Prior to hearing “MISS ME” as a single for the first time I was completely unfamiliar with Eem Triplin. I don’t listen to $NOT and so I didn’t really have any background on the kind of sound to expect going into this. However, I was surprised by the amount of sonic variety and quality of execution on this record. Eem brings a solid spread of beats and some equally appealing, if not creative, songwriting.

The album kicks off with “Came In it”, which has a very old-style sample intro and some light bells that contrast nicely with his heavy 808 choice. Following this one is “If We Being Honest”, which honestly sounds like an IGOR outtake. It’s got a bouncy beat and some fun wordplays that do just enough to add flair. This is followed by “FIJI”, which I felt was somewhat weak but had a decent feature from Cruza. I know a couple of people that really liked this one so I might give it some deeper listens at a later time.

Next up is “23”, which I found interesting sonically but not necessarily overall. Eem consistently finds interesting samples and beat ideas to run with. I feel like that’s his biggest strength as an artist. Another standout tracks was “DUYA”, the other single, which sounds straight off of a Tyler project. Some of Eem’s songs carry this characteristic, and I think it’s really cool to see Tyler become a stylistic icon in real time. “Out Miami” had a decent Ty Dolla $ign Verse, “IYKTYK”, was fun, and “MISS ME!” sounded like it had a different mix from the single version that I actually preferred. “CRAZY H*ES” and “Tall Tales” were also entertaining. And the last album, obviously, “Kingdom of Hearts”, a clear reference to the game that has a pretty similar name to the album. All of these tracks had very different vibes and some well-executed ideas. What I’ve really been seeing on this project is just the variety of beats and sounds that Eem is able to come up with. His experience as a producer clearly shows through on this project, and each of the beats are interesting and fun.

However, there were some tracks that I feel lagged lyrically. It also seems like some of the tracks were disjointed, and the arrangement of the album coupled with the very different vibes on songs makes it feel kind of separate at times. I almost get the vibe that Eem wrote and recorded “MISS ME!” before the rest of the album and then had to record a couple of songs to make the album more cohesive. Despite these flaws, though, I really liked the ideas that came out of this one, and so that’s why I’m feeling a moderate to strong 7 with this record.