Quavo - Quavo Huncho Album Review

Story posted October 17, 2018 in Arts & Entertainment by Emily Mugno.

The highly anticipated solo album, Quavo Huncho, from Migos’ member Quavo was released on October 12. This is the Atlanta rapper’s debut solo album, but he has been featured on various singles as a solo artist. Migos has been consistently releasing mixtapes and studio albums since 2013, but their most successful album was Culture, released in 2017. Quavo, Offset and Takeoff have all been able to work independently, being featured on different songs with different artists. Although Quavo decided to go the solo route, it wasn’t a surprise to see Offset and Takeoff featured on the album. 

The album has nineteen tracks on it featuring very talented artists on more than half of them. A listener can expect to hear from 21 Savage, Drake, Quavo’s rumored girlfriend Saweetie, Madonna, Cardi B, Lil Baby, Travis Scott, a former member of Fifth Harmony Normani, Davido and Kid Cudi. 

Before the album was released, Quavo released three singles, “Workin Me,” “Bubblegum” and “Lamb Talk.” He also released visuals to accompany his first three singles. These songs were dropped before Migos and Drake took the stage in Kansas City on August 10. Out of those three songs, “Workin Me,” was the only one to make it onto the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 56 when it first came out. It is now ranked at number 91. It is understandable why these songs were released as singles. Fans had high expectations for the album, but that slowly declined when the rest of the album came out.

Quavo is said to be the “definitive star of Migos,” along with handling most of the hooks for the group on every song they put out. As a solo artist, it was hard for him to carry an album with this many songs. Quavo has a unique sound, which is why he is praised by many, but it is a repetitive sound. Migos is a controversial group in general because listeners have their opinions about them using the same beats to make new songs, including using the beat on “Deadz” from “Culture” to create “Open it Up” on Culture II. This was the pattern throughout the tracks on this album as well. It is apparent that Quavo didn’t spend enough time perfecting his craft.

There were some positive aspects of the album. 21 Savage brings his talented rapping skills to the song, “Pass Out.” The pair has worked together on other successful songs Migos, including “BBO” off of Culture II, and “Rap Saved Me” off of Without Warning, 21 Savage and Offset’s collaborative album. Another song that is different from Quavo’s usual pace is “Swing,” featuring Normani and Davido. Davido is a Nigerian singer, songwriter and producer. On this track, there were African undertones in it, representing a dance hall type of beat. It was a nice mixture of Quavo’s rap skills and Normani and Davido’s R&B sounds. Even though Quavo and Drake have done many songs together, “Flip the Switch,” doesn’t fall short of the successful songs they create. When Drake and any member of Migos come together, it is magic.

Quavo should be applauded for his attempt at creating his first solo album, but there are better Migos’ albums than this project. Even though there are a variety of producers on the album, they all seem to produce a similar sound. Quavo also seemed to work with the same artists he usually works with. If Quavo went out of his comfort zone and worked with artists in different genres or unfamiliar artists, this could bring out a different sound in him. He played it safe on this album, but safe didn’t satisfy. Migos is a great group when all of their skillsets are combined, but only time will tell if each member can stand on their own as independent artists.

Rating: 5/10

 

Emily Mugno is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, email esm6@psu.edu.