It was nearly a year ago that Kid Ink dropped the album “My Own Lane” which had the hit singles “Show Me” and “Main Chick.”
Both songs are still getting played on the radio but Kid Ink must believe in striking while the iron is hot, because he has prepared his newest album “Full Speed.”
Kid Ink’s appeal to the listeners nowadays is reminiscent of Fabolous years back. He makes club music that attracts the females but at the same time, the hard knocks don’t mind blasting it out of their car speakers.
Lyrically, Kid Ink is clever but it’s more about his delivery and personality that sell the records he’s on.
It’s evident that Kid Ink is looking to duplicate the radio success he had with “My Own Lane.” With guest appearances galore, it seems Ink and his album’s budget are banking on a nice return – both monetarily and back on the charts.
The problem in doing so, is that almost every song sounds like a sequel to “Main Chick” or “Show Me.” R. Kelly makes a feature on “Dolo” where both he and Kid Ink predictably rhyme “dolo” with “solo” twice on the same record and the song has them both approaching girls asking if they are alone for the night – which ultimately makes no difference when Ink says things like “Sayin’ that you came here dolo / Probably got a man, I’m a act like I don’t know though.”
There is only more of the same with the Usher feature on “Body Language” which sounds like an old Murder Inc track from the Ja Rule/Ashanti days; and Chris Brown reunites with Kid Ink on the track “Hotel” which actually plays off of the Ma$e song “Lookin’ At Me.”
On “Hotel” Kid Ink tries to get his side chick to leave with him and his main chick to the hotel for a three some, but one would have to question the type of girl who messes with a guy who’s game goes something like this: “It ain’t a problem, my metabolism high / Eat you both up for dinner / Just keep it real with a real motherf*cka / Ain’t got time for no pretenders.” Yeah, smooth.
Kid Ink actually shines more on the tracks where he’s just rapping freely and riding drum tracks with ease. On “Be Real” produced by DJ Mustard, Ink flows with confidence: “B*tch I’m a boss like Gotti / Rock Tom Ford and I still pop Molly / Roll up good Cali, LadiDadi / It’s just me and all my homies at your door like the Shining.”
“Cool Back” is another track where Kid Ink’s personality shines but the track itself sounds too reminiscent of YG’s hit record “Who Do You Love,” which at least shows if Kid Ink is to get another hit, he’ll do it sounding like himself of just about anybody. . .
Even when Ink does well on songs, he tends to get out-shined. On the song “About Mine” there is no doubt what-so-ever Trey Songz owns this record from start to finish.
At the end of “About Mine” it’s easy to forget that Ink was even on the track. . . Ink decides to go back and forth with MGK on “Show Must Go On” and although he drops a couple of gems on it – MGK eats this track alive with his violent delivery: “I’m a sinner I know/ Maybe that’s why there’s a fire every city I go / Maybe I’m a just retire and become a supplier / Cause I’m already buying all the f*ckin’ weed ya’ll grow.”
The chorus is sung by Matt Allen and helps complete this track as the standout on the album. Unfortunately, Kid Ink doesn’t stand out once on his own on this release.
Kid Ink has some musical abilities, the energy and the character but he needs to step back for a second and step out of his comfort zone for a while. He can’t hang with the lyrical heavyweights and his concepts have been done to death.
Rating 5 out of 10
G.W. Gras
Twitter @GeeSteelio