Lancey Foux — BACK2DATRAP — Mixtape Review
Hip-Hop | Rap
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
My enjoyment of the music brought forward by the musical alias of London-born rap artist Lance O. Omal, known as Lancey Foux, begun when I discovered the standalone single “Poison” featuring Bakar, towards the end of 2020.
While a lot of listeners may see Lancey Foux as the UK’s answer to Playboi Carti, I for one appreciated Lancey’s music through the whimsical production on many of his best tracks, and how, of course, they melded perfectly with the rappers fluid and engaging flows.
Lancey Foux released an absolute banger of an album in the form of 2022’s LIFE IN HELL, which carried forward that aesthetic I liked so much from the artist, but in the scope of a full album. On top of that, there was versatility to be found on that generous, over 1-hour project. I will address the elephant in the room as well and specify that I did listen to Lancey Foux’s 2021 mixtape FIRST DEGREE, which unfortunately didn’t fit in that well with the parts of Lancey’s discography that I enjoyed more.
But with all things considered, and especially after the release of LIFE IN HELL almost a year ago, things were definitely looking to be elevating for Lancey Foux stylistically. As a result, his newest outing and third mixtape, titled BACK2DATRAP, was one I was very excited for. On the flip-side, however, this is of course a new mixtape from Lancey, as opposed to an album, suggesting that it could lean more towards FIRST DEGREE stylistically.
Nevertheless, with the release of the teaser track “MMM HMM”, featuring Sexyy Red, things seemed to be going in the more promising direction. With another engaging flow, and enjoyable instrumental, it definitely built up the hope that this would be a far better mixtape from Lancey.
So the question still stood once I got into the mixtape in its entirety; would it impress, or would it dissapoint? The honest answer is…neither really.
In short, BACK2DATRAP still offers a great deal more enjoyment than the likes of FIRST DEGREE, keeping some of the nuances that make Lancey Foux and his music enjoyable. However, it is also far more repetitive and “samey” than the likes of the album that came last year.
BACK2DATRAP was one of those projects where I was enjoying it from the moment it started, but eventually I felt my interest dwindling, and my patience running shorter the further this mixtape went on. It’s not because the later tracks are less interesting by any means, it’s simply that a lot of them sound very similar.
And while the expectations I had set up by LIFE IN HELL was likely the cause of me possibly expecting too much from this mixtape, BACK2DATRAP still stands as a solid piece of musical work, not to mention one of Lancey Foux’s better mixtapes by a long shot. A vast improvement on his last mixtape, but not nearly as phenomenal as his last album, is the fairest way I could describe Lancey Foux’s newest project.
Favourite Tracks: MMM HMM | WORLDBOSS FLOW | LAST BREATH
Least Favourite Track: TOUCHDOWN
Human Resources Records
