A Review of Polo G’s THE GOAT: Should Other Rappers Take Notes?

A Review of Polo G’s THE GOAT: Should Other Rappers Take Notes?

Polo G recently announced that his third project, Hall of Fame, will be released on June 11th, but this review covers his sophomore album, THE GOAT. Released on May 15th, 2020, THE GOAT features a plethora of notable artists, many of whom entered the rap game around the same time as Polo G. Going into this project, I had only heard “Martin and Gina” and “21“, but I expected the project to be a treat, as Polo G is an expert at his craft and I appreciate the topics he discusses in his lyrics. As only his second album, THE GOAT also demonstrates the potential that Polo G has as he continues to grow as an artist.

WHAT I LISTEN FOR IN PROJECTS

When listening to music, I listen for the vibe, lyrics, and production of the song, and as a listener, I expect artists to get out of their comfort zones and experiment. I will be discussing lyrics, production, features, sales, and I will give this project a rating, but, as with all art reviews, my review of THE GOAT is based on personal opinion.

THE GOAT LYRICS

The lyrics on this project were, for the most part, very melodic. Polo G can rap melodically while speaking on meaningful topics but can also switch styles and become a more heavy-hitting rapper with aggressive bars, and he is at a point where rapping is second nature for him. Unlike many of today’s artists, he is an extremely good storyteller, and most of his lyrics are based on his personal experiences and the hardships of growing up in Chicago. His recent song, “Rapstar“, debuted at number one, becoming the 22nd title to debut at number 1 on Billboard Hot 100’s. The only real issue I have with THE GOAT is that a solid amount of material on this project sounds exactly the same. This does not mean the lyrics were lacking at all, but I would like to hear more experimentation in his sound as a whole. Some of his most critical lyrics that appear on this project include:

*Lyrics presented by Genius.com*

“We go to school, they try to tell us what we can’t be
Profit with a billion-dollar mind like I’m Jay-Z
They killed Martin for dreamin’ and now I can’t sleep“- Wishing For a Hero

“Catch a opp, we dump the clip, it’s time to reload
Put a scope on the AR just like a peep-hole
Think he a bully, we got choppers for the Deebo“- Heartless

Ayy, like who want smoke? We got plenty guns
Keep two lil’ savages on X and they gon’ get it done
And them hollow tips do surgery, they gon’ clip his lungs
It was goin’ down on the set, that’s when this shit was fun – 21

9/10

THE GOAT PRODUCTION

Polo G can sound monotonous at times, but the issue is more significant in production. The whole project is surrounded by piano or guitar loops. If it works for him and he is satisfied, then there is no issue, but as a member of his audience, I do not want to hear pianos over and over on one project. There are many diverse sounds that he could have experimented with, but he chose not to. This project does not have many samples, besides the sample on “Wishing for a Hero“, which was taken from Bruce Hornsby and the Range song titled “The Way It Is“, which then was sampled in Tupac’s “Changes“.

Some of the production credits include Mustard, Nick Mira, Murda Beatz, etc. With all of these piano and guitar loops spanning across the album, I would like to hear Polo G collaborate with someone like Zaytoven, who utilizes the piano in many of his sounds. I think a collaborative project on that level would do extremely well, considering Polo G is already comfortable with those types of instrumentals.

7/10

THE GOAT FEATURES

THE GOAT features include Stunna 4 Vegas, NLE Choppa, Lil Baby, and the late Juice Wrld. All of these features aided with both aspects of Polo G’s sound. Juice Wrld brings even more melodic flows, and I appreciate that Polo G paid his respects to Juice Wrld in the song “21“. His drill style brings the more aggressive and street artists like Stunna 4 Vegas, NLE Choppa, and Lil Baby. I did expect Lil Tjay to be on this project as he is a significant collaborator with Polo G, but with or without him, this area of his project did not lack.

10/10

SALES, RATINGS, AND OVERALL REVIEW

According to Variety, THE GOAT sold 98,000 units. When compared to the sales of my previous review of Asap Rocky’s Testing, this level of dispersion is very significant for an upcoming artist. Polo G is beginning to impact more people, and with any luck, his next album will surpass 100,000 units sold effortlessly.

Overall, I would like Polo G to experiment with new sounds in the future. Nonetheless, I applaud his storytelling skills, as he raps about topics other than women, money, and drugs, and if Polo G continues with the upward momentum of his work, I think he will be comparable to greats like Biggie and Tupac. This project is comparable to albums like Lil Baby’s My Turn, or G Herbo’s PTSD.

9/10

How do you feel about this project? Click here to listen.

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