Rich Homie Quan dominated the summer with his smash single “Type of Way.” The song made its way onto the Billboard chart and helped catapult the Atlanta rapper’s career (and bank account) into a new stratosphere. Before he drops his debut album, the Atlanta native released the DJ Drama-hosted I Promise I Will Never Stop Going In mixtape with the hopes of proving that he’s much more than a one-hit wonder.
Quan, real name Dequantes Lamar, dispels all rumors and myths about him right off the bat with “They Don’t Know.”
“They don’t know about the time when a nigga got pulled over/ Boy, I swear to God they was trippin/ They don’t know about the bag a nigga had stuffed in the trunk/ They was too busy worried about the insurance/ They don’t know about the homie I got locked up/ Money orders every week, they don’t know ho’s goin through it/ They don’t know that I’’m a boss already, ain’t nothing but 23/ Now them niggas tryna ask me how I do it”
Even though he delves into his personal life with the opening track, for much of IPIWNSGI, Quan focuses on style over substance, though he is still entertaining. “I Fuck Wit You Girl” pays homage to Quan’s special someone who he “fucks with like a middle finger” because she won’t judge him, and she took him back time after time even though he cheated. In “WWYD,” Quan reveals what would he do for some paper and questions others about where would they draw the line. On the stand-out track “Get TF Out My Face,” Quan enlists the help of buzzing rapper Young Thug and they both get downright disrespectful with their verses to anyone that has a problem with them.
Quan is very happy to remind us about his rags-to-riches rise in the music industry and several songs on the tape are dedicated to that alone. After all, he’s racking in cash and never went to college. In “Whole Lotta,” Quan raps about having a whole lot of money, and the problems that undoubtedly follow. “Make That Money” is the anthem for anyone trying to get that mula. Of course, it's only right to have Brian “Birdman” Williams for “CASH Money,” where the two trade bars about (you guessed it!) cash money.
No other song truly encapsulates Quan’s quick rise in the game or how he feels about it quite like the catchy “Man of the Year,” where he boasts of his sudden fame:
“You ain’t never met a nigga like me before/ That pistol on me, I keep it exposed/ I done made a million dollars and I didn’t sell my soul/ Tell them folks that I got it/ And I didn’t even go to college/ Brand new car and it’s robotic”
The comparisons between Quan and fellow Atlanta auto-tuner Future have been made, but Quan is quick to differentiate himself from Future with a subliminal shot or two (although Rich Homie did say in a recent interview that he's never dissed Future),
“And I’m the future, nigga/ I see your past/ Who the fuck told you I want to be your ass?”
The production helps carry this project a lot further than lyrics could by themselves. Absent from IPIWNSGI is “Type of Way” producer Yung Carter, but in his place are beats from London on the Track, Yardeez, IzzeTheProducer, KE on the Track and several others. Despite their best efforts, and Quan’s, they couldn’t capture lightning in a bottle again and there does not seem to be a sure-fire smash hit on the project.
If nothing else, this mixtape proves that Rich Homie Quan is one hell of a hook singer. What he doesn’t bring to the table lyrically, he makes up for through auto-tune. If he practices his craft and hones his skills just right he could be the Nate Dogg of the south and that ain’t a bad thing at all.
Download the mixtape below and let us know your opinion on the project.