Nic D - "Like Honey"

Like a pack of Tic Tacs

Another recommendation from my brother-in-law (who also sent me NF’s album).

Nic D is another Pop Hop (not a “recognized” genre, but that’s what it is) artist. And this album is an exemplar for the great vibes generally found in pop hop. It’s light, energetic, and fairly simple in composition throughout the album. Nic’s writing includes some fantastic lines, too.

The issue here is length. The whole album is 17 tracks totalling 38 minutes. No song is over 3 minutes in length, and only 4 hit the 2:30 mark; in fact, only 7 of 17 hit the 2:20 mark. These “songlets”, as a result, feel largely incomplete. And as solid as some of Nic’s lines are, most tracks still end up feeling repetitive despite the brevity.

It may be a result of the genre - it’s basically just him with minimal instrumentation, so there are no guitar solos to pad the time, but that feels like a cheap excuse, anyhow. NF’s tracks also lack guitar solos, and his album averages 3:48 per song to Nic D’s 2:18. It really just makes the delivery feel sloppy. And some tracks have some great sounds for like two seconds, and then they’re over.

This one’s Green. “Moon & Back” is the best track, and the title track is the only one that I truly just didn’t like, period.

Rating: Green