Album Review: Trippie Redd - Life's A Trip

Fifteen years ago we thought we had figured out what emo rap was. It was rappers, making rap, about feelings.

What we didn't appreciate then, and what Trippie Redd is teaching us now, is that emo rap is an aesthetic, not a conversation topic. Take the high drama and moments of melodic ecstasy from emo and combine it with the most important music genre on Earth. What we find, regardless of whether you like my term for it or not, is a compelling outcome.

Wish is a contradiction, at once chilled and urgently pulsing. Dark Knight Dummo is a schlocky epic, hosting the melodrama of spooky chords overlaid with buzzy paranoia. Best of all, and clocking in at an economical two minutes flat, Oomps Revenge is a mission statement masquerading as an interlude.

Chat about genre can be distracting, and we don't have time to get into it here. So whatever we call Life's A Trip, it's well worth your time. What Redd has managed to achieve in an incredibly short time (he turned 19 this year) is to take his place in the evolution of the form, challenging what we once thought music was all about. Bravo.