Written by Lex Celera
Almost three years after ‘WHOLE LOTTA LUVSHIT,’ it’s safe to say that Lil JVibe’s reputation continues to precede him – albeit not in the same way as it was in 2016. Since focusing on music, the rapper has found his niche in shaping Top 40 hits into hip-hop fare through sampling and interpolation. The formula is all but unknown in today’s music landscape – Supafly’s “Answer The G” and Nateman’s “Imma Flirt” come to mind – but no one is as consistently brazen as Lil JVibe. “Prince Say” and “Hip Or Thighs” indicate that there’s nothing that’s stopping him from riding on the coattails of pop’s most earworm-worthy hooks and calling it his own.
With ‘2KLUVSHIT,’ Lil JVibe fires a miscellany of tracks that iterate on the same principles of his previous work in the same unbothered, uncohesive manner of a Datpiff mixtape. He does a good job choosing songs that are dated enough not to be overtly overshadowed by the original, but not so far back as to be unfamiliar. Justin Bieber, Neyo, and Ginuwine’s bodies of work are blatantly reborn anew with jersey club and drill elements. Like with the rest of his discography, it’s the reworking of the familiar that draws attention, but it’s the blatant commitment to the bit that makes it enjoyable. It just makes sense to pull directly from a hit to make another hit.
“My Doja” is exactly that as it rises above with its take on Ginuwine’s “Differences” in a manner not unlike Pop Smoke’s own take in “What You Know Bout Love.” The result is Lil JVibe at his most riveting, where his experimentation bears fruit without holding back. We’re seeing the same tradition in hiphop upheld by the likes of Max B and Jim Jones, where an artist is known for their remixes. But familiarity works both ways: if a remix brings the original to mind, it’s only natural that hearing any of those sampled tracks now makes us think of Lil JVibe. And that list keeps growing.
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