With the release of his debut album The Lost Boy, YBN Cordae has begun to cement his place in the hip-hop world, and following earlier releases such as the response to J.Cole’s 1985, which elicited plenty of conversation, this project is surely a stepping stone to a great career for the young Maryland-native. Many albums out there are composed of great tracks, but few manage to keep the smooth progression in sound that The Lost Boy maintains throughout this impressive debut project.
At the tender age of 21, YBN Cordae displays tremendous maturity in an album with a great balance of braggadocio, storytelling, soul, and lyricism. He opens up the album showing great self-awareness and honesty, touching on his addiction to prescription antidepressants and his struggles in opening up to society. The 15-track album touches on important themes such as the fake reality created by social media in “A Thousand Words” and displays honest storytelling about his early life struggles wearing grass-stained hand-me-downs in “Broke As Fuck”.
The features on this project are not too excessive and just seem to make sense, with none of them feeling forced. “Rappers is jokes, I’m a musician”, exclaims YBN Cordae in “Lost and Found”, and these are not just meaningless words, as this actually sounds like a musician’s album, without the new-world stream-manipulating techniques, an extremely popular practice in the industry today. In some instances, the album has the choir-like feel that you get from Chance’s music, like in “Sweet Lawd” with its cheerful, soulful production, a skit that leads into “Bad Idea’’ which ironically features Chance.
If you’re not sure about this one, just light a blunt and press play. You won’t be disappointed.
Stream “The Lost Boy” by YBN Cordae:
