Prepare For Boredom With Kodak Black's "Painting Pictures"
/You've probably heard of Kodak Black before, but not for his music. The infamous rapper has grown to super stardom due to his crazy antics and jail time. During the #FreeKodak campaign on Twitter, he was busy at work plotting his first record. Sadly, jail time doesn't seem to translate to hype. Prepare for boredom with Kodak Black's Painting Pictures.
Painting Pictures is as far from hype. It does have it's moments, though. The self-aware track 'Day For Day' opens the album up with Kodak just speaking before samples from news channels are played behind a moody instrumental. This track is actually pretty solid, though nothing special. 'Coolin and Booted' follows up, with some pretty iffy lyrics, but another solid instrumental and vibe. The same is true for 'Candy Paint' featuring Bun B.
It's all downhill from there. From moody instrumentals to the schizophrenic samples of the intro of 'Up In Here,' it sounds like the album could continue to be promising. When you hear Kodak drop the line "I get stupid on that nigga like I'm autistic," you know it's all over. There is simply no recovering from this. That's not the end of the ridiculous lyrics; if you listen closely, nearly every song on this record has at least one line that's batshit crazy. The instrumental of 'Patty Cake' has some potential and has some good vibes, but the hook features the line "I love my baby girl pussy bald, call her Caillou." It's an art to make something as crazy as this.
Overall, Painting Pictures is just a genuinely boring record. After the first three tracks, there is not a single redeemable moment until the very end. By that time you've probably already dozed off. It's not just the fact that every song sounds the same, but it's the fact that they all sound boring. Kodak even managed to make the big single 'Tunnel Vision' sound terrible in the context of the record. Surprisingly Future actually makes things a bit more interesting (he did prove me wrong in FUTURE, but HNDRXX was still a mess) in 'Consequence' with his vocals autotuned to hell, though it provides a different vibe to the record. By the time you get to 'Reminiscing,' every song feels like it takes ten years to get through. It's not until 'Top Off Benz' with Young Thug that things get a bit more energetic once again, but it's still not too great. It goes right back into 'Feeling Like' with Jeezy that just has you asking: "what is this?"
You best be prepared for boredom with Kodak Black's Painting Pictures. This record is an hour long, and there isn't a single moment to come back to that has replay value. You'd think writing music in jail would add a bit of edge to it, but no. It's conceited, cocky, and just pure lazy. There's no life in this record, no matter how you look at it.
Favorite Track: Day For Day
Least Favorite Tracks: Reminiscing, Off The Land, Side Nigga
Rating: 30 / 100
Buy or listen to Painting Pictures here: