quaranta review

quaranta by that one obscure gta 5 radio song guy

8.5/10

favorite tracks: quaranta, dark sword angel, y.b.p., jenn's terrific vacation, down wit it, celibate, hanami, bass jam

worst track: shakedown

this is how it feels after you scare all of the hoes

okay, but in all seriousness, this is a mark of growth, healing and retrospect, but sometimes comes across as just scratching the surface of where Danny's at currently.

If you need context, this guy was constantly on and off weed, shrooms, and hard drugs like molly n shit. He did lay off alcohol a bit back, but until about 2 years ago, he was still on the other stuff mentioned. On a podcast Danny was doing, people noticed how drunk he was, and he was constantly slurring his words and had muddled down conversation overall. I listened to a little bit, and I can see what people were saying about it. If you wanna see how fucked up he was in 2012 alone, click here, it's a video of schoolboy Q being this guy's budget chaperone. Ever since, I'm pretty sure this guy checked into rehab. Now, almost a year from today, this guy's doing great.

Firstly, yes, he delivered on this project. Danny strips back his rambunctious energetic side here and makes one of the most devastating rap albums I’ve ever heard. It's melancholic, deeply personal, and reflective on a whole new level.

The airy synths and harrowing riffs make this album bleed these devastating emotions. Even with a bit of ambient flare added on top of these instrumentals. Danny is able to create a vast and quite provocative array of dark atmospheric soundscapes and misty beats to soothe you into the mellow feel of this project. You can take songs like bass jam and down wit it, with these ethereal and calming instrumental pallets that aid the bleak themes of these tracks, making you feel the things that Danny is saying

There are a few tracks that deviate from this sound a bit, however. Jenn's terrific vacation has these fast-paced jazzy drums and synths that make the track have a spark of energy, and Danny reflects that in his usual sarcastic, witty tone. Another single like tantor uses more wild and abstract energy from atrocity exhibition (amazing album btw).

While he does sometimes go into his famously energetic and over the top voice, for a large majority of this album, he sounds calm, collected, and sounds mature for once. He’s not exactly aggressive, but his toned down melodic rapping feels direct. Like he’s speaking with a lot of passion and taking his thoughts from the heart and putting them into this album. He still has a hard and smooth flow that mixes really well with this depressing feel he has going on.

The opening track quaranta blew me away with how Danny speaks so truthfully here. It's desolate sound combined with these incredibly blunt and mature lyrics made this a perfect starter for this record. We see even more reflecting on the track hanami, where he goes through and recounts his mistakes and his age catching up on him.

Y.b.p. has Danny giving some insight on what it was like growing up poor, vivid imagery about his mom crying and how he had to sleep on the floor. It's an extremely sad topic that Danny explores so thoughtfully here. On the track down wit it, Danny talks more about his pain and his regrets. He tells the story of how someone helped him get out of his depressive state, but how he thought she was out to get him at the time. And only after she helped him, he realized that he loved her.

Danny once again revisits his childhood on the closing track, with some more imagery of some of his memories of his innocence. He relfects on how his mother used to play his older music throughout his childhood, and the memories he made listening to that music. Celibate is one of the m