Trippie Redd’s new album Pegasus is not for everyone, but it just might be for you.
by Rosemary Cromwell, staff writer
Trippie Redd, a rap artist who works with heavy emotional themes centered around love through a new age all encompassing genre “Emo-Trap”, released his long-anticipated album Pegasus on Friday, Oct. 30. Despite the name, the album is not about horses or Greek mythology. In his own words, the theme is supposed to be about ascending and should incorporate the same feel as an old movie about space. Upon listening through, it is quite easy to see exactly what he means.
Here are five songs that worked, and five that did not.
The album begins with “Let It Out” featuring Myiah Lynnae. It’s slow and uses classic Trippie Redd motifs like allowing his voice to carry and the distorted slow-jam beat in the background. It’s a great introduction to the album and sets the tone for the rest of the album. The transition into the next track is barely noticeable, a consistent theme we’ll see throughout the album. Soon after comes “Love Scars 4,” the first song to receive a music video on the album. It's clearly meant to be a haymaker, and easily lives up to expectations. “Love Scars” is a series of songs that started way back in 2017 when he released his inaugural project: A Love Letter to You. “Love Scars 4” may be the last in the Love Scars series though, and if so it’s the perfect ending and a great song worthy of a playlist spot.
Later comes a string of three incredible, consecutive classics beginning with “Weeeeee.” The bass combined with Trippie’s flow and the repeated rhyme of the “eeeeeeee” sound works incredibly well. The beat is dark and brooding, yet the song still hypes you up. It’s darn near perfect.
Next is “Personal Favorite,” sampling Juice WRLD, Trippie’s long time friend, at the beginning. It never comes down from that initial hype. Trippie’s flow is flawless and the chorus is gold. If you thought it would be hard to follow “Weeeeee,'' you would be right, but somehow he did it. The middle-of-the-road and jarring Rich The Kid feature in the middle of the song does serve to put a damper on the fun, making you wish for the chorus’s return. Lucky for us, it does, and then we can return to jumping around and jamming out to this beauty of a song screaming “Tell me where to go, Tell me where to go!”
The final song of the trio is “V-12,” a long-expected song, as it was first heard via snippets played on Instagram live back in March, that lives up to the hype. This one manages to follow up “Personal Favorite” with the third classic and incredible song. Combining the lyrics of this song with the two before it makes you feel like you’re on top of the world. All this talk of money, cars, and women does fit an audience that likes rap, but if that’s you then this trio will be heavenly.
There is something in this album for everyone, and a complete listen through or two is beyond worth your time.
Unfortunately, the fun did have to end at some point. We arrive at another string of three, but this time they’re all pretty bad. “Spaceships” with Young Thug is a departure from the three wonderful rapping songs we had, and it’s not even a great emotional song. “Never Change” is the first of the songs that features the artist Future on the album. If you aren’t listening to the album the whole way through, then it’s not really worth a second look. The next song, “Good Morning,” is a solo track, thank goodness, but it’s also not notable and really just serves to round off a set of some of the worst songs on the album.
Much later arrives “Hell Rain” with Lil Wayne and HoodyBaby. Trippie is in the background on this song, and it’s not for the best. His chorus and lyrics, which are wonderful, aren’t enough to make the song even listenable. It’s very sad and mellow, but it’s not Trippie’s song, it’s HoodyBaby’s song. That’s alright because it’s chill and sad, but definitely for a specific mood or a listening of the entire album.
Earlier, listeners experience two songs “The Nether” and “So Stressed,” which pass pretty uneventfully. Neither song is bad, and I have “So Stressed” on my playlist, but even with the hype around “The Nether” being one of many long expected songs on the album, both songs are mediocre at best. In addition to those two, we have “Moonlight,” which was also mid-grade, and it’s definitely not worthy of a playlist spot.At least the bad ones are still fitting, working to accomplish the dreamy and ascending space vibes he was trying to accomplish with this album.
Overall, I’d rate the album 9 out of 10. All of the songs either are out-of-the-gate hits, will grow on you, or fit well with the album even if they aren’t perfect.
The album is great, but if you went by Twitter comments and the online hate, you’d think it’s the worst album of the year—and boring. It just clearly isn’t. There is something in this album for everyone, and a complete listen through or two is beyond worth your time.