With his second project “St.Creaturesburg” almost at its 1 Year Anniversary, Young Mop & the TRiBE collective deliver a new style of ViBEZ on his self titled project “Mop”.
Taking a different approach sonically on this project from the previous mentioned “St.Creaturesburg” which featured a dark more FLA Underground ViBE, Mop starts the project off with the almost industrial “The Cage”. The beat sounds like an old school video game gun before the drums come in.
“Awakened” features some dope vocals from Mop on the chorus. But that’s not to say Mop still isn’t spitting on this one, from Henny to Samurais this ones got it all.
“STiCKZ + STONEZ” is a dope little jam track. The hook and guitar have that out in the woods traveler ViBE to them. This one is definitely a feel good track and will get your mood and ViBE right after each listen.
“Supposed To Be” is one of my favorite tracks on the project. I love the atmospheric “Cloud Rap” esque beat. It’s like I’m floating in the clouds with Mop & the rest of the TRiBE. I would really like to see what visual aspects Mop would bring to this track.
“SKiES ARE GREY, SKiES ARE BLUE” has one of my favorite hooks and beats of the year. Although the track has a melancholic tone to it, it still meant to be uplifting, that despite shit not going right at the moment, better days are coming. Clay Frapwell, Mop’s brother was a dope addition to the track as well.
“Love” is a dope little track at about the mid way point in the project. It seems the project started out a bit more somber, with this track acting as the transition to the more up beat happier tracks.
The previous tracks put Mop in a darker space but “FiREFLY” lightens up the mood of the album. It’s tracks like this that really tie the album together. The Hi Hats on the beat give the track sort of a banger edge to it that gives the ride that ride out sort of ViBE.
“iNFRARED” was originally showcased in the TRiBE Bucket Hat video but now that we get the full version in the context of the album it is instantly one of my favorite joints off the project. I love the more Boom Bap approach with the sort of wonky production. We need a Boom Bap tape from Mop. I really dug all the old school rock references on Mop’s verse.
“DiAMOND iN the ROUGH” featuring a very rare verse from Stoop Kid might be my favorite Mop song to date. From the Boom Bap piano sampled based production just fits both emcees to a tee. This is definitely one of those tracks you just light one and ViBE out with. Stoop Kid’s voice and delivery added some OG swagger to the track, putting us all on game.
The dreamy beat on “UNiTY” sets the perfect backdrop for Mop’s hazy vocals as well as for his brother BTMVLE Jotta to always do what he does. I really dug the different flows Jotta used on just one verse. The semi slugged out beat allows the listener to beat everything Jot is droppin on us.
The project closes out with “The Elemental Poem” which is most definitely on a Whole Lotta TRiBE SHiT. From the melodic beat to the spoken word esque style Mop uses to drop his final message for this ViBE. Touching on all the elements Mop reflects not only on his journey but also the earths journey. This track almost feels like a reflection of the entire project. Just an incredible track.
The growth shown on this project is out of this world. Despite being more experimental than on his past projects I feel fans new and old will grow to love Mop’s new ViBE and share it with their TRiBE.