Everyday my belief that Hip Hop will invade every popular genre in music gets further confirmed. Young Florida rapper, Will Brennan, recently signed to Steve Aoki’s Dim Mak Records and put out More Perfect Union to mark the big move. He’s no stranger to EDM production as he goes in on heavy hitting producers Heroes x Villains, Zeds Dead, Deadmau5, Pretty Lights, Araabmuzik, and others. More than half of the songs have been repurposed from prior projects, either the verses or the choruses, and not always to his benefit.
This EP is a perfect on-the-way-to-the-club mixtape. With the production he chose you have no choice but to get hype. Pretty Lights transports Kanye’s “All Of The Lights” to the 25th century where space cowboys are fighting each other. Yeah, it’s that high tech. Xaphoon’s beat was a poor choice as it had that distinct Chiddy Bang sound to it preventing my brain to let Brennan truly own the beat. The high and low points of the mixtape came with the last two tracks. “Get By” recycled a chorus from a track on his Road Not Taken mixtape and used a sample from Spoon’s “Get By.” But the new Araabmuzik beat for the song seemed forced and didn’t mesh. On the other hand, “Let’s Play Liar Liar” had a much more powerful and fitting beat than “Let’s Play” from Road Not Taken.
My endorsement for Brennan’s flow and wordplay is precarious. The rapid fire flow isn’t for everyone. I feel that Brennan rushes and tries to match a faster pace beat more than focus on the syllable breakdown, when compared to his attempts at a slower beat. Whenever he does take his time with an andante flow, he’s flawless and comes up with lines like “only philosophy I ever took to heart is survival of the illest/I’m the Hip Hop Darwin” (“Raise Your Glasses For Coffee Break”). Brennan caught my attention in one other instance with his relatable girl worries about trying to do too much to impress a girl you just met, lest she turns around and walks away creeped out. Oh, and I’m glad he said he smoked “Mary Jane anonymous,” as a little jab to those rappers who love more than anything else to go over the different strands they smoke on the regular (“My City’s TRVPSTAR”).
More Perfect Union was designed to do well with EDM fans (hence the union of Hip Hop to EDM) and long time Will Brennan fans who don’t mind familiar material over new beats. It’s a fun game for them to compare which versions they prefer. But if Brennan plans on staying with Dim Mak for a while, I encourage him to work on tightening up his flow and determining his niche in the grander scheme of things.
3 / 5 bars
Will Brennan – Raise Your Glasses For Coffee Break
Will Brennan – Let’s Play Liar Liar
