KIRK

Basic Info

Name: KIRK

​Artist: DaBaby

Type: Album

Release Date: September 27th 2019

Features: Chance the Rapper, Gucci Mane, Kevin Gates, Lil Baby, Migos, Moneybagg Yo, Stunna 4 Vegas, & YK Osiris

​Tracks: 13

​Runtime: 35:15

About "KIRK"

"KIRK" is the sophomore studio album released from DaBaby, it was released on September 27th, 2019. This projects title was announced by DaBaby on August 26th, 2019. This album contains charting tracks like INTRO and BOP. It was released by Interscope Records. The cover art was released on September 24th, 2019 by DaBaby on Instagram. This album peaked at number 1 on the billboard 200, it also sold 145,000 equivalent units first week.

Tracklist of "KIRK"

1) INTRO - By: DaBaby

2) OFF THE RIP - By: DaBaby

3) BOP - By: DaBaby

4) VIBEZ - By: DaBaby

5) POP STAR - By: DaBaby - Featuring: Kevin Gates

6) GOSPEL - By: DaBaby - Featuring: Chance the Rapper, Gucci Mane, & YK Osiris

7) iPHONE - By: DaBaby & Nicki Minaj

8) TOES - By: DaBaby - Featuring: Lil Baby, & Moneybagg Yo

9) REALLY - By: DaBaby - Featuring: Stunna 4 Vegas

10) PROLLY HEARD - By: DaBaby

11) RAW SHIT - By: DaBaby - Featuring: Migos

12) THERE HE GO - By: DaBaby

​13) XXL - By: DaBaby

Review of "KIRK"

Throughout this album DaBaby shows his ability to make banging songs. However he also realizes that remaking similar songs over and over again does not work. So he adds in many, many, MANY features from a variety of artists, some help some don't. This album feels like "Baby Talk 5" but a little better and loaded with bigger artists. Once the first track hits, DaBaby gave me hope that he would actually decide to give us a structured themed album. But right after the first track DaBaby goes back to his normal repetitive but also banging songs. After "OFF THE RIP" played through DaBaby delivers on BOP and VIBEZ but than goes back to very generic DaBaby songs. The rest of the album is basically a feature packed "Baby Talk 5". Lyrically DaBaby gives us meaningful and powerful lines, verses, and even a entire song where he discusses his late father, and how his family members have effected his life which begins the theme. Lines like "How the fuck I make it to the top same day I lost the nigga that had me?" from "INTRO" really hit hard. But the next song he doesn't even reference the theme of the album or continue the change in lyrics. On "OFF THE RIP" DaBaby gives us very simplistic unneeded bars like "Got diamonds all over my teeth, I been eatin' chicken, I need me some dental floss, Hold my watch in the air". He continues very simplistic lyrics throughout the album, which does not help the album. Production wise DaBaby's sophomore album sports tracks with heavy bass and simplistic loops, somehow making most of the songs not feel repetitive or under produced. KIRK boasts production from many producers most notably Kenny Beats, London on da Track, and JetsonMade. However the simplistic beats do stunt the songs like "OFF THE RIP" and "POP STAR". Throughout this album DaBaby shows off many different deliveries from his normal playful but at the same time serious "Suge" delivery, to his softer more RnB inspired "iPHONE" delivery. His normal delivery works on songs like "INTRO", "BOP", and "VIBEZ" but hurts songs like "OFF THE RIP". His repetitive flow doesn't show however as he does switch his delivery up enough which makes the flow less noticeable. The theme of the album is only shown fully on one track which happens to be the first song, "INTRO". He references it a couple times and talks about his family a little bit on some songs but not enough were it seems purposeful or meant to follow a central theme. This project is not a good example of DaBaby's versatile side as he can make very versatile projects. But I do understand that sticking with the sound that blew him up is a smart decision to make while still in such a vulnerable stage in his career where his fans will move to the next trend if he doesn't deliver. Overall I enjoyed the first couple of songs and could see the appeal in the first half, however after "iPHONE" the project takes a downward spiral into unneeded songs. The features on this album are here just to bring in more plays. I do not see at all how Nicki Minaj can further this album at all, but I won't be going over every feature as many were very generic features from the artists. I did however enjoy the features from YK Osiris, Gucci Mane, and Offset's. I can see the appeal to Kevin Gates, Stunna 4 Vegas, and Quavo's features. Nicki Minaj, Lil Baby, Moneybagg Yo, & Takeoff give us a very generic features. Chance the Rapper is the only feature I can't stand, around the second half of his verse he begins slowly to increase the pitch of his delivery and it just falls into a whinny annoying unneeded feature. Overall this project was good. I think DaBaby could've done a much better job with this album as I have listened to most of his discography and have seen what he can do. This album wasted the theme of his last name however. DaBaby could've explored much more about his family and his experiences with them but he had a lot of generic and filler songs. In the future I would like DaBaby to expand on his topics, flows, themes, and his features. Instead of picking features that will bring in the most attention pick features that will help the theme and album in total. This may seem like I am hating on this album but I did enjoy it and see a lot of potential in DaBaby. He has successfully held my interest and I will defiantly be waiting for his next release.

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