Rating: NNN
Yasmine has been billed as “Mobb Deep meets Young M.A. meets OVO Sound” and is backed by local multidisciplinary powerhouse 88 Days of Fortune – both promising endorsements. The Scarborough rapper’s unwavering flow over gritty beats is intriguing, if sometimes anonymous sounding.
Yasmine has some impressive bars. She flexes clever wordplay early on, paying clever homage to Lauryn Hill on Few G’s, where she details her ambitions and frustrations and asks, “How many mics do I gotta rip on the daily?” She further taps into nostalgia on Jenny, where she uses a Forrest Gump reference to calls out a lover’s tendency to flee from intimacy. But the references get lost in stagnant production, seldom straying from minor keys and heavy bass.
No Squad In The Wild’s standout comes on Late Nights, where Yasmine spits about a hot and cold love affair over a cinematic D’Artizt beat that embodies the project’s nocturnal vibe flawlessly.
On Before We Walk Away, Yasmine laments to her lover, “Why you so hard to read?,” which makes you wonder the same about her. Up until this point, Yasmine has said a lot without saying much about herself, which is unfortunate because the glimpses we do get of her are the best parts of the album.
She finally goes deep on Sublime, where she raps about the challenges of coming out to her parents. The revelation is brief, but it shines with depth. That distinguishing charm could help set her apart from a sea of competitors in Toronto’s dense hip-hop ecosystem.
The most distinctive moment on the album actually belongs to featured artist MighLoe on the final song Bad For You, ending the track and the album on a high note with a smooth voiceover about lost love.
Top track: Late Nights
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