FASHAWN “CHAMPAGNE & STYROFOAM CUPS” ALBUM REVIEW BY JR

Fashawn knows how to rap. If you have been following the the Fresno native musical output over the the past years, that’s one thing you can’t argue with. His Exile-produced debut “Boy Meets World” gained critical acclaim and had heads glued to their speakers, listening to Fashawn’s rhymes that reflected lyrical ability and street knowledge. A couple mixtapes and a very recent collaborative album with Murs (“This Generation”) later, Fashawn now returns with a new solo effort mixtape, entitled “Champagne & Styrofoam Cups”.

The name represents the success and the struggles he had to face throughout his rise to fame. So far so good. Overall on this mixtape, Fashawn developes a sound that could potentially get him a larger audience and exposure on a rather mainstream level. In this aspect a feature from the like of notorious kush head Wiz Khalifa on the weed anthem “Medicine Man (Drug Free)” makes much sense and will definitely find it’s way into many listeners ipods, who have never heard of “Boy Meets World”. That being said, this tape still boasts production from Exile, Evidence and Jake One, so the average underground head should not shy away since they might miss a few gems like “Stardumb”, “Color Blind” or “Just A Man”. Interestingly enough, the tracks in which Fashawn takes a more reflective approach and talks about the styrofoam cup side of life seem to be the most memorable on this tape. Struggle has always created good art, right? Well in this case it sure did. The production on this tape is solid throughout, however most tracks work as a stand alone, while a real theme that ties the songs together is missing, making it a somewhat incoherent and slightly unbalanced listen. Whenever Fashawn drifts into superficial boasting, he looses the listener, basically just doing the same bragging about fame, fashion and girls he bangs on tours that you have heard by basically any other rapper out there. While a little arrogance and ignorance are definitely important elements of any rap persona, straight cockiness is just boring. As a consequence, tracks like “Coogi” with Mr. Muthafuckin’n eXuire will most likely not be remembered in a few months.

After listening to “Champagne and Styrofoam Cups”, you know that Fashawn has not lost a step and can still hold it down on the mic with basically anybody out there. Opening to a less underground sound, Fash shows that he has potential to more than just being your favourite backpack rapper. However, overall its seems that he hasn’t found his place as an artist outside the underground just yet and is still experimenting to find his lane. Hopes are high that his second Exile-produced solo album, “Ecology” (release date TBA) will unleash his real potential, then I’m certain fans across the globe will pour some champagne in their styrofoam cups.

JR is one half of JR and PH7 two producers from Cologne, Germany who have so far released a trilogy of albums “The Standard”, “The Update” and The Good Life” featuring some of Hip Hop’s finest underground artists. For more info on JR & PH7 click HERE