Shy Glizzy - Fully Loaded Album Review

Story posted October 18, 2018 in Arts & Entertainment by Zach Hall.

Shy Glizzy made a splash back in 2012 with his mixtape Fxck Rap, nabbing a spot on Complex’s “10 New DMV Rappers To Watch Out for.” Since then, Glizzy’s gone on to release numerous mixtapes as well as an EP in January of 2017. Over the course of his lengthy career, Shy Glizzy made a name for himself with his unique voice and carefree style. While Glizzy has a plethora of projects under his belt, he hasn’t released an album until now. Shy Glizzy’s debut album Fully Loaded has a lot going for it, but is held back for its lack of variety and repetitious structure.

What makes Shy Glizzy so entertaining to listen to is present on Fully Loaded. Glizzy exudes plenty of energy and confidence throughout the album, making his flow on the majority of the songs a joy to listen to. While his lyrics aren’t the most profound, his charisma and delivery make up for it. 

Shy Glizzy raps on a variety of topics on Fully Loaded such as gang violence, growing up in D.C., hustling and his roots. He also raps about his reaffirmation to the rap game and that despite this being his debut after so many years, he plans to be even bigger going forward. There is a healthy mix of rap bangers and melodic cool downs to help keep Fully Loaded interesting, but the album's biggest problem comes in its length. 

Fully Loaded is 19 tracks and just over an hour long. The problem arises when it’s made clear that a decent chunk of these tracks are filler. Fully Loaded could’ve been chopped in half and would’ve been twice as effective. This would’ve also helped Shy Glizzy from becoming repetitive, which after 19 tracks he certainly does. There are plenty of tracks buried within that are worth a listen, but are unfortunately crowded by ones that aren’t. 

Instrumentally, Fully Loaded falls victim to the same issues. From gritty trap to slow and melodic, Fully Loaded offers a handful of enjoyable and catchy beats that make a good portion of the album thoroughly enjoyable listen. Unfortunately, much like Glizzy himself, this becomes repetitive after the long run time. There isn’t enough variety in the instrumentals to save Fully Loaded from repetition, and after 19 tracks each track starts to sound like a copy of the song that came before it. The need to cut the album down is especially apparent in the instrumentals. Much like the content, the instrumentals are weighed down by the weaker links and suffer from repetition.

Fully Loaded could’ve been great, but doesn’t play to its strengths and goes on way longer than it should. From a lack of variety to a repetitive structure, Fully Loaded missed the opportunity to be the break out album that Shy Glizzy was hoping for. For his next album, emphasis should be put on a shorter tracklist as to play to his strengths and avoid becoming repetitive by the last track.  

Rating: 6/10 

 

Zach Hall is a senior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email zth5043@psu.edu.