Rich Forever 5…They Still Going With This?

Rich Forever 5…They Still Going With This? 

Last Friday,  Rich the Kid, Famous Dex and Jay Critch dropped their 5th collaboration album, “Rich Forever 5”. While I’m all for a legacy, it feels like the concept has been dragged out. The album seemed to be rushed and even a bit lazy; a lot of the songs sounded very similar. The lyrics all said the same thing in different ways, with a slightly different beat slapped underneath. There was also not much versatility in flow or subject matter, and the album overall has an unserious vibe. It was, however, refreshing to listen to a more goofy rap album; I found myself cackling at Famous Dex’s bars, which were the highlight of most of the tracks. 

Despite this, my biggest beef with this project is definitely the subpar mixing. As I listened to the tracklist straight through, I found myself constantly adjusting the volume on my Airpods. “Going Up” was mixed noticeably lower than the tracks that surround it, and on “Don’t Even Know Yall” the mixing is so atrocious that it goes from sounding like Jay Critch is screaming in your ear, to hardly being able to hear Dex on his verse. I mean c'mon, did they not listen back to the album before publishing it? There’s three of them and not one noticed? 

Another pitfall of the album was unfortunately the features. The bad mixing ruined what could’ve been a good track with Trippie Redd, and on “Let’s Get It”, while I enjoyed both Rich the Kid and Kodak Black’s verses, Lil Crix sounded like he had a mouth full of marbles on the track. If I can’t understand a word you’re saying, what are you really bringing to the table?

While there were definitely a few misses on the project, there were also some hits: “Never Forget” which featured a spacey, dark, almost eerie sounding beat, where all three rappers spoke about the struggles they faced before fame and wealth, and how it will always be a part of who they are. “End of Story” was another powerful track, both Critch and Rich coasted on this more ambient, high pitched beat. Another couple of favorites of mine were “Ain’t hearing Ya” and “Rich and Reckless”. The back end of the album seemed to redeem some of the flops on the front end. 

Overall, this album has a lot of the components of a good project, but has too many tracks, causing it to sound repetitive, and suffers greatly from its poor mixing. And while I appreciated the projects’ lighthearted nature, how many songs can you make talking about the same stuff? Take a shot every time one of them says “Bad Bitch” or “Rich Forever”. If the album were condensed a bit more and remastered it may have been more cohesive, but the final product they put out leaves a lot to be desired. Perhaps they should retire the Rich Forever title, as it seems like they probably had made enough money from their previous projects to be so careless with this one. I’d rate this project a 2.5/5.

Favorite Tracks: Never Forget, End of Story, Rich & Reckless, Ain't Hearin' Ya,

Least Favorite Tracks: Lobster, Don't Even Know Y'all, Big Dawg, Real Sisters