A Review of G Herbo & Southside's "Swervo"
Initial Thoughts:
Coming off his 2017 project "Humble Beast," Chicago rapper G Herbo, links up with Atlanta producer Southside of the 808 Mafia to bring us the 2018 project titled, "Swervo." G Herbo looks to continue his rise and follow up the success of "Humble Beast," which gave him a lot of exposure to people who had never heard of him before. Southside has been widely regarded as one of the best producers in hip-hop today and I expect that to be proven true again on this project. Now let's get to the track list! This project contains fourteen songs, with four features. The four artists providing features for this project are 21 Savage, Chief Keef, Young Thug and Juice Wrld. I'm excited for these features because 21 Savage and Juice Wrld are two of my favorite artists right now. These two artists plus the Chicago legend, Chief Keef and the melodies of Young Thug make this a solid track list. "Southside on the track, yeeaah" for the entirety of this project. Now let's get to the review! 👂🏾
Review 👂🏾
Some Nights
I enjoyed the beat on this song, I think Southside did his thing as always. I thought this was an okay Herbo verse. I thought some lines sounded awkward because they were too long. For example when G Herbo says,
"And I'm on the E-way like Andretti, my new car
Loaded like I'm ready for armageddon
Boy, I came too far to let a nigga take me out this shit
Now he a star" (1:50)
The words car and far are the standout rhymes here, however Herbo's continuation after the rhyme sounds kind of awkward. The addition of the line "now he a star," shows me what Herbo was trying to do but, the lines before sound like a run on sentence. The content in this song was good however, but the awkwardness of the flow distracts me a bit.
+.5
Swervo
This is a calm beat, with G Herbo talking his shit on it. The repetition of "swervo" is a bit catchy but, I feel this song is missing something. Perhaps some adlibs?
+.5
How I Grew Up (ft. 21 Savage)
To piggyback off of my point from "Swervo," the use of 21 Savage's adlibs make a difference in this song. The 21 Savage verse was a good one. In the beginning of the verse the flow 21 Savage uses is a bit short, but towards the end we get that 21 Savage flow that we know him for. Overall, a solid song.
+1
FoReal
I enjoy G Herbo more when his flow is sped up. There's no window for awkward sounding lines and the perception of run on sentences. Also more adlibs on this song which makes it more enjoyable. Another calm beat from Southside.
+1
Catch Up (ft. Chief Keef)
This is a beat for that slow flow we hear from Herbo. I love what Herbo and Chief Keef did on the hook to start off the song. I'm also becoming a big fan of this back and forth structure of the song. The stop and go of the Southside beat goes perfectly for this structure. Best song on the project to me thus far.
+1.5
Tweakin (Head)
The darkness of the beat flows well with the pauses in Herbo's delivery. However, in this song, I could do without the adlibs.
+1
Pac n Dre
The flow in the first verse is stronger than the flow in the second verse to me. In the second verse there were some pauses which I enjoyed until we got to a run on sentence when Herbo says,
"And best believe I'ma count every penny like, ‘uh, bitch, ooh’
And I fucked yo bitch, ooh".
This appears to be a change in flow however, I thought it could be more seamless. The inclusion of Southside on the hook was interesting. Another solid song.
+1
Bonjour
One thing that stands out to me in this song is the line "Seen what happened to that boy, I had to pour a four" (2:33). The reason why it stands out to me is because XXXTENTACION is used as an adlib. After the word "four" we can hear XXX saying one of his famous adlibs "AYYEE!" All things considered, Herbo pays his respects to XXXTENTACION, a controversial rapper from Florida, who had been brutally murdered via gunshot in a robbery attempt on June 18th, 2018. (R.I.P. XXXTENTACION) This being said the beat and flow on this song work great together. This is one of the stronger songs on the project.
+1
Huh
This song has a more upbeat feel compared to the previous songs. This song screams Eminem to me because of the feeling of the beat to me. The tempo of the and the flow used by G Herbo screams for the return of Slim Shady, Eminem's alter ego. That being said Herbo attacked this great Southside beat perfectly.
+1
100 Sticks (ft. Young Thug)
This is the best Southside beat on the project so far. I've been addicted to listening to the Lil Baby song titled "Southside" that has a similar sounding bass. In all honesty, this is the typical Southside beat that has earned him his spot as one of the best producers in the game. I had been wondering if I would get a beat like this on this project and Southside came through with it. I love how Young Thug sounded on the hook, so much so, I wish he would have used the same cadence on his verse. Herbo attacked his verse on this song well. A superb job all around on this song! Definitely the standout song on the project to me so far.
+1.5
Honestly (ft. Juice WRLD)
I think this is more of a Juice Wrld beat than a G Herbo beat. At times I hear more of the beat than the lyrics of G Herbo. This being said this isn't the best verse I've heard from Juice Wrld. I do love the hook provided by Juice Wrld, but I could do without everything else.
+.5
Letter
In the first verse, the use of "a" as a slant rhyme is noticeable. In the second verse the use of a slant rhyme is still there however, instead of an "a," it's done with an "i". This song is similar to the Drake song, "March 14th”, in the way the artist, in this case G Herbo, is talking to his newborn son. Overall a solid and important song.
+1
Focused
A calm song. Great content in this song about staying focused. The flow and beat matched well together. There weren't any awkward moments.
+1
Who Run It Remix
I'm disappointed that Lil Uzi Vert's verse isn't on this version of the song. Herbo's verses were good on this song, but that Uzi verse was the best verse on the track. I was really excited to hear the full remix on this project.. I'm sure there's a reason why the Uzi verse was left off, but it's an unfortunate loss. The original remix with Lil Uzi Vert is on Soundcloud. (https://m.soundcloud.com/gherbo/who-run-it-remix-feat-lil-uzi-vert)
+.5
Swervo
Raw Score: 10/14
Quality Score: 13/14
Overall, this is my favorite G Herbo project thus far in his career. The production of Southside was phenomenal and the featured artists did what we know them to do, which lived up to the hype. Something that I noticed in this project is the increased use of the "aye" adlib, whether in was from XXXTENTACION in "Bonjour" or from G Herbo himself in a lot of the songs on this project. The three standout songs to me from this project were "Catch Up" featuring Chief Keef, "Huh" and "100 Sticks" featuring Young Thug. This project definitely continues the momentum G Herbo had built from "Humble Beast" and proved once again why Southside is one of the best producers in hip-hop. Go out and stream G Herbo and Southside's "Swervo" today on your streaming platform! Also don't forget to follow Oldmilktheblog on Instagram @Oldmilktheblog for the latest blog news!
