny when it's done ironically, but here Riff Raff simply comes across as douchey and a bit annoying like the kid at school that won't stop showing off their new bike.
In the end the most likable aspect of this album turns out
to be the beats, and even these are nowhere near as exciting as on Neon Icon. Drawing from a similarly narrow
scope as the lyrics, the instrumentals are all hefty trap numbers, and whilst
some such as ‘Mercedes’ have some seismic enough bass to leave a mark, they can’t
quite distract from the hamster wheel effect.
All in all, creativity is what’s missing from Peach Panther, the track ‘I Don’t
Like To Think’ perfectly summing up the songwriting process. Riff Raff has
become the most shallow and predictable trap rapper possible, continuing to
push his clownish image but leaving behind the clownish musicianship that made
him so interesting.
★☆☆
TRACK TASTER: