Overall Rating and Impression: 8.25/10
Voice Memos is Youtube producer/rapper Quadeca’s 2019 album, announced November 10, 2018 at the end of his music video for “Unusual”.
Overall I found this album to be very enjoyable and I’m glad that people recommended this album to me. I’ve seen Quadeca’s videos on YouTube before but haven’t been able to check out this album until now.
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What I liked most about this album was the diversity of beats, topics, and flows that are talked about and used throughout, yet the overall sense of wholeness the album had. Being titled Voice Memos, I think the concept he was going for here was a collection of songs that are recorded on your phone in the voice memos app so that you can quickly get out your thoughts and return to them later. For me that’s the basic feel the album had since the topics range from braggadocios and in your face with songs like Uh Huh!, but also talk a lot about self doubt and loneliness on songs like The Man On My Left Shoulder and Rowboat.
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On the intro he says that his songs are bipolar like Kanye and that does seem true as the topics can juxtaposition each other at times as we jump from song to song. It seems like we’re in the rowboat in his mind and going through his thoughts on his position in the rap game and what’s to come. To me my least favorite moment came on Thank You Next which was a more bare bones song with a basic beat and more flat topic, but moments like that were few and far between. Another small thing I didn’t like was the auto time chorus’s at times which gave it a more emo rap feel that I’m personally not into.
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The highlight of the album for me as definitely the final track where he talks about his different songs and sort of summarizes his main points in a very concise way. I’m a sucker for good closer tracks and I feel like this was done really well and wraps up the album very nicely giving it a sense of wholeness.
Personal Ranking:
- These Days
- The Man On My Left Shoulder
- Uh Huh!
- Eyes
- Red Dot
- A Dream I Can’t Remember (Interlude)
- Real Thing
- War! (ft. Dax)
- Ego Death
- Unusual (ft. B. Lou)
- Imagination
- Rowboat (Interlude)
- Thank You Next (ft. Sad Frosty)
Adding To Playlist:
- These Days
- Uh Huh!
- Eyes
Ego Death kicks off the album with some xylophone type sounds and a pretty relaxed and slow start. In this song he’s talking to his older self and telling himself that he doesn’t need to worry about what people say. He showcases a pretty impressive flow in second verse as we hear about how his ego is his drive and the ways the he’s holding himself back and focused on the wrong things.
Imagination is a song about imagining success in the past and thinking how great it would be, and reflecting back on that now he has a taste of success. In the past all he wanted was a chance and for people to listen to him, and now it feels good that he’s finally getting some recognition for his hard work.
A Dream I Can’t Remember (Interlude) is a very slow and dark interlude that has a very deep bass at times. He talks about taking drugs and their effects as well as his broken heart that still beats. I enjoyed the dark vibes and moments of intense and loud production that give the song a big dynamic range.
Thank You Next sort of has a Lil Pump type beat and a very basic production. This is a very goofy song but showcases some good wordplay. I didn’t personally like the beat style or delivery, but this was clearly just a song meant to be for fun.
The Man On My Left Shoulder starts with very low key, almost Jocelyn Flores type vocals but changes up pretty quickly. This is one of the deeper songs as he talks about disconnecting with himself, the bad side of his life, and a very pessimistic view on life from the man or devil in his left shoulder. This song has some really good wordplay, and a beat switch into the second half where we hear from his egos perspective. This song is pretty creative and an interesting listen and really stands out for me on this album. There’s another beat switch into the end of the track where it spirals down a bit and he talks about being stuck in depression. All in all I was very impressed with this song.
Red Dot features a pretty glitzy keyboard and the topic of social media and the pressure to follow trends. I liked the soulful chords and the beat switch into second half which slows down the song. This switch turns that track more melancholy as he talks about wanting to be popular and having to follow trends to stay popular. He touches on suicidal thoughts at the end about wishing he didn’t wake up which is pretty real and sad.
Uh Huh! is much more energetic and another song that’s clearly just for fun. This song is pretty braggadocios and reminds me of Eminem flow wise. There’s some cold punchlines in here which makes for a fun, short banger track. This song really shows the battle between the two major sides of him, the more depressed side and the ego controlled side.
Real Thing is about how he’s the real thing, but features a lot of lyrics that contradict that original thought which further shows the inner battle he faces. He talks a lot about self doubt, and how he works on his music and questions if it’s worth it if he makes it because of the family and friends he has to leave behind to chase his dream.
War! is a lot darker and has a very in your face vibe. This song returns to the braggadocios side of Quadra, and features Dax which marks one of the few features on the album. Dax fits very well on this song and I was impressed by his flow and delivery.
Unusual has an acoustic guitar loop which is a bit different than the rest of the songs sonically. He talks about how he’s constantly working, and how he’s unusual in this song. B. Lou is features on this song, but his vocals seemed mixed strangely and need to be crisper in my opinion. His flow reminds me of Lil Baby a bit which I found interesting.
Rowboat (Interlude) is a very sad Interlude about loneliness and how he never knew it was possible to be this alone. This song shows how he feels alone in his mind and is a reminder that everything isn’t sunshine and daisies as some of the previous more fun songs seem.
Eyes is a more jazzy that reminds me a bit of Mac Miller in his Faces era as Quadeca talks about his previous lover, and how his life changed fast. This was overall one of my favorite songs on here and I really liked how this song slows down and chills out the album a bit. The introspective lyrics are very engaging and interesting to hear as the album just about rounds out at this point. He talks about how these days something must be on his side which offers some hope in his life, and sets up the final song.
These Days ends the album with a triumphant song about how these days he’s been feeling free. He talks about how he doesn’t care if his rowboat doesn’t hit the shore which is a nod to the interlude about feeling lonely. He talks about other themes across other songs which makes for a really nice summary and closer. The beat switch into second half which slows it down as we hear about how his new girl fixes his problems, and how he regrets what he said but not how he felt in his precious relationship. I really love this as a conclusion as he assures the listener he’ll be here forever.
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