Azealia Banks – FANTASEA

Arbitrarily energetic…

This mixtape has proven to be an oddity, if nothing else. Banks brings a solid Harlem flow laced with a solid forty-five minutes of some kind of mutated form of hip-hop infused 1990s arcade game sound. Inject this creation with absolute audible randomness and you have arrived at a “Fantasea.”

The nineteen-track project takes its listeners from a state of outer-dimension spacey escapades to grounded drum line displays. This all happens somewhere close enough to a place that holds intermissions in which the listener can make out the sounds of a jazz lounge followed up by the productions of a Jagged Edge concert (Uh, ok Azealia).

Randomness is the key to this work and it all balls up to show Azealia’s over-abundance of energy. Banks’ heavy, foul-mouthed, and fast-paced lyrics tie the craziness that is “Fantasea,” into anything that might resemble cohesiveness.

Though some in the hip-hop community have been bold enough to relate her flow to that of the late, great Notorious B.I.G., she also possesses a vocal range that would make the likes of Gladys Knight proud; on the rare occasion she lets the pipes ring out.

“Fantasea” sees highlights in songs such as “Us,” “Nathan” featuring Styles P, ”Fuck up the Fun,” and “Jumanji.” This mixtape tries to do a little too much, but the public should take it as a positive sign for what is to come on her first studio album. “Broke With Expensive Taste” is due fall of this year.

Rating: C+

Patrick Guilfoyle