By Staff Writer Sawyer Pollitt. American musician Lil Pump, born Gazzy Garcia, recently released his second studio album Harverd Drop Out this past Friday. This album generates deep feelings inside of this reviewer, and throughout the course of this review these feelings will be investigated within the context of the album. Normally, while reviewing an album I notate the point where I realize I no longer want to keep listening. That is a running theme in these reviews. However, for Harverd Drop Out, this happened within seconds of the first song “Drop Out’ beginning. That was not a good sign but every song on this project deserves a fair shot. There could easily be a diamond hidden amongst the coal that “Drop Out” prepared me for. There are few tracks on this album that are notable enough to be discussed on their own. It would do far more good to briefly point out the high notes that occasionally poke their heads out of the trap-inspired mire of Harverd Drop Out. However, first, the negatives must be addressed. An intruding thought that kept working it’s way to the front of my mind during the listening of this LP is that there is nothing special about Harverd Drop Out and there is no reason why one would listen to this over anything else. The beats are stagnant, and the lyrical quality is at best “passable background music” the same few measures repeat over and over on every song and offer no musical or tonal depth to the work of Lil Pump. One could stop there and accurately sum up the quality of the entire album, but it must be stressed how mind-numbing much of the content on this LP actually is. Looking first at the beats, there is a technique in music where the use of silence and rests are utilized to give a feeling of space and timing to a song. Lil Pump and the producers who he works with throw that strategy out the window in favor of constant, staccato rhythms that hit on every beat. There is nothing inherently wrong with a busy production, the problem comes from every song utilizing the same techniques. One may say “you just don’t like this kind of music”, and they would be wrong. I enjoy the work of Lil Pump and his contemporaries in the proper context. A Dell party is the perfect context for Harverd Drop Out, however there is nothing in any of the tracks that puts it above any other music of the genre. Next, moving on to the lyrical quality of the work, there are more songs where Lil Pump mentions his ice than songs where he doesn’t. Bragging about one’s wealth is a fine topic and can even be encouraged however too much can be overwhelming. The tracks “Esskeetit” and “Racks on Racks” are pitifully self-referential. “Racks on Racks” is a clear attempt at reaching the same popularity as his previous hit “Gucci Gang.” These tracks try to cash in on the clout that Lil Pump has acquired during his brief career and add nothing to the lore of Lil Pump. Does Lil Pump like nature? Who are his friends? Has he experienced true love? These topics aren’t essential to good writing, but it may help the ears of his listeners if he can find something to sing about besides his own self-perpetuated memes. Some positives of Lil Pumps latest work come from the songs “I love it,” and “Off White.” One may recognize “I love it” as featuring Kanye West and being premiered at the PornHub awards. In the opinion of this reviewer, “I love it” is the best song on this album and is the best suited to being released as a single. Simple yet catchy with an entertaining verse by Kanye, this track stands above the other songs on Harverd Drop Out perhaps through the sheer star power of Kanye West. Lastly, the track “Off White,” while still falling into the trap of repetitive beats, escapes the plague of uninspired writing that infects most other tracks on Harverd Drop Out. One line stands out in particular “White rice, Fort Nite, pew pew pew pew, red light (pew).” This line single-handedly breaks up the slog of unintelligible lyrics and repetitive writing that permeates other tracks on this project. Harverd Drop Outis a poor album. There is almost no getting around that. On a scale of 1 to 10, it lands at a flaccid 3. More accurately it would land at a flaccid 3. Ethically, Harverd Drop Out needs to be rated as a 5. Middle of the track. Completely average. The lack of ambition, lack of growth, and lack of substance resigns this project to sit in eternal mediocrity as an ethical 5 out of 10.