Pop Smoke's "Meet The Woo 2" Proves Disappointing For Fans Hoping For Growth
Pop Smoke looks to build off his bubbling reputation with his first release of 2020 titled “Meet The Woo 2.” The Brooklyn rapper is most notably known for reenergizing the originally Chicago drill sound in the United States, this time with a London twist. Pop Smoke aims to score another drill hit to add to his collection of tracks such as “Welcome To The Party” as well as “Dior” with the tracklist for “Meet The Woo 2.” Many people have questions about whether Pop Smoke’s sound can survive because the American drill scene has been relatively being dead for the second half of the last decade. However, Pop Smoke looks to double down on the drill sound as a sustainable way to gain fandom and notoriety in this new decade. Quavo, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Fivio Foreign, and Lil Tjay serve as features for this thirteen track, 35-minute long project.
Categories
The songs on this album divided into two that are prevalent throughout the project and scored on a 1.5 scale. (0 = trash, .5 = not for me, 1 = good, 1.5 = a standout)
Brooklyn Drill
Pop Smoke uses his signature cadence over drill beats, driven by a lagging bass.
• “Invincible” (.5)
• “Shake The Room” ft. Quavo (.5)
• “Get Back” (.5)
• “Christopher Walking” (1)
• “Foreigner” ft. A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie (.5)
• “Element” (1)
• “Armed N Dangerous – Charlie Sloth Freestyle” (.5)
• “Mannequin” ft. Lil Tjay (1)
• “Dreaming” (.5)
• “She Got A Thing” (1)
• “Dior” (0) [Reused from “Meet The Woo”]
• “War” ft. Lil TJay (1)
Autotune Drill
Pop Smoke tries using an autotune sound over drill beats
• “Sweetheart” ft. Fivio Foreign (1)
The Standouts
The songs that would give the best overview of the album as a whole. Songs that stand out for reasons to be described in the pending descriptions of the songs.
“War” ft. Lil TJay
The last track on Pop Smoke’s “Meet The Woo 2” produced by Swirv and 808Melo, is driven by the lagging bass as well as the occasional distortion of the previously mentioned bass. The high hats maintain a slow tempo which allows for an assortment of flows to be used as shown by Lil Tjay’s uptempo flow followed by Pop Smoke’s slow flow on the hook then uptempo flow on his verse.
Final Review
After listening to “Meet The Woo 2,” Pop Smoke comes out as a one-dimensional artist dedicated to the drill sound. Aside from a song and a half, there is no difference in cadence, flow, or beat selection between “Meet The Woo” and “Meet The Woo 2.” This is best characterized by the seamless inclusion of Pop Smoke’s “Dior” on both projects. The beat selection on “Meet The Woo 2” was cookie cutter at best, as Pop Smoke selected beats that primarily felt the same with subtle differences such as the background violins on “Invincible” and the background harmonizing on “Shake The Room” featuring Quavo. However, these subtle differences didn’t do much to distinguish each beat from the last. Quavo’s feature on “Shake The Room” fell flat simply because the many moving parts of the beat distracted from Quavo’s verse. The verse would have been received better if the bass was turned down for the duration, similar to what happens in parts during Lil Tjay’s verse on “War.” The transitions from song to song were the highlight of the project, doing a good job of maintaining a dark, grimy vibe for the whole project. Overall, “Meet The Woo 2” is a disappointing project for fans who hoped to see growth from Pop Smoke.
Scoring
Raw Score: The number of good songs on a project versus the overall amount. Songs must have a 1 or above to be counted.
Quality Score: The total amount of points accumulated over the total amount of songs.
Playback value: The resonance an album is perceived to have if played again in full. Scale out of 5.
Raw Score: 6/13
Quality Score: 9/13
Playback Value: 1/5
Go out and listen to Pop Smoke’s “Meet The Woo 2” wherever you listen to your music. Also, don’t forget to check out OldMilk’s Instagram page and Twitter (@Oldmilk_co) for more Hip-Hop Album Reviews, The DJ 500K Playlist, The OldMilk Radar and more! Don’t Know it? OldMilk Does!
