Review: Larry June’s Doing it For Me -- not quite doing it for me

By Isaac Ortiz

isaacortiz117@gmail.com

Larry June’s new album comes up short of being enjoyable. Known for his nonchalant style, the San Francisco rapper does exactly that. Coming off a career-high with The Alchemist collab album The Great Escape, I was expecting Doing It For Me to be a spiritual successor to that and The Night Shift, but I was met with a mixed bag of tracks.

Lyrically, he’s pretty diverse on this album. He definitely keeps strong to his themes of being a rap “finance bro”, niche flexes, love, sex, still being tapped into the streets and having a healthy lifestyle. This lyrical variety both works and doesn’t. He gives you a lot to ponder about and, at the same time, leaves you a little confused.

I find he’s most interesting when he’s in the finance bro mentality. He alludes to diversifying your investments/portfolio and real estate deals. On another track, he talks about not-panic selling stock and holding while high. This lyrical focus makes him special amidst an ocean of rappers who stick to drugs, sex, and violence. It breathes a new life into flexes and making money without really alluding to being a drug kingpin or generic flexes.

The first five tracks play well to his style. Twangy guitars, a funky bass holding it down, and steady/tight drums. The reggae-inspired guitar in “Magnum PI” has a very seductiveness to it that glues the track together quite well. The lyrics play well into his street mentality.

A Little While seems to be one of the most distinct tracks of the album. It’s a very sweet and playful R&B track.  He does a really good job with the chorus and once the verse hits it becomes a good payoff just because the chorus alone could be a song.

The biggest problem with the album is that it’s very incoherent stylistically. The beat selection, in terms of energy, seems to peak in the middle of the album in tracks like Real Talk, Pt. 2, Three Piece, and Where I'm Going. The problem comes when his energy does not match the beats, and it feels like a major deviation from the first leg of the album. His chill delivery just comes across like he’s drowsy. While I was listening to the album on the first listen I thought my phone was on shuffle because I thought it was a completely different album.

Where I’m Going is a track that feels like Larry just phoned it in, he’s not saying a lot. It all just goes out of my ear. I’d regard this kind of rap as what you’d play in your car with your friends but aren't paying attention.

I'm just puzzled as to why he included those three tracks, they didn't add any interesting dynamic and took away from the other tracks. He also seems to be deviating lyrically from the previous tracks and generally his whole financial guru mentality. They’re not bad songs by any stretch of the imagination, they just don't do much.

I wasn't excited for the rest of the album It didn't seem as redeeming. That being said, Meet Me in Napa feels like an appropriate interlude to taking the album back on track. The Orchestral aspect of the song builds a sense of grandeur as to why Larry June is so special in the first place.

Breakfast in Gold Coast capitalizes on the previous track, with luscious string samples and a catchy chorus. The producer does a fantastic job of creating a cinematic atmosphere. While June is not the strongest lyrically on this track, he makes up for it on the delivery-- he’s dialed in.

Imported Couches is my favorite track off the album, the production on this song sounds like a perfect in-studio performance. If I was mistaken I’d think it was an NPR Tiny Desk performance. The strongest aspects of the production come together well: soft keys, reverb/twangy guitar, gentle strings, steady bass and a reliable snare. Lyrically, he’s sharp and stays focused on the subject matter.

Cleaning My Spot, which is the actual interlude, does a fine job of getting the listener to the last three songs. The wind section is phenomenal! The track sounds like the personification of a perfect get-away vacation.

Like a Mack and Dreams seems like an improvement of the middle of the album, but not by a lot.

The Closing track, Money Bag, is a meditation on the perils of being rich; navigating the snakes and bad actors in his life. These lyrics embody the track mentality “The money bag will make a dirty nigga sing clean”. June goes into how money has changed the people around him, and I appreciate this song because it contrasts his victory laps and financial deals.