A Boogie Wit da Hoodie: Me vs Myself review — tough-guy rapper could do with more drama

New York rapper A Boogie Wit da Hoodie’s new album has almost as many tracks as SZA’s SOS, also released this week. Streaming is a reason for the plenty: the more songs an album has, the more streams it can notch up, enhancing its chance of chart success. But whereas hers holds the attention, his potters along in the same gear, as though the expensive cars that crop up regularly in the 22 songs were crawling in a traffic jam.

Me vs Myself is his fourth album. Its hit predecessors have established A Boogie, real name Artist Dubose, as one of US rap’s chart-toppers. He rides in the slipstream of two titans of 2010s rap, Drake and Future (he put in an appearance during their co-headlining tour in 2016). Like them, he alternates between passages of rapping and autotuned crooning. His persona is that of the tough guy with an eye for the ladies, the hint of a bruised heart, a ready supply of cash and a sprinkling of New York flashiness.

The coordinates are set on “Food for Thought”. A brooding guitar phrase mooches about amid skittering percussion while A Boogie half-sings, half-raps about carrying a pair of pistols on his hips and pouring his heart out, a gunman who is also a romantic lead. These are the two sides of Me vs Myself, which correspond to the rapper’s stage and real selves. The scenario has some promise, but the results lack drama. The friction suggested by the titular “vs” is almost entirely absent.

Songs follow an unchanging groove, mellifluously rising and falling to a midtempo beat. Accessorised with male guest rappers, they are mostly addressed to a female listener. “Come Here” sidles about with cut-and-paste chat-up lines (“I know you from somewhere, I swear it”). “Water (Drowning Pt II)” issues ungallant threats of infidelity. “You know things about me everybody doesn’t know,” he murmurs intimately in “Turn off the Radio”. The unvarying soundtrack makes these various perspectives blend into an endless churn of sameness, the aural equivalent of a smartphone scrolling session.

★★☆☆☆

‘Me vs Myself’ is released by Highbridge the Label/Atlantic Records