Soul Position

Their debut EP was incredibly hot but their first full-length was disappointing, and after a ho-hum release with Aceyalone, RJD2 needs to step things up with his partner Blueprint for this new Soul Position record. Things start off really well as Blueprint calls out all the commercially safe rappers to break moulds in the introductory "No Gimmicks,” and then the tempo steps up another notch with the funk-filled banger "Hand Me Downs.” So far so good and everything seems gravy as RJ provides ample amounts of nice breaks for Blueprint to spit over, but then a stupid song like "Blame It On the Jager” crops up and your face scrunches up. "I Need My Minutes” follows with its boring commercial beat, possibly for a good laugh, but quickly Things Go Better seems as though it’s beginning to deflate at the half-way mark. Thankfully that’s not quite the case as a few more hot jams like "I’m Free” and the disco-influenced "Priceless” crop up and save this record from becoming a total waste of time. Soul Position definitely have what it takes to make an incredible album, but given the fact their best effort thus far is an EP, maybe RJ and Blueprint should limit their collaborations to six solid joints at a time from now on.