2 Chainz & Lil Wayne "Collegrove" Review

2 Chainz and Lil wayne put out a project together? To say this collaboration is a shock or a move that came from left field would be a lie. I've saw this coming back when both them were exchanging lethal bars on the 2 Chainz track "Yuck". The album is named after their respective homes, College Park and Hollygrove. Listening to this album I can honestly say it did not disappoint. It would be easy to start making comparisons with Jay Z and Kanye West’s “Watch the Throne” collaboration, but "Collegrove" is a completely different body of work.

 First and foremost I love when artist work together in this capacity; it brings an element to the music industry that is not always present in their solo work. Throughout the album both rappers riff of each other and it’s a joy to behold. From a personal standpoint, some of the stand-out tracks is “Gotta Lotta", "Rolls Royce Weather Every Day" and "Not Invited."

 Lil Wayne opens the song with some vocals, which reminded me of Scatman John’s hit track “Scatman.” It’s unclear whether this is deliberate or not, of course, but much like Scatman John’s track this is guranteed to be stuck in your head all day. The lyrics impress in the opening verse from Wayne, but the full force of the song isn’t felt until the second once 2 Chainz enters.

 The way he flows between the lines is brilliant and his words fit seamlessly with the beat. Lil Wayne’s scat singing gets louder and more prominent as the song continues, which adds a necessary new element to the tune. It is a challenge to not singalong “Ba-da-ba-da-beee Ba-ba-da-bope” by the end of the song.

 "Rolls Royce Weather Every Day" is a certified banger. The type of song that makes you want to drop down your top of your car, have all windows down and turn the volume all the way up while you cruising. The violin on the track sounds eerie and off-key, but meshes well the track and the rappers who flow effortlessly to this.

 "Not Invited" has smooth production all over it and showcases what these two rappers know best which is women. This a track you can vibe too late at night.

 “Bounce” is the first track from the album that has a video released, however, and it is also one of the stronger songs on the record. The sample and beat in the background makes me think of The Game’s “Let Us Live”, which provides some context to set the song up nicely.

 While the music is good, it’s definitely worth watching the video as well because it’s basically a 4 minute rap battle between the two artists — which is pretty entertaining. They go at each other back and forth, but it’s difficult to call a winner.

While the album has its bright spots, it defiantly has issues. Overall the production is good, but well below the standards of both them. This album follows the glaring trend with all collaborative hip-hop albums, which is one artsit outshined the other. I felt like 2 Chainz outshined Wayne on this project. I felt 2 Chainz energy more than Wayne's throughout this project. Wanye honestly felt like a feature on this. He had a couple moments, but overall his eenrgy didn't match 2 Chainz in my opinion. Also I feel like this whole project was executed lazily. This honestly sounded more like an EP or mixtape than an album. It even had a couple of 2 Chainz songs already released on it ("Watch Out", "MFN Right" and "Not Invited").

 “Smell Like Money” and “Section” are the other tracks which really stand out on the project. This album is not quite at the “Watch the Throne” level of collaborative releases, but it’s definitely worth a listen.

By Rico Johnson, the managing editor of Baller Blog and a hip-hop writer. I'm a wizard with my words. This is my Twitter.