Glocky found himself in a unique position over the last couple of years, fully submerging himself in an underground sound and aesthetic ahead of the highly anticipated FREESTYLE.

Needless to say, the hype around this record was insane. With a rollout lasting over a year, alongside a complete switch in both visuals and sound, expectations were through the roof.

To highlight just how drastic this shift was, compare one of his average releases prior to the album:

To how his music sounds and looks now:

It’s a massive change, that kinda made me a bit uneasy going into the project, however, with the pre-album single “DIOR$AVAGE“, I really grasped the direction he was aiming for. They hit the mark on that track, which spiked my curiosity towards the full project.

And so, here we are. On July 24th, FREESTYLE finally dropped.

It’s rare that an album clicks immediately on first listen to me, and the same can be said for this one, other than a few tracks at the end i felt like everything leading up to this was a lie, but instead of going to the internet and complaining I gave it time, and I gotta say, that was one of my best decisions in recent times.

FREESTYLE might be the album that has grown on me the most in the shortest amount of time; I’m really feeling it now.

As someone who leans heavily toward distorted, fucked up rage or simply put, a huge bleood listener, music that takes a moment to click is almost like a drug. There’s a specific satisfaction in finally understanding a sound you didn’t quite get at first, and that’s exactly what happened here.

This on one hand helped me understand why the album is getting so much criticism, but on the other it also made me realize that most of the takes online are far too bold. FREESTYLE needs time not just to settle in as a potential milestone, but for listeners to fully process what Glocky is doing here and execution-wise, he nails it.

Also production wise, the project is cohesive. While there isn’t an overwhelming amount of variety, that’s expected for a record like this. However, the variation that does exist feels incredibly refreshing on tracks like “fare qualcosa” and “niente sconti”.

What I truly didn’t expect were most of the feature choices. Tony Effe and Guè were definitely not on my FREESTYLE bingo card, and on paper, they feel completely out of place… yet somehow, it works.

Their features carry a similar vibe to the NBA YoungBoy track on Early life crisis, maybe not the absolute best features on the album, but they give off a raw attitude where Glocky really proves he can do whatever he wants and that truly feels like the core concept of the entire project.

FREESTYLE feels like a creative blossoming for Glocky on a scale we haven’t seen from him before, and I’m all for it.

While I don’t think it will be quite as revolutionary as something like Whole Lotta Red, I’m still excited to see its impact over the next few years.

We’re heading in the right direction and I’m grateful to anyone who made this happen <3.

FAVORITE TRACKS: see u later, fare qualcosa, niente sconti, work

RATING: 7+/10