Lil Xan is a 21-year old California-based rapper who has been making some major waves on Soundcloud, notably with his very popular song “Betrayed,” a song that made it to #64 on the Billboard Hot 100. He has also landed in some hot water recently when he rated legendary New York rapper 2Pac a 2 out of 9 and called his music “boring.” He’s definitely been making his way around lately, but I’ve never really known enough about him to make a judgment. His recent appearances in the news have had me fascinated, and he seems like a chill, well-spoken kid, but I think I was also interested in this project because Lil Xan actually grabbed some relatively big features, like 2 Chainz, Charli XCX, Rae Sremmurd, and YG, just to name a few. If this young Soundcloud rapper can grab such prominent features on his first record, why not see if it’s worth it? Let’s take a look:
Who I Am: Essentially Xan’s introductory letter on who he is and how drugs don’t make him, Xan has a really boring, half-asleep kind of performance as he raps unenthusiastically over what is a very standard, traditional trap beat. I’ve heard someone describe Xan’s music as “sad rap,” but I think the saddest thing about this track is how painfully boring it is. Oh, and Xan says on this song that he’s gonna “fight a dyke bitch?” Uhh, I don’t know about you guys, but unless there’s some alternate definition of the word “dyke” that I haven’t been hearing before…yeah, not a great lyric, or a good song. Next!
Wake Up: A somewhat more upbeat track, the slightly more bright sound of this one does nothing to change how bland and empty it is. Lil Xan himself doesn’t really have that much personality on this track, and the trap-flavored instrumental is essentially wallpaper. Also, the hook being “I wake up, I throw up, I feel like I’m dead” honestly makes me want to throw up, and this is coming from someone that also battles anxiety and has had moments of being so anxious to the point of feeling like throwing up. Everything about the track just feels so “whatever” to me, like no real excitement or fun is going on here, just a kid going into the studio while half-asleep trying to make a song, and unfortunately, it doesn’t quite work out.
Tick Tock (ft. 2 Chainz): Somehow, Lil Xan was able to get 2 Chainz on this track. I know that man hands out guest verses like it's his job, but that doesn’t mean I’m any less surprised. Here, Lil Xan takes on a more staccato, start-stop flow that just comes off as really boring. I felt myself dozing off during the very sleepy hook on this thing. The trap instrumental here is a little more dark and abrasive, but still very dull, and 2 Chainz’s verse is definitely not one of his best. There’s also one line that 2 Chainz drops, where he says “'Cause they know Tity got more bars than a white Xan,” which I saw some interpret as a diss towards Lil Xan. Whether or not it’s really a diss, you know it’s bad when a featured artist gets an opportunity to be on another artist’s song, and disses said lead artist on said song. Yeah, next!
Diamonds: While I do like the flute in the background of the instrumental here, the hook is honestly really weak. It feels like it goes on too long, and while Xan finally sounds like he’s not half-asleep, he just sounds like he’s jacking the same sound from several other Soundcloud rappers. And despite the flute, the trap instrumentals here, for the most part, are struggling to really be all that memorable or exciting. Let’s move on to the next one.
The Man (ft. $teven Cannon): Lil Xan is sad rap? Yeah, given that he says on the chorus “God damn, God damn, Lil Xanny the man,” I don’t know if that’s sad. It sounds like every other braggadocious Soundcloud rapper today, in fact! Literally, this track just sounds like a combination of all of the most unflattering aspects of Soundcloud rap: a very weak trap instrumental, a lackluster, boring, half-asleep performance from the lead artist, and plenty of annoying ad-libs that almost take over the damn song. Throw in a weak feature from $teven Cannon, who does nothing to sound different from Lil Xan, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster!
Saved by the Bell: I was actually really excited when I heard the intro of this track, because of the more electronic, kinda bright production, but then Xan repeated that he was “saved by the bell” way too many times, the trap beat became really stale and boring, and I felt a desire to just doze off. I can appreciate that he’s talking about how his teachers used to doubt him, but I’d appreciate it a bit more if he didn’t sound like a more bored version of every other Soundcloud rapper in the world. Next, please!
Moonlight (ft. Charli XCX): Forget 2 Chainz, here’s the new award for strangest feature on a song in 2018: Lil Xan collaborating with Charli XCX. Never thought that would happen. And while Charli does provide some not-so-bad vocals throughout this track, Xan continues to prove to me that he just doesn’t really have any character and that he doesn’t really have an ear for very interesting production either. Yeah, no, not digging this one either, next!
Shine Hard (ft. Rae Sremmurd): Alright, admittedly I was excited about this one because Lil Xan enlisted the help of a rap duo that I actually enjoy, Rae Sremmurd. And sure enough, with Swae Lee handling the hook here, I definitely had a bit of fun with his vocals and with the brighter, not as wallpaper instrumental on this one. And admittedly, while Xan still doesn’t have a super-interesting performance here, I don’t mind his flow on his verse. I also enjoyed the flow on Slim Jxmmi’s verse as well. I won’t lie, I did enjoy this track a bit, but that’s by virtue of it feeling more like a Rae Sremmurd song with a Lil Xan feature than the other way around. Still, it’s better than pretty much everything else thus far.
Round Here (ft. YG): Lil Xan goes for something faster on this song, from the more uptempo instrumentals to his faster delivery on his lines, but that doesn’t stop him, or the instrumental, from feeling indescribably boring. And admittedly, while YG’s rapid-fire flow is somewhat interesting, he still doesn’t really provide a wholly exciting performance on here, and he only really succeeds by virtue of not being as boring as Xan himself. Not a great track, what’s next?
Basically: At under 2 minutes, this track risks falling at snippet-level. Somehow, Xan is able to jam enough into this one to make it feel like it’s not completely empty, but that doesn’t stop the song from feeling extremely dull thanks to its very standard trap beat and sleepy performance from its lead artist. Let’s just move on to the next track before I repeat myself any further.
Deceived: Apparently the follow-up to “Betrayed,” I kinda wonder why he put this before that track on the album, and I have to say, Xan notes that “heaven is looking very bleak” on this cut, but I must also point out that the chances of me enjoying this album are looking more-and-more bleak as Xan sleepwalks his way through yet another by-the-numbers trap beat. *deep sigh* Moving along, please!
Betrayed: The track that catapulted this kid to popularity, this one shows Xan basically denouncing Xanax and warning people against taking it. I do like the kind of moodier feel of the song, and his flow on his first verse isn’t too bad, but then the hook came in and just felt too sleepy for me. Then, Xan followed it up by saying that a girl’s “pussy tastes like Skittles,” and I think I threw up in my mouth a little bit. Honestly, not one of the worst things on the record, but that’s thanks to it being just “meh” in comparison to the other weak tracks here.
Slingshot: A very short, 1:30-long track, this song feels so odd to me after “Betrayed” because, after denouncing Xanax and all that, it seems strange to me that he’s opening this cut by talking about how much he likes drugs. And the fact that his hook is just “fuck that shit” on loop a bunch of times is just too repetitive. And then, it just ends. As fast as it started, it ends. Yeah, it was bad. Let’s just get through this and not come back to that again.
Far: *slips slowly into madness* Man, I can’t believe I can take this many wallpaper trap beats and sleepy performances! Especially after Xan’s voice ended up being drowned in autotune for this one! And again, it just feels like too much of a snippet to me. It ends all too quickly, which is fine for this review because now it means I’m almost done with this thing, but it’s not fine if you’re looking for repeat listens, because it’s gonna feel REALLY empty.
Color Blind (ft. Diplo): Ending off this painful album (outside of the next remix), Xan goes for something a little bit electronic, assisted in production by Diplo, and while it’s a nice change of pace compared to the other songs, it just feels like standard electronic stuff to me, and Xan really doesn’t provide any character or excitement on this song. It’s definitely a lackluster end to a really weak album, even if it’s not the worst thing on the record.
Betrayed (Remix) (ft. Yo Gotti and Rich the Kid): Going into this remix, my thought process was “you can throw Yo Gotti and Rich the Kid on this track, but there’s a good chance they won’t change my opinion on the song, since I don’t care for either of them.” And, as expected, it didn’t change my view of the song. Rich the Kid provides some decent energy on his verse, but doesn’t leave much of a unique lasting impression, Lil Xan is still saying that his girl tastes like Skittles (still makes me wanna throw up) even if his flow isn’t all that bad, and Yo Gotti’s verse, despite decent flow, lacks in really any charisma or charm. Still not one of the worst on the album, still nothing overly special.
Hey, you know what’s FAR more boring than 2Pac? This album! Lil Xan proves to be the human sleepwalker on his debut album, providing very little in the way of originality, character, excitement, or fun-factor. If this is supposed to be “sad rap,” this is a pretty weak attempt at it, I will say. Xan seems to feel pretty content in recycling the same few trap-flavored beats that have been used all over Soundcloud since 2016, and he himself just sounds bored throughout a lot of this. And for all the exciting features he brought in, very few of them really do anything interesting to help the record out (a fact made more obvious by 2 Chainz’s apparent “diss” at Xan in “Tick Tock”), so all in all, this thing is just a painfully dull mess from start to finish. I have no idea where Lil Xan is gonna go from here, but of all the artists that are part of this rising Soundcloud rap movement, Xan is definitely one of the least exciting members. I’d love to see if he can switch things up and try something different on a new project later on, but for now, I’m not holding my breath.
Don’t listen to this. Please don’t.
Favorite tracks: Shine Hard
Least favorite tracks: Who I Am, Wake Up, Tick Tock, Diamonds, The Man, Saved by the Bell, Moonlight, Round Here, Basically, Deceived, Slingshot, Far (so, basically, everything else except “Betrayed” and “Color Blind”)
Rating: Awful
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