After months of waiting and teasers released here and there, XO and Republic records Canadian hit hip hop artist Navraj Singh Goraya, popularly known as NAV, finally released his new album RECKLESS on May 18th. The album features guest appearances by Travis Scott, Quavo, Lil Uzi Vert, and Gunna.

The album starts out with Reckless Intro and already I had my hopes up too high for this album. Anyway, it has a nice bet and soothing sound but when you really listen to the lyrics can barely hear a meaning behind his words and it just ratifies my believe that rappers with rap about literally anything and still get paid. There seems to be no therapeutic release in his songs like he so often does like with his hit single Wanted You ft. Lil Uzi Vert that adds a more relatable aspect to his music.

“The issue is, Nav chooses to set himself into one and only one gear, turning any instance of upbeat swing into another retread of the same melancholic, heartbroken vibes,” says hotnewhiphop.com, and I couldn’t agree more. Without his four guest appearances every song would sound the same.

NAV’s soft singing and chill beats do make for a good song, don’t get me wrong, but when every song has the same sound i don’t know whether to love the whole album after loving one song or hate it.

The guest appearances were clearly chosen carefully and definitely add a perfect mix of rap to NAVs vibey r&b sound like Champion which starts out with Travis Scott, who does in fact have a similar style of music as NAV but more actual rapping if that makes sense.

NAV has a very distinct monotone voice and mixed with his limited vocal range makes some of this album hard to jam to in the car. In the song Never Change his voice went up an octave maybe once but then it quickly came back down making this song my least favorite on the album.

Champion was most definitely my favorite song.  It’s one of the more upbeat songs and is one I have been jamming to in the car.  NAV and Travis Scott complement each other well in this song and the beat in the background is the perfect cherry on top. Freshman List is a little more mellow but is a close second favorite. I’m not gonna lie, the first time I heard this song was in the car with my friends who were totally hype about it which definitely opened my ears more than they would have been if I had listened to it for the first time with the rest of the album.

Overall this album was more of a let down than I was expecting obviously but it certainly had its perks and is the perfect album to listen to while studying or doing homework.