Reviewed by goldsoundz
When Texas rapper Kevin Abstract, fresh off his magnificent debut album MTV1987, announced the he had left loosely-connected rap collective AliveSinceForever, he also declared himself part of a new group, made up of 8 artists (Abstract, Merlyn Wood, Dom McLennon, Ameer Vann, instead of ASF’s 30 plus. The group was called Brockhampton, but Abstract refused to be acknowledged as a rap group; he wanted to be called the very first “All-American Boy Band.” Following a set of singles that combined accessible rap with an experimental edge to the production and song structure, the band delivers their debut mixtape, All American Trash. And boy, it is anything but that.
Given that no song on AAT contains every member of Brockhampton and rarely contains more than two, the listener may expect there to be more of a showcase of group talent than an actual cohesive project. It’s true; each members’ range of influence spreads across multiple genres and eras. Yet each of the 8 members posses the ability to depict a strong sense of melancholy without coming across as corny or sappy, and the similarities in mood, not sound, are what keeps AAT to sounding like a compilation.
That doesn’t stop the tape from giving us a few bangers, as the wonderfully titled “Ben Carson” is “Mr. Me Too” for 2016, and “Flip Mo” sounds straight out of the second side of Danny Brown’s Old. Yet outside of those two, the songs on here aren’t meant to get you hyped up. Not every song here is sad, per se, but every song transmits some type of emotion that isn’t exactly fit for a night out, unless it’s the part of the night out where you’re driving too fast and everything is dark. Sometimes it’s the longing of Kevin Abstract’s solo track “Michigan” & Rodney Tenor’s acoustic effort “Contacts”, the existentialism of “Palace”, or the angst of Matt Champion-Ameer Vann duet “Poison”. All these emotions come together in emotional centrepiece “Cotton Hollow”, a genre-bending, near-perfect pop rap song that undoubtedly ranks among the very best songs of the young year. AAT is emo-rap to the core, a subgenre that has been tried with mixed success (for every Because The Internet, Man on the Moon II, and Take Care, there is a later-period Cudi or any-period KYLE album to match), but this may be the very first step towards the genre becoming a legitimate movement. Or at the least, the possibility of five very good emo rap debut albums coming out in the next year or so.
So yes, AAT is an extremely unique project and one that is in a lane that is currently not occupied now that Gambino is missing, Drake is a big boy, and Cudi has lost his mind. But there are some points onAAT where they can be swallowed by their own influences, especially on “Infatuation” and “No Love Lost”, in which the production pulls so much from Tyler, The Creator’s production style that it becomes distracting. Not that these are terrible songs, but for a group that has shown to have an immense amount of creative talent, it’s a bit disappointing. Yet for a debut tape from a bunch of extremely young artists, the fact that the only true flaw is the occasional blatant influence is truly a testament to how impressive this mixtape is. It’s both a perfect example of each members’ individual talent without being disjointed. It contains new, fresh sounds that are still poppy enough to avoid “experimental” status. It’s a rare mixtape that shows both quality and potential for more. And most of all, it’s a sign that the All-American Boy Band is going to be around for a long, long time.
