Myself: As I’m sure quite a few of NAV’s songs will do throughout his mixtape, this one explores NAV’s more self-conscious, depressed state, and it even has him going as far as to say that he doesn’t feel good unless he is under the influence of drugs. That’s tough, man. But it’s got a really ear-wormy hook, I like NAV’s kind of raspy vocals on the track, his flow is really strong, and I also like the kind of dark, moody instrumental on this song. A good start to the tape, and definitely a song I’ve continued to go back to, even if I’m not that crazy about the slow-down in the ending.
NAV: It doesn’t get more meta than being an artist named NAV and having a song called “NAV” on a mixtape that you titled “NAV.” Next, I expect The Weeknd to release an album called “The Weeknd” where the first song is called “The Weeknd.” Anyway, this more braggadocio song, while still pretty fun, just feels like a brighter, less sad version of “Myself,” with less-raspy vocals from NAV. It’s still a fun song, though, and it might grow on me in the future.
My Mind: While the song again is energetic and fun, I just feel like it’s kind of ordinary, in that it’s NAV telling the same story about how he came from nothing to something, got a lot of money, and started doing drugs, the big difference here being that the lyrics in the song feel a bit more sexually-charged than the previous two tracks. It’s not bad or cringe-inducing or anything like that, it just feels really ordinary overall.
Good for It: NAV’s flow on this track feels a bit different from the other tracks, which is refreshing, and it’s nice to hear him talk about something a bit different than his rags-to-riches story for once. The hook is also pretty fun, and it feels a bit different from the other tracks, too. The only problem is that quite a few of the lyrics enter into cringe territory (“Spark a Woody, getting buzz like Lightyear” and “Like 2K Player Mode, I had to recreate myself” jump to mind for me). Not an all bad track, but it would’ve been great without some of those cringe-bars.
Lonely: Another more sad, slightly R&B inspired track, and one that feels slightly more romantic than some of NAV’s other tracks. I like NAV’s vocals on this one, and his flow remains solid. The lyrics also mostly avoid the cringe territory that I mentioned about the previous track. While the hook can get a bit repetitive, it’s still pretty fun and I feel like I’ll listen to this track a lot in the future.
Up: Seeing as how this track is a collaboration with Metro Boomin, I feel like this was kind of a sneak preview of NAV and Metro Boomin’s collaboration mixtape “Perfect Timing.” Maybe that’s just me. But anyway, this track features the infamous NAV line “now she give me head outside of Toys R Us,” a line that never fails to make me laugh (for all the wrong reasons). And while NAV’s flow and hook feel a bit different on this track, I kind of find it, on the whole, to be pretty boring. Again, hearing NAV talk about his rags-to-riches story just gets a bit boring when he does it this often. Not a terrible track, I did have some fun with it, but it’s certainly not one of my favorites.
Interlude: A short interlude that tops out just under 2 minutes, I’m not as crazy about NAV’s deeper vocals on the intro of this one, but the weird change of tone is pretty cool. I’m not crazy about the lyrics (I don’t know what it is but hearing “I make her think I love her, just so I can fuck her when I want” rubs me the wrong way), but sonically, some cool things are going on here. It’s not all bad.
Sleep: I like the hook on this one, and again, NAV’s vocals and flow are pretty fun, but all in all, this is just a very standard NAV song to me. While I like that NAV talks about how people are “sleeping on him” in this track and not giving him the attention he deserves, I just feel like, lyrically and sonically, this song just feels like NAV sticking firmly in his comfort zone and making another track that just feels very ordinary.
Mariah: While I like that NAV spends this song telling a story about a fictional character named Mariah (instead of talking about himself again), and I like the R&B vibes on NAV’s vocals, the song again just feels very average to me. Not all bad, just kind of boring and nothing special. I don’t hate it at all, but I feel like I won’t be coming back to it anytime soon.
Some Way (ft. The Weeknd): On this track, The Weeknd flies in and kind of owns the track. His performance is rock-solid and his vocals are extremely impressive, and again, it feels like he kind of makes the track his. No disrespect to NAV, though, his performance is pretty good on this track, too. I love the really uptempo, exciting instrumental, and decidedly-not depressing lyrics on this one. It’s a song I’ve definitely really enjoyed since its release, and still enjoy to this day!
Ten Toes Down (TTD): I like the slightly minimalist instrumental for this one, NAV’s vocals are pretty solid, and again, the R&B vibes are really working for me on this one. Where a couple of the songs were lyrically entering the “cringe territory” for me, this one, fortunately, stays away from it as well. This was a good end to the mixtape, and I feel like I’ll be coming back to it a bit in the future.
Overall, NAV’s debut mixtape shows me that the man definitely knows his sound and what he wants to go for, but unfortunately, he’s a bit stuck in that sound, to the point where a lot of the songs end up feeling a bit generic and similar to one another. And while I do like his vocals (even if they are overly-filtered) throughout a lot of the tracks, I feel like NAV sometimes finds himself entering into the “cringe-territory” with his lyrics. All in all, there definitely weren’t many really “bad” songs, but there weren’t enough highlights to make up for what sounded pretty ordinary throughout. I will say this: if you guys remember, I wasn’t all that crazy about NAV’s fellow XO homie The Weeknd’s first mixtape “House of Balloons” when I first heard it, and yet, Abel is one of my favorite musicians. Perhaps NAV just needs some time to iron things out. We’ll see.
I’ll be reviewing his next tape “Perfect Timing” next. We’ll see if things are ironed out on that one.
Favorite tracks: Myself, Lonely, Some Way, Ten Toes Down (TTD)
Least favorite track: My Mind
Rating: Okay
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