SHIFT!” is an indie LoFi hip-hop album from the group, EXOCIETY, featuring a variety of artists, including Rav, Scuare, Kill Bill: the Rapper, Rekcahdam, No1mportant, Meltycanon and love-sadKID. With all members being long-time creators and friends, this production puts their skills to the test in their first studio album after the group’s poorly received debut EP, “deception falls,” which was foolishly recorded inside a log cabin.
“Okizeme” opens as the first full song with a droll eight-lined chorus. The beat, with its repetitive chiming, is reminiscent of songs on Rav’s most recent solo album, “LEAP,” despite not being produced by him. The beat then harshly shifts to a more energetic and upbeat one during both Rav and Bill’s respective verses, a breath of fresh air that easily makes for the best part of the track. Overall, the first full-length record on “SHIFT!” is uninspired and repetitive, with instrumentals that drown out the flat vocals of both its artists.
Contrarily, the next song “out of body” is produced by and features Meltycanon. Using his signature falsetto on a LoFi beat, the track stands strong as one of the best on the lineup. It can be noted that in the lyrics there is an allusion to Joji, a mainstream RnB singer, likely due to a strong inspiration from the artist. Skipping over the uneventful track four, track five, “FREE,” consists of elements of JPEGMAFIA, a leading writer in experimental hip-hop production. love-sadKID delivers strong verses and flows, incorporating the rap group’s tried and true LoFi rapping. Unfortunately, the song is brought down by the rest of the group’s lackluster performance, especially the forgettable chorus.
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But, with highs come lows, as on the following track “Crown,” the group opens up with the worst chorus on the album. Within the agonizingly long three minutes and 45 seconds of the song, No1mportant somehow manages to make his chorus and verses sound indistinguishable. His performance is only somewhat redeemed by the outro where both the beat and his rapping drastically change to a more violent and punchy finisher.
Over another few uneventful and bland songs, we arrive at an all-time low for the group. “Security & Dignity” is an insult to LoFi rap, containing the most boring and skippable verses thus far. What makes this song stand out compared to other uninspired tracks on the record, “Security & Dignity” has Rav on the chorus with, “Yeah, yeah, okay, okay, uh-huh,” repeated multiple times, causing the listener to want to dig their ears out. Although love-sadKID once again gives a standout performance, his signature flow is not enough to save this record.
Meltycanon is once again featured in the EP, this time on the song “Unstable Baby,” giving a solo performance. Once again, he delivers his falsetto and his standard post-production effects, such as echo, layering and double tracking, serving as another high point on the record.
Finally, the last full-length song on the album, “Last Day,” is hilarious, however similarly to the majority of the tracklist, it offers absolutely nothing new. The beat and post-production are reminiscent of some of Rav’s unreleased b-side’s, tracks that were clearly never released for good reason. This song feels in no way like a true finisher to what should’ve been an inspired and interesting album. The last five seconds on the track deliver perhaps the most entertaining part of the record, where Bill utters the words, “Damn, I’m lost in the sauce,” followed by a cartoon falling sound effect.
Throughout the entire EP, the group’s mainstays Rav, Bill and Scuare all give subpar performances and many of the tracks are instead carried by their features. A majority of the songs feel samey and boring, as the group seems to be immune to taking any sort of risks. Disappointingly, EXOCIETY’s first studio album is a sea of mediocrity broken occasionally by a decent verse or two.