This friday, February 21, 2020, rapper and recording artist Kentrell DeSean Gaulden, or better known by his fans as Youngboy Never Broke Again, released his fifteenth mixtape, titled Still Flexin, Still Steppin, with songs produced by TAYTAYMADE IT, Vadebeatz, and others. With a tracklist 14 songs long, I am excited to hop into this, despite my previous reservations about NBA Youngboy. Sonically, I prefer the artists I listen to to make an effort to try and change their sound and flow, and for much of Youngboy’s music I have found it indistinguishable from one another, apart from the song Bandit with Juice WRLD. 

I decided to ask the opinions of 3 Whitney Young students before I listened to the album. Kevin Coe ’20 said, “I don’t listen to Youngboy because he doesn’t cater to my tastes.” Stephen Bell ‘20 also said, “I didn’t listen to the album, Youngboy is not my favorite.” I also asked Neil Rockey ‘22. He claimed that “Youngboy is so fire, I love that new album!” Clearly there is a large divide between Youngboy fans and normal music fans.

Overall, I found that the album is pretty similar sonically, and although there are a couple clever lines, that doesn’t make up for Youngboy using the same flow and always tackling the same topics in every song. Youngboy has the talent, but he doesn’t have the concepts to make a real album, rather than just a playlist of new Youngboy songs. This being the first Youngboy album I listened to from front to back, I was hoping to be as surprised as I was by Roddy Ricch’s album, but unfortunately I was not on this project. Hopefully Kentrell can surprise me next time, but I’m not gonna hold my breath.