Culture II Album Review

If you are like me and listened to “Slippery,” “Bad and Boujee,” and “Get Right Witcha” for all of 2017, you were probably hungry for new Migos music. Following their rise to stardom after releasing “Culture,” I had high expectations for “Culture II.” However, the newer version didn’t live up to the hype.

When I finished listening to the album for the first time, there were some standout songs, but as a whole, it sounded like I was listening to a mashup of every Migos song that has ever been released. They all start to sound the same with their similar beats and recycled Quavo “skrt skrt’s.”

The songs that immediately jumped out at me during my first listen-through were “Notice Me,” featuring Post Malone, “White Sand,” featuring Travis Scott, Big Sean and Ty Dolla $ign and “Too Much Jewelry.”

I was impressed with “Notice Me” and “White Sand” because Migos abandoned their usual sound and went with something other than trap music. I was a fan of the traditional Migos sound in “Too Much Jewelry” because it reminded me a lot of “Slippery,” which was my favorite song for nearly a year, even appearing as my fourth most listened to song of 2017 on Spotify.

In “Notice Me”, Post Malone starts out slow with Takeoff taking over and rapping about how people want to take everything he has earned. This lyrically-based song was the change of pace that this album needed more of. Migos can’t keep doing the same thing and think that it will be just as successful as “Bad and Boujee.”

With a completely different style, “White Sand” was a standout because it featured many big name rappers. Travis Scott’s “goosebumps” esque intro sets the tone for the song perfectly. But I wasn’t the biggest fan of Big Sean’s verse because it took away most of the hype of the intro, but Quavo and Offset save the song with a strong set of verses later in the song.

“Too Much Jewelry” was one of the most hype songs on the entire album. This was the only classic-sounding Migos song that I enjoyed on their new album. Takeoff really shows out in this song with multiple verses with memorable lines throughout the song.

One of my biggest disappointments from Culture II was “Walk It Talk It,” featuring Drake. Anytime I see Drake featured in an album, it is the first song I play because it is almost guaranteed to slap. Culture II might be the first time I haven’t enjoyed a Drake feature. The song was dead and Drake didn’t add anything to the track, which is unusual and a huge let-down.

Culture II was a disappointing release altogether but had some highlights that will keep me listening to the album. “Too Much Jewelry” and “White Sand” deserve a spot on your WPA playlist, but if Migos wants to stay relevant, they need to to change it up and produce more songs like “Notice Me” and “White Sand” before their usual sound becomes stale.