Review: IDK – IDK & Friends

Hey, this is the first time I get to talk about IDK in written form.

Many of you who have listened to Decibel Boost Podcast know that we heavily fuck with IDK ever since last year when he was featured on the 2017-2018 Adult Swim Singles Program. Later on, he released his debut album IWASVERYBAD, which was one of the best rap albums that year, as it definitely topped my best albums of 2017 list (top 3 for me, to be precise. You can also see the Season 1 Visual right here.)

Now IDK has not been a slouch in 2018, dropping some one-off tracks, freestyles, and collaborating with the likes of Denzel Curry, A$AP Ferg, Joey Badass, etc. on top of once again dropping an [as] single for their 2018-2019 installment. He is also diligently working on his upcoming sophomore album Is He Real coming in… 2019. However, he still has some heat for us in the form of this EP titled IDK and Friends.

Well, his tweet should explain it.

Yes, and he gathered some big-name people with him on this project. Some he already collaborated with before like Denzel Curry and Q Da Fool, but the others include Maxo Kream, Rico Nasty, Thirty Rack, Wale and Domo Genesis. They’ve all partnered up with him on these tracks, and for the majority of them they delivered some OK to great verses on here. We talked about “Moral” on Decibel Boost before, and my feelings on that track are the same, with IDK delivering a dope verse, especially with these lines:

Get a ho, pin her up, knock her down like a hammer (Woo)
Make her disappear, it ain’t my fault, yeah, bitch, I’m mystical
I don’t shed no tear, I take a loss and I’m like “Okay, cool” (Right, right, right)
Pretty pussy pink and it’s fat, it look like Majin Buu (Woo)
Opposite of Usher and Alicia, bitch, you not my boo (My boo)

However, I felt nothing with Maxo Kream’s verse, although I haven’t heard much of him aside from a bit of the album he put out at the beginning of January. There’s Thirty Rack on “Poke Poke,” and while I did like his verse for the most part, that last line had me scratching my head:

Don’t get poked nigga, don’t get smoked nigga (Smoked nigga)
Got a thirty on a Uzi, don’t get smoked nigga (Don’t get smoked nigga)
I’m the butcher of the shop, don’t get chose nigga (Don’t get chose nigga)
I’m eatin’ toes nigga, bone marrow on rows nigga

OK… who knows? It might be some wordplay I don’t know, and I’m missing the point. Plus, rappers are always eating ass, so I shouldn’t be that weirded out by that. Anyway, IDK in general in this EP is still at his best, delivering dope tight rhymes with some good hooks and punchlines, He can still flow his ass off, and the best example of that is the freestyle track with him and Denzel Curry: “ONCE UPON A TIME.” This was just so damn great, as they didn’t write down anything: all this came from their heads, and it sounds fantastic.

Denzel’s Bars on Verse 1:
As I constantly try to evolve just like a Togepi
Keep my pockets thick as The Parkers, Professor Oglevee
No one’s sick as me, have the common cold, catch a cold from me
Isn’t it ironic the younger me is the older me?
Fans demand that I rap about shit I did at seventeen
Might as well’ve cut my hair off and take some LSD

Denzel’s Bars on Verse 3:
Remember to remember
Matter fact, remember the fifth of November
Too many scars upon my face, no Simba
Rappers thinkin’ they the most dark but I’m dimmer
Mos Def and grimmer

IDK on Verse 4:
Reverse the slavery every time I pull out my whip
Then pull up on a racist race like I am the shit
I limp towards the cake ’cause I am the pimp
Ain’t nobody fuckin’ my contracts up like Prince, uh

Another dope track following that one is “Bad News” with Rico Nasty, and I’ll say the beat is dope, and the chorus, while repetitive, is alright, but the pre-chorus was better, and Rico Nasty delivered a solid, killer verse. “STOP” with Q Da Fool has those two delivering damn good flows. “OMG” sounds like something that could have mass appeal with its production, and the title sounds like it’s from some pop singer, but once the lyrics kick in, that goes out of the window. This goes extra for the verse Wale gives, and I’m not much of a Wale guy, but damn, he brought it!

I’m focused and the boy don’t play
IDK if they come for me
‘Cause I’m up all night like a Fortnite player
I’m moonshine, baby, you a Coors Light beer

Last but not least, there’s “GOOD NEWS” with Domo Genesis. As the song starts, the beat is more mellow in comparison to the other songs, and it’s actually a fitting way to close out the EP. If this is something to keep us good until the next album drops, then IDK did a satisfying job with it. Great beats, excellent verses, good flows and all with no filler or fat in 16 minutes, and I’m looking forward to whatever he’s dropping next in line.

FINAL VERDICT: Buy it digitally. Once again, this that dirty, stinkin’, nasty, ratchet, rowdy shit and it bangs.

IDK and Friends is available on HXLY on digital download and streaming.