As a team member of G.O.O.D. Music, he’s been given a powerful platform to not only perform with talented contemporaries, but maintain his own identity as an artist with strong southern roots.
Ivy League does just that; it offers the Atlantean, rhythmic flow of Royal Flush I and II with a few club hits sprinkled throughout. “100 Bottles,” the first single released off of the Ivy League project, features Chris Brown on the hook and the “Finally Famous” man himself, Big Sean. CyHi’s verse, although a lavished depiction of the lifestyle he’s familiar with, offers few punch lines nor ornamented flow for listeners to enjoy; the song betters with Chris Brown, who speeds the track up with an arsenal of aggressive lines. The song doesn’t reach it’s true climax until the end, though, when Big Sean exclaims “I’m just champagne pissing, drinking till I might drown/Seen her in her wedding dress, I’ve seen her in her nightgown.”
“Tool,” featuring Pill and Trouble and produced by the Illusive Orchestra is sonically enjoyable, offering a jazzy foundation of saxophones and slapped string basses for the artist’s rhymes. CyHi does well to outshine his feature’s verses of Pill & Trouble by increasing the tempo of his flow to an exciting pace. “A-Town,” could very well be the first tune-catching track on Ivy League. All the hype bolstered by the marching band beat turns out to be a letdown for listeners; B.o.B is the only fortified verse, closing out the track with true trill by representing his Atlantean roots: “Maybe Outkast made me feel like this/Put your A’s up if you feel like this, we got the Georgia Dome jumpin’ like we still got Vick.”
CyHi The Prynce is at his best when he flows over the aforementioned funk of the Illusive Orchestra on tracks like “Tool” and “Lives;” the club bumpers, although catchy and quick to acquire blogger attention, don’t fit the artist that has gained a deserved and respectable fan base through funky, original projects like Royal Flush I, Royal Flush II and Jack of All Trades. Ivy League represents CyHi’s southern roots and positively differentiates himself from G.O.O.D. Music, but does not represent the potential flow, rhymes and creativity he’s displayed in the past.
-Kevin Shea (@kevinnshea)
