Memories Don’t Die the second studio album from Tory Lanez is with us at last following a very quiet 2017. The Toronto crooner gave us two lukewarm projects at the start of 2017; New Toronto 2 and Chixtape 4. The rest of the year was filled with loose songs (e.g. Loud Pack ft Dave East) and a trio of singles to wet our appetites for the album. Outside of his musical output, the most notable point of 2017 was him squashing the of beef with Drake via Instagram initially and then coming out to perform his far superior Controlla at OVO Fest
I Told You was a very dense yet concise debut to review with zero features. The only flaws were the cases where he sounded like other artists. With this album coming in at 18 tracks and with features I’m expecting the same cohesiveness and some growth.
1. Memories
People hustle all they life for diamonds and gold
And lose it all in one night by sellin’ they soul
2. Old Friends x New Foes
First song of the album, following the scene setting skit. I get the impression that there is going to be a lot of these two-part breakdowns with the x throughout the tracklist. I would’ve preferred it without the Old Friends segment it’s quite boring.
3. Shooters
The more I’ve heard this New Toronto 2 esque hit the more it has grown on me.The hook is infectious and I like how he built on that by explaining the impact of an “eye for an eye” mentality in segments of the video.
4. 4 Me
A slower R&B vibe from what I can tell by the start of this. The electronic mid-point switch is interesting but this is not meaty enough. Just OK so far for the album, I wouldn’t miss this one either.
5. Skrt Skrt
I really like how this is sampled the original unlike the other one I heard (also sampled by Zara Larsson in 2016). Tory can own this bubbly easy going vibe when he really wants to.This was the strongest of the promotional trio(Skrt Skrt, Real Thing and Shooters) in my eyes.
6. Benevolent
I haven’ really heard many bars so far so this was slightly overdue. The production is fire but the break-ups for the “Errt or Skrrt” he does is ultra annoying. Again, the presidential second segment is far superior to the first, why not just go straight in with that Tory?
7. Real Thing ft Future
Minus the hook, I hate this song, largely down to Future’s bit. Future’s mashed up whiney vocals just sound like they haven’t even been mixed in properly.
8. Hate to Say*
Finally, something that actually sounds like the lyrical album he was gassing about before dropping the album. It’s honest style that he does so well when really rapping. He’s looking at the mistakes he made notably with his peers Drake and Travis also how he turned his career around from previous Sean Kingston deal.
Not realizing if I took the time to kick it, and me and Drake, mended bridges and probably equal to winning
9. B.I.D
This following Hate to say is part of the problem which has made this a confusing album to follow. I am not saying it’s bad, its fun but not what I wanted yet. I have high expectations for the 50 and Fab collabs coming up.
10. 48 Floors ft Mansa*
That “awww yeah” almost has a sprinkle of the Real Thing melody, but yeah, this is ridiculously wavey. This is what Real Thing and B.I.D could have been. FUEGO FUEGO FUEGO. I’ve never heard of this Mansa guy before but he closes out the song so smoothly (I think he’s one of Tory’s relatives).
11. B.B.W.W x Fake Show
This is that confidence on 100 Tory, he’s flexing stupid on this song.The alphabet style is definitely a Weezy inspired flow. The second segment (although it takes a while to get to it) is actually not too bad.
All you rappers ain’t safe, uh, all you singers ain’t safe, uh. First single had me in the crib puttin’ platinum plaques into place
12. Dance for Me ft Nav
12 tracks in and here come the heavy hitting features. Nav sounds a bit less autotuned than usual but never really been a fan. Based on how he’s been structuring his songs this should’ve been Dance for Me x Fake Show.
13. Pieces ft 50 Cent*
Now, this is what I’ve been waiting for, I was just rinsing Irregular Heartbeat last weekend so hopefully, this is equally as hard. Wow, Tory’s storytelling is on this some old-school Eminem with this one. A very deep song.
14. Connection ft Fabolous, Davo and Paloma Ford
A smooth R&B love song, but feel like I’ve heard better than this on Chixtape 3/4. Don’t think the chipping out of sound adds to the song either.
15. Hillside ft Wiz Khalifa and Mansa
This hook sounds too Weeknd-ish especially when it’s pitched up which is off-putting. I have to say Wiz kills his verse though. Not as impressed with Mansa on this one.
16. Hypnotized
Here we are with the commercial reach, it is what it is really, a watered down Skrt Skrt.
17.Happiness x Tell Me
I like how to open he is on the death of his Mom on this it’s really moving stuff. He’s also jumping on the necks of his critic’s once again on the Tell Me segment of the song.
18. Don’t Die
This production is really gritty the keys are so piercing to the eardrum. The track itself feels like it could’ve done with a Jadakiss as I’ve sort of heard it what he’s saying already early on in the album.
Tory compromised and let the quality slip with this album; scared to keep it as targetted as I Told You. The “x” 50/50 splits were slightly overused and didn’t work on few occasions (e.g. Benevolent and B.B.W.W x Fake Show). If his aim was to show his diversity this did that, but the substance of Happiness x Tell Me etc gets is lost in the sauce.
On the flip side, there are some strong points where the singing/ rapping works well and two solid features(Pieces ft 50 Cent and 48 Floors ft Mansa). All in all, it’s a good album but I didn’t finish listening to it feeling blown away like the last time around.
Top 3 Tracks: Hate to Say On It, 48 Floors and Pieces
Rating: 8.8/10
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