This installment of Trippie Redd’s yearly project “The Love Letter to You,” leaves little to no doubt about Trippie Redds’ melodic talents. The fourth edition of “The Love Letter to You,” released late 2019, however, on February 21st the Ohio artist released the deluxe version of the album adding eight new tracks. The recent additions to the album feature a plethora of dynamic features including Chance the Rapper, Lil Durk, G Herbo, and many more of todays’ top artist.
The deluxe addition is a massive upgrade to Trippie Redds’ signature project; adding in a stacked track list of incredibly talented individuals that, despite the diversity in sounds, correspond with Trippie Redds’ vulnerable and emotional sound. This diversity in sound is something Redd is known for.
When I listen to this album, a sense of nostalgia passes over me. Diving into the project, it took me back to 2017 when he released his first addition of “The Love Letter to You”. Back then, a lot of self-proclaimed rap artist weren’t showing their vulnerability and emotions through their music. Besides, a dude like Drake who has been doing it for about a decade at this point. However, Trippie Redd is a pioneer in creating a different sect of hip-hop music, and he uses this project to continues to assert his brand of vulnerability on the rap scene. Making him the front runner in this so called “emo-rap” phenomena.
I would first like to preference this review with a couple of things. First, this project seems to just be a cluster of tracks that Trippie Redd, and his team, thought sounded good and threw it together on an album. Which, if you look at Trippie Redds history of projects, is very common. Second, I honestly wasn’t too entirely interested in what Trippie Redd and the other artist were talking about on the project. I’m sure they were so excited for people to hear their elementary rhyme scheme; however, it wasn’t for me. The album is littered with clichés, which is expected when you’re dealing with emotional driven music. This is why it was more of an afterthought to dive into his lyrical content.
Regardless of your familiarity with Trippie Redd, sonically this project is it; with multiple tracks relaying different feelings and emotions accessible at any given time. Over the hour of listening to the album, Trippie brings us on a rollercoaster of emotions. Like showing us depression and sadness on songs like “Who Needs Love” and “Love Sick” which sway from conventional love songs with heavy focus on romantic, guitar heavy, summer melodies over smooth melodic hip-hop 808s. Trippie also sways into the pop genre with tracks like, “Love Me More” and “Till the End of Time,” which remind me of something we would hear from an artist like Pop Malone who typically use those heavy guitar and piano aspects.
However, Trippie has something for everyone on this project; not just sad, hopeless romantics. Songs like “How I Was Raised (feat. Lil Tecca)” and “M’s (feat. Lil Yachty & Pi’erre Bourne)” with their heavy trap influence harmoniously live comfortably with Trippies’ almost wailing sound. The vocally dominant tracks overshadow the aggressive trap beats and demonstrates once again Trippie Redds ability to hop on any beat and use his vocals to sound unique, yet relatable.
Trippie Redd, who, has taken the forefront in experimental hip-hop has proven that he is a front runner in the new sect of the genre. His willingness to step outside the box and experiment with different styles of manufacturing his sound has made him stand out amongst the pack. This album just proved that point even further, that is exactly why so many other diverse artists have accompanied Trippie on his 6th studio album.
“The Love Letter to You 4,” is exactly what the title entails; a love letter. Presumably, a collection of ballads that give listeners an inside look into Trippie Redds past encounters with love. His range of emotions are exemplified throughout the album with the sure diversity of sounds displayed throughout the project. Making the frontrunner in this generations “emo-rap” wave.
