I’ve liked some Young Posse songs.
Sure is the name all kinds of cringe? Yes. Are a lot of their songs openly flawed openly problematic and openly annoying? Yes again. But for kpop for the niche they were going for sometimes it worked. And while Macaroni Cheese remains basic uninteresting and more than a little skeevy if you dig into the lyrics given their ages XXL and ATE THAT were maddeningly catchy 90s rap throwbacks with creative lines and even more creative music videos that fit the content perfectly. More over it got me to listen to the albums attached and while I wouldn’t call any of them great there was enough pockets of quality that I could grab onto. ROTY, Scars, Loading, hell on some days I could maybe like and enjoy their so cringe it’s amazing ‘masterpieces’ like Posse Up and Bananas. More over it established a distinctive lane for them in kpop, flitting between 90s rap throwbacks of multiple subgenres and more modern rap styles like cloud, rage and drill, all with a light touch.
So when Cold started getting teased I had a bad feeling. Not because I thought that they were maybe following the newest chill trend or specifically because of the mv (though replacing the previously very distinctive stylized and highly praised work of Ben Proulx for a guy whose credits they bragged about directing ‘Netflix k-dramas’ was the definition of a downgrade) but more because i immediately got what was going on when I saw the feature. Sorry to all five 10cm fans on this sub but I’ve never found him good he has a weak boyish voice that rarely sounds exciting and he only makes some of the most paint dryingly execrably dull ‘k-indie’ ‘ballads’ alive. More importantly he’s collaborated with rap and rap adjacent artists many many times and those songs all sound like the same, a boring rhodes pianoed ballad that goes about 2bpm that has even the most expressive rappers sound dull and like they’re reading the phone book. And the highlight reel made me more afraid because literally every song sounded way better than the title.
So was I correct.
And now we’re at the end and unfortunately I was proven right. I’m comfortably calling this Young Posse’s worse album mostly because I don’t even think this counts as an album? It’s more like a bunch of scraps and demos DSP threw out because it’s been seven months since ATE THAT and the fans need something to tide them over. At its best it shows flickers of the kind of direction Young Posse could go in but it’s too abbreviated and skeletal to be much of anything at it’s worst it’s lazy formless scraps that are just echoes of stuff Young Posse have done before better.
I’ve heard all the excuses for Cold from Young Posse fans coping and I don’t buy them for a second. This is not versatile in any way you want to slice it. Not only have Young Posse done ballads before with Cooing and Umbrella which weren’t great but at least had the good sense to be buried deep into the tracklist but the sound is just the same warmed over slop every other kpop idol and k-rapper feels the need to serve often times with 10cm. It doesn’t show their range because they actively tamper down their unique vocal personality and rap skills to fit over this and it just makes them easily ignorable in an industry that makes having a distinct unique discography that much harder to begin. This is not me wanting them to stay unserious if anything the better moments of this album show how they can move into more mature territory when the production allows them to do all of that without compromise. Serious does not equal boring which is the way I feel like some of you are using that word. This is not like when Red Velvet released One of these Nights because the song was actually good there and it was an actual concept set up from the beginning not something used as an excuse to put out some trash the fans would defend.
The only consultation is that I don’t think this is a permanent concept change at all. I hope they run as far away from Cold and the lazy as hell construction of this album as possible. You all better hope they do too.
submitted by /u/Miserable-Elephant-3
[link] [comments]
