Before I got a chance to listen to the album “Nap Town” by Indianapolis native Jay Loud, I went through and listened to what Loud had released so far and I had mixed feelings, but was excited to listen to his full debut album which was released on Oct. 25.
After listening to the album for three days as my only source of music, I will say I was pleasantly surprised. Loud obviously spent a long time working on this album as it is his debut album and it’s production quality is very high, which is one of the things that surprised me the most. However, from a lyrical standpoint, the album lacks an identity, it doesn’t have any qualities that would set it apart from everyone else in rap. I don’t think this is a bad thing, especially for an up and coming rapper like Loud who is trying to find a spot in the industry. I feel if this ends up being successful for Loud he will have the opportunity to be more creative with his lyrics and push the status quo of rap.
Loud’s lyrics tend to fall under all the generic rap topics. He raps about all the women, money and cars he has. Loud even seeps into mumble rap territory in certain songs as it becomes increasingly harder to understand him. This is something that is a major pet peeve of mine as I feel it hurts the artist, it makes me not even want to try to listen to what the artist is saying and at that point why have lyrics at all?
The beats of all of the tracks are by far the best part, every song feels unique in that manner. For someone that listens to music primarily in the gym, many of Loud’s songs will be mainstays in my playlists simply for the beats themselves. Songs like “Ice Cream” and “Don’t Even” had some of the best beats I have heard in rap for a long time. The beats of the songs help make up for the weak lyrics and overall make it a fun and energetic album to listen to.
Despite the annoyingly generic lyrics, I enjoyed listening to “Nap Town.” Hopefully this won’t be the only album of Loud we will get to listen to. Hopefully in the future he will try to think outside of the box more on the lyrics. I can see a bright future for the Indianapolis native.
