Review of Emerging Portland Artist Yung Mil's "Thoughts 4 the City" EP
The sound of celebratory fireworks kicks off this tape from emerging artist Yung Mil from the City of Roses. Possessing a voice that’s a mix of Ty Dolla $ign and Kid Ink, he raps to the haters that doubted him from the beginning and who have bad temptations. Mil has a special voice that can be used to rap and sing.
Clever basketball references are mentioned in the first track, “Unfortunate Ain’t It.” He states, “I’m the type that I don’t even have to call the ref when they injure me, man you the type that flop all over the floor looking for penalties.” This is a nice line to close out the first track.
Booming song “Neutral,” which is my favorite song on the tape, is where Yung Mil raps over a rattling beat about his rise and sings to the doubters. He states some clever lines where he states, “I never needed your guidance. Everybody always bumps future, but do they really even have one.”
The song “Crabs in the Barrell,” has the same feel and vibe of “Neutral.” The same theme of talking to haters and making money is stated. The Portland artist raps on the Dolla $ign inspired song “Skurt,” which shows his nice flow between intersecting singing and rapping. It has a Kid Ink feel to it.
“Shots of Crown” is sentimental and heartfelt about a girl. If there were more songs like this it would have made the whole project better as a whole. “No Grudges,” carries the theme that the artist does not have anything against anyone. Mil raps about his hard work ethic and coming out on top from nothing. This other voice in the song fits very well with having a vision and then rapping about it, not only in holding himself up but also his friends.
The closing track, “Paid in Full,” is a nice ending to the EP with a gospel-like sounding beat. The production on the EP is interesting and sleek. This song portrays the rappers flow and nice lyrics behind this church-like sounding beat. People should go and listen to this fast-paced tape that contains 7 tracks at 21 minutes. It is a quick listen and a good one for any person who likes rap.
The one big weakness on the EP is that it does not have a lot of substance. If it had more substance, it would have improved the tape. Some songs overlap with substance or themes. However, it is still a promising work from Yung Mil who has been improving since emerging in the rap game.
Yung Mil, more importantly, represents something different coming from the city of Portland and is an invigorated artist from the place that has been booming with artists over the past. There is a lot of room to grow for the young emerging rapper. “Thoughts 4 the City” shows that the artist is something special and could very well bring something new to the rap genre.
SoundCloud link- https://soundcloud.com/yungmil
Album link- https://song.link/album/us/i/1306376388