Top Dawg Entertainment Presents... Reason

T.D.E. newest protege, Reason released his first project called, "There You Have It". Reason is a rapper from Del Amo California and he gained some exposure on the Black Panther Soundtrack with the song "Seasons". No T.D.E. artists appear on There You Have It.

The introduction is like an uncle who is vibing to some old school Al Green "I'm Still in Love with You", and he's about to figure out who Reason because his daughter added his album to her father's collection. The song following the introduction, is called, "There You Have It", where Reason talks about his come up from the hood, to doing music in a one verse song, no hook. “Kurupt” is a bass-boosted track, where Reason raps about how he’s intending to be one the greats, by comparing himself to Kobe Bryant and Stephen Curry. He also makes reference to the Dogg Pound member, Kurupt’s line in the song “Ain’t No Fun”, which is why Reason called this song Kurupt. The 4th track is called “Fuck Wit Me” following by the song “Bottom.” The sixth track is a mix of 2 songs put together, "Drive Slow / Taste Like Heaven", where Drive Slow samples the original Kanye West and Paul Wall's Drive Slow song. Then the beat changes to a sick instrumental for "Taste Like Heaven."

At the second half of the album, the song "Thirst" is another hood song explaining what goes on with Reason and his homies in his neighborhood. The song ends with an outro of Reason and his girl, who went to pay someone a visit, which ends with gunshots. "Colored Dreams / Killers Pt. 2" is the deepest song of the album. Reason tells a story of a man who's being incarcerated for the murder of a teenager, and he feels bad about killing his mother's brother just to proved he was a gangster and that he was meant for gang-banging, (Colored Dreams). He also feels bad that he taught his brother how to gang-bang, but this one found himself being murdered and the man feels bad that he taught his brother this crazy life and he couldn't even attend the funeral due to the fact he's in jail. The song end with the man apologizing for all his mistakes while writing a letter to his mother before he hangs himself. Colored Dreams / Killer Pt. 2 is the same concept as J. Cole's song called "Killers". Can we say that TDE and Dreamville needs to do a collaborative project very soon. "Better Dayz" is another deep song where Reason talks about dumb people in his neighborhood wishing for a materialistic life and wanted to live a gangster fairytale life, while Reason only wishes for better days. The instrumental of the song has a nice synthesizer in it and this for me, has to be Reason's best lyrical song in the album.

I thought at first, that the song "Situations" was a sample of Usher's song "U Don't Have To Call", but it's actually a sample of Childish Gambino's "U Don't Have To Call". "State We In" is another song that explains the struggle of Reason and the people surrounding him, yet he knows he survived it and he sends blessings to his men being alive today and to the independent women. "Summer Up" is the last track of the album. On this song, Reason raps about how he will try any amount of attempts to be successful and enjoying that success afterwards. On this track, I see a mix of Kendrick Lamar and Nipsey Hussle on the way he raps.

There You Have It is a first good impression for Reason's first project. He's a good storyteller and he provided some good wordplay and the beats were simple, nothing too crazy. He also reminds me of a smoother Jay Rock. I can't wait to see what's next for the T.D.E. rapper.

Album Grade : 3.5/5

Favorite Song : Drive Slow / Taste Like Heaven

Least Favorite Song : Bottom