Not So “Full Speed” Ahead for Kid Ink

Kid Ink released his third studio album, “Full Speed,” on Feb. 3, 2015. Two singles off the album, “Body Language” and “Hotel,” proceeded the album, and neither did well on Billboard’s Hot 100 list. The failure of those two singles would seem to have foreshadowed the disappointment of “Full Speed.” The album did not do well on the charts, selling only 29,000 copies in its first week and peaking at #14 on the Billboard 200. Kid Ink’s last album, “My Own Lane,” landed a #3 on the Billboard 200, making “Full Speed” even more of a commercial flop. Even with featured artists that include big names like R. Kelly, Usher, Tinashe, Chris Brown, Migos and Trey Songz, this album did not stand out as Kid Ink’s best.

One of the currently most influential music outlets, Spin, describes “Full Speed” as “a conceit that reeks of oblivious distaste.” Phillip Mlynar, who reviewed the album, said, “the rest of the project soon emerges as a textbook example of tackiness.” Just listening to a few of the songs on the album will prove that Mlynar is no way wrong and what he says shows why “Full Speed” was such a failure.

Kid Ink’s biggest song, “Show Me ft. Chris Brown,” will probably be the only song that people remember him by even though it is from his last album. None of the songs on his newest album differed from each other, and they were all repetitive. Not a single lyric was exceptionally deep, and sometimes it was hard to make out what he was saying. The only song that really stood out featured rapper and singer Dej Loaf: “Be Real.” It was Dej Loaf’s vocals that made this the only song to stand out on the album. Luckily for Kid Ink, Dej Loaf will be touring with him this Spring, so hopefully the failure of his album will be made up by having a talented artist on tour with him.

It is also no secret that Kid Ink smokes marijuana, a fact that he seems to wish to remind us of in the song “Blunted.” This song truly shows how shallow Kid Ink’s lyrics are and have always have been. His lyrics are substancially no different than many lyrics from newer rappers, and that may just be the reason his album performed so poorly on the charts.

As a person who loves all kind of music, especially rap and hip-hop music, I was very disappointed with this album. Kid Ink should probably step away from the business for awhile and try to write something original. He could also work on finding new beats and rhythms that are not identical to those of every other song of his.