The Warm Up
Artist: NYpoleon
Label:1st Empire Records
12 tracks / 45:22 minutes

NYpoleon is an up and coming R&B/hip hop artist raised in Trinidad before moving to New Jersey. He has independently released his debut The Warm Up on his own label, promising, “Hits, club bangers, and ballads.”

This music sounds like basically anything you would hear in a club, but with worse production, though one can’t expect perfection on an independent release. The real problem here is the horrendous lyrics. Though he claims to be positive, and claims that he does not feel it is necessary to write about money and sex to create hits, but he does exactly that. The song “Pimp-a-fyin” is all about money and sex, and the rhymes aren’t even very good. He also includes a ballad called, “Always be Around,” preaching relationship fidelity. Well, which is it gonna be, player or nice guy? This is seriously confusing. It’s like he is trying too hard to appeal to everyone so he is just contradicting himself for the sake of a “hit.” What type of positive message is that?

The Warm Up”is a self fulfilling title. NYpoleon has a great voice and the songs contain nice hooks, but the contradictory messages and poor production detract from his potential. Skip the warm up, and wait for the game.

Noah Salo
http://noahsalo.com