By Luke Frantz, Sept. 20, 2022
After JID’s 2018 album “DiCaprio 2” left fans wanting more of this rising star, fans would have to wait four years in order to hear more, and JID’s new album was worth the wait. The Atlanta rapper’s new album ‘The Forever Story’ released on Aug. 26 and brings out a more vulnerable side to JID that the fans have yet to see, while also bringing hard hitting beats and masterful wordplay in his rhymes.
JID takes the listener through a journey into his past and tells stories of his life growing up as the youngest of seven siblings. The listener hears a lot of this family lore through a beautifully crafted track list.
The album’s opening track, “Galaxy” is a short intro that leads directly into the first true song on the album, “Raydar.” This song sets a great tone for the album as it has all elements that JID fans know and love from his past releases, a hard-hitting beat and JID’s signature fast flow with amazing word play.
The track “Crack Sandwich” gives the listener an inside look into JID’s past family life growing up the youngest of seven children. The hook of this track is advice that was given to these children from their parents about how to fight back when necessary. JID then tells a story through the second verse about how he and his siblings all got in a fight with people in a club one night, taking their parents advice to heart and fighting back when life fights them.
The tenth song titled “Can’t Make U Change” falls short of the rest of the album due to its repetitive chorus and somewhat underwhelming beat and execution by JID and Ari Lennox.
“Kody Blu 31” is the most unique and inspired track on the entire album and brings out a whole new side to JID that listeners have never heard before. The track opens on a sample of JID’s family all singing at his grandmother’s funeral, bringing forth vulnerability never before seen from JID. The track’s slow melodic beat is accompanied by JID singing most of the track rather than his usual rapping, further reinforcing JID’s openness and past lore that’s told on this album.
The track “Surround Sound” is the most like JID’s old music. The catchy hook and upbeat instrumental echo that of his past hits like “Down Bad” and “Off Deez.” The beat is catchy and JID came with incredible verses from him and his features.
“Dance Now” is a song with fellow Atlanta rapper Kenny Mason that brings forth many references to religion and speaks about the choices made in life. The track talks about misconceptions of who JID is as a rapper and person as he tries to set the record straight with this track that is sure to make the listener bob their head with the beat.
The albums final track “Lauder Too” is an incredible way to end the album, JID raps about how even though he has found fame through rap music, he is still the same man he has always been. The listener is left with the message of staying true to yourself no matter what and everything will turn out okay.
The features on this album performed exceptionally well and provided verses and hooks that helped shaped the album. 21 Savage, Lil Wayne, Kenny Mason and Lil Durk all provided features that worked incredibly well on this album and brought the best out of themselves and JID.
In a way, this album picks up from JID’s 2017 album “The Never Story” working as a sequel. In many ways though, this album is extremely unique to JID’s discography as this album works toward provided listeners with real, unfiltered stories from JID’s life growing up that have never been heard before.
“The Forever Story” is an album that is helping usher in a new era of rap and hip-hop music. JID has a fresh and unique sound that has never been heard before, but his instrumentals and storytelling abilities echo that of generations past. Even though a couple songs fell short of what they could have been, this album brings new energy and emotion not heard from JID. This album serves as a reminder that the rap game is in good hands with JID leading the charge.
Feature image courtesy of Sharon Wu.