Optikz

Have you ever been around someone that goes on and on about the same thing, over and over again, perhaps a new father, or maybe someone that just bought a new car, and they can't seem to talk about anything else? That is what it's like to listen to Optikz's new album, Focusin. While it's entirely admirable that Optikz has found a new path and a clean way of living through religion, why must it be that almost every song is about precisely that? One or two, or five, may do but after hearing the same thing on almost all of the 14 tracks it gets tiresome. When the Guelph, ON native changes up the subject matter, sometimes it works and other times it doesn't. The best track on the album is "Coming From the Cold," produced by Classified, in which Optikz raps about his life and his surroundings, smack dab in the middle of the Golden Horseshoe, using winter as a running theme. "Break" is also another track that Optikz can build upon for his next album. Meanwhile, when Optikz chooses to pour his heart out about love and loss, especially on "Mend this Broken Heart," what comes across is his need to improve his writing. While Focusin certainly documents the thoughts of a man who's found his calling, his body of work in this case is best suited for an EP rather than a full album.