Juice WRLD – “Death Race for Love” Album Review

posted March 14, 2019 in

Heartbreak? Drug use? Corny lyrics that somehow still make sense? That’s what we were given on Juice Wrlds newest album “Death Race For Love.”

After becoming popular all across America last summer with his hit song “Lucid Dreams,” Juice Wrld has steadily climbed his way into the ears of America’s youth. After the success of “Lucid Dreams” and his first album “Goodbye & Good Riddance,” Juice then dropped a collab mixtape “Wrld on Drugs” with Future. Now, Juice Wrld is back to his roots of heartbreak music and somber vibes with his latest release.

Juice Wrld is somewhat of an interesting character in the rap game right now, and that is clearly shown on a “Death Race For Love.” For starters, the overall theme of the album is typical for Juice Wrld content, catchy and smooth beats combined with depressing lyrics about heavy drug use and broken hearts. Juice offers little advancement in terms of lyrics or flow, although a “Death Race For Love” does have more uplifting and hype-inducing songs when compared to his previous album “Goodbye & Good Riddance.”

With a song like “Maze” takes a look into the depressing mind of Juice, his heavy drug use and dark side. On the flip side, you have songs like “The Bees Knees,” where Juice Wrld shows his real rapping talent, spitting bars over a heavy bounce of 808’s. Just as Juice Wrld gets into his flow, the beat switches and we are given a slow melody and some high notes from Juice.

The production aspect of the album is terrific, and that is no surprise as Juice teamed up with friend and quick rising producer Nick Mira. Mira and Juice go way back to the rapper’s early SoundCloud days, producing the beats on Juice Wrlds previously mentioned hit “Lucid Dreams.” Mira definitely delivered on his end, with high-quality beats and overall fantastic instrumental.

Juice Wrld also came out on Twitter saying he freestyled the entire album. While the feat of making an entire album completely off freestyle is an impressive one, it’s an interesting choice indeed. One could question whether or not the decision to freestyle had a major effect on the overall quality of the album. If Juice Wrld had actually written the songs out and put his thoughts to paper instead of spewing them out as they came to him then maybe he could have achieved something much bigger here.

At the end of the day, “Death Race For Love” is a solid album. It fits the genre and overall theme of what Juice Wrld is.

We, however, have yet to see Juice Wrld expand or change from his usual depression and drug-filled verses, and with this being his third project released, one could begin to wonder whether or not he can offer anything else other than that. The album has its moments but still leaves much left to be desired.

Rating: 6/10

Reviewer’s Favorite Track: “Maze”

Reviewer’s Least Favorite Track: “Syphilis”

 

 

David Saggio is a freshman majoring in broadcast journalism, to contact him email davesag12@gmail.com.