By Thomas Cottingham
Features Assignment Editor
With the presidential election just a few months away, Los Angeles singer-rapper Ty Dolla $ign has strongly promoted one thing: voting.
With the release of his new mixtape, Campaign, Ty Dolla hosted “Dolla Day,” a concert to encourage hip-hop fans to register to vote in the upcoming election. He performed his hits along with a new mixtape in the Hollywood Palladium and streamed the event online.
With that being said, Campaign touches on the current issues that America faces, but also provides the signature Ty Dolla $ign groove of club bangers and smooth R&B.
The lead single, “Campaign,” which features Atlanta superstar Future, starts off the album with a fast-paced party vibe. Although the song doesn’t catch the essence of “Blasé,” which is a single from Ty Dolla’s previous album, Free TC, it does bring the excitement of Future’s unique voice and Ty’s fast-beat brag rapping.
Another noteworthy track, titled “???,” is yet again another party anthem. The song features Migos, who are responsible for the whole “dab” phenomenon, and once again bring their A-game. The song’s production is a bass-heavy, grungy tune that features the charismatic ad-libs of Quavo, Offset and Takeoff, which enhances the experience of the song after every listen. However, like most of the songs on this mixtape, the topic of parties, women and drugs come up a little too often.
The standout track of the project, “R&B,” avoids the typical subject matter that Ty Dolla usually sings about. Instead, this track expresses the impact of R&B music from the 90s to today. Ty Dolla celebrates the sexuality that comes with R&B music, and also shouts out Ginuwine, Missy Elliot, Aaliyah, Chris Brown and Trey Songz for helping make R&B as big as it is today.
Towards the end of the album, past all the hit-or-miss club bangers, Ty Dolla actually goes deeper into the subject of the mixtape’s title
In “No Justice,” which features his brother, Big TC, Ty writes a visual ballad about the way he experienced police as a black man.
TC raps, “See the red lights behind his car / Only thing he thinking is this could be the end of me / Say officer, what’s the problem? / It’s like every time I turn around you people always messing with me.” Ty Dolla also writes a powerful bar at the end, singing “There can never be no justice when killing us is legal / Somebody’s gotta take a stand / Sacrifice and be a man.”
Ty Dolla also pulls more artists into the project to talk about their political stances. Compton rapper and close friend YG, who is notoriously known for his song “FDT,” talks about his disapproval of Donald Trump and how harmful he is to the community.
Vic Mensa also pitches in at the end of “No Justice” by explaining that Trump and Senator Hillary Clinton are both bad candidates, but Clinton is “the lesser of two evils.”
Campaign is a nice project, but does not reach the highs of some of Ty Dolla $ign’s other works such as Free TC and Beach House. This tape feels more like a preview to Ty Dolla’s second studio album, Beach House 3, which is still under production.
cottintf14@bonaventure.edu
