Photo courtesy: OVO Sound/Warner Bros.
The OVO Sound artist continues his evolution to one of R&B's top performers with new his new album
By: Gio Mio
Sex, smoke, and odd instrumental breakdowns. This is what you usually get when listening to Jahron Brathwaite, AKA PartyNextDoor. The man that is rumored to be part of the sound used by Drake, and even responsible for some leaked reference tracks too.
PND seems to have found a spot in the limelight in the past year. There was the time during the Meek Mill-Drake feud where a leaked PND track of him singing "Legend" off of Drake's If You're Reading This It's Too Late. The Instagram photo of him holding R&B singer Kehlani's (former girlfriend of NBA point guard Kyrie Irving) hand in bed, which led to Kehlani allegedly becoming suicidal. And of course, his music is also credited to this as well.
While his character has become popular, his music hasn't hit that pinnacle yet. In fact, everyone that is signed to Drake's OVO label has failed to reach some sort of stardom musically. But what makes PND different from the others is his relationship with Drake himself. He produces a good amount of Drake's beats, and is rumored to even write most of his lyrics. And when his mixtape, PNDCOLOURS, was released in 2014, Brathwaite gained more mainstream appeal.
Unfortunately, P3 isn't an album that will help him push up the pop charts anytime soon. That message was sent immediately from the first track off the album, "High Hopes." With a smooth sample of Blackstreet's "No Diggity," the instrumental continues for seven and a half minutes but gives off the vibe of awkward confrontation between you and your lover.
P3, at some moments, sounds like it could be a sequel to Drake's Views. One of the prime examples of this is "Not Nice," which is a dancehall track which sounds like a sped up version of "Too Good." The lyrical content is also similar to Views, with PND crooning about love, sex, and emotional disdain. Of course, "Come And See Me" with Drake sounds like your prototypical Drake-PND collab.
In terms of staying consistent, PartyNextDoor doesn't disappoint with P3. You get your cliche mixtures of dancehall and slow R&B jams, mixing in really good production. It's a sound PND has mastered to the point where you know a PND instrumental or song once the beat drops.
But with that consistency on P3 comes the lack of improvement. Usually an artist after his third album would try and mix things up a little bit. PND, however, doesn't seem to make any different changes to his formula to stand out. Sure, you could argue that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. With a new era of singers that sound similar to PND (Bryson Tiller and Tory Lanez to name a few), one would've hoped PND tried something different or experimental. I don't count "Not Nice" as experimenting with sounds because he most certainly helped Drake with this on Views.
If you're a fan of PND like myself, then P3 delivered for a third straight album. From start to finish, you get different vibes each track that move the album enough to not get bored along the way. Until he shows some evolution on his next project, he'll always be known as the protege of Drake. But is that really a bad thing?
Final Verdict: 3/5
Notable Tracks
"Not Nice"
1942"
"Come And See Me (featuring Drake)"
Sex, smoke, and odd instrumental breakdowns. This is what you usually get when listening to Jahron Brathwaite, AKA PartyNextDoor. The man that is rumored to be part of the sound used by Drake, and even responsible for some leaked reference tracks too.
PND seems to have found a spot in the limelight in the past year. There was the time during the Meek Mill-Drake feud where a leaked PND track of him singing "Legend" off of Drake's If You're Reading This It's Too Late. The Instagram photo of him holding R&B singer Kehlani's (former girlfriend of NBA point guard Kyrie Irving) hand in bed, which led to Kehlani allegedly becoming suicidal. And of course, his music is also credited to this as well.
While his character has become popular, his music hasn't hit that pinnacle yet. In fact, everyone that is signed to Drake's OVO label has failed to reach some sort of stardom musically. But what makes PND different from the others is his relationship with Drake himself. He produces a good amount of Drake's beats, and is rumored to even write most of his lyrics. And when his mixtape, PNDCOLOURS, was released in 2014, Brathwaite gained more mainstream appeal.
Unfortunately, P3 isn't an album that will help him push up the pop charts anytime soon. That message was sent immediately from the first track off the album, "High Hopes." With a smooth sample of Blackstreet's "No Diggity," the instrumental continues for seven and a half minutes but gives off the vibe of awkward confrontation between you and your lover.
P3, at some moments, sounds like it could be a sequel to Drake's Views. One of the prime examples of this is "Not Nice," which is a dancehall track which sounds like a sped up version of "Too Good." The lyrical content is also similar to Views, with PND crooning about love, sex, and emotional disdain. Of course, "Come And See Me" with Drake sounds like your prototypical Drake-PND collab.
In terms of staying consistent, PartyNextDoor doesn't disappoint with P3. You get your cliche mixtures of dancehall and slow R&B jams, mixing in really good production. It's a sound PND has mastered to the point where you know a PND instrumental or song once the beat drops.
But with that consistency on P3 comes the lack of improvement. Usually an artist after his third album would try and mix things up a little bit. PND, however, doesn't seem to make any different changes to his formula to stand out. Sure, you could argue that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. With a new era of singers that sound similar to PND (Bryson Tiller and Tory Lanez to name a few), one would've hoped PND tried something different or experimental. I don't count "Not Nice" as experimenting with sounds because he most certainly helped Drake with this on Views.
If you're a fan of PND like myself, then P3 delivered for a third straight album. From start to finish, you get different vibes each track that move the album enough to not get bored along the way. Until he shows some evolution on his next project, he'll always be known as the protege of Drake. But is that really a bad thing?
Final Verdict: 3/5
Notable Tracks
"Not Nice"
1942"
"Come And See Me (featuring Drake)"