Young Stacks LGi - Encouragement Review

By Dylan Tracy / September 3, 2013

rating: 3.5

Encouragement is one of those albums you'll listen to and think that Young Stacks LGi is going to become HUGE. "Just a matter of time," you will probably say. At some point throughout the tape - maybe the Obama and MLK samples, maybe the guest features, or maybe it's the end of the tape - you'll know that Young Stacks is a talented rapper with some development left to accomplish. There's nothing truly groundbreaking about Encouragement, but that's a hard task in itself. Young Stacks' debut is one that will surely be looked back at as a raw "foot-in-the-door" release. In many ways Stacks conveys the impression of a reflection of Drake - his raps have some content and delivery similarities throughout Encouragement. The lyrical content ranges from sex, power, and especially fame, with moments of dreaming of getting big. This is especially documented at the very beginning of "Shut It Down," one of the best tracks on the album. There is a distinctly affected vocal hook, buy it's actually the verses that are the highlight. Production could be stronger, but otherwise a decent amount of instrumentals fit the track nicely. At some point, though, the main focus on this album becomes the flows and rhymes, which is where Young Stacks' key strengths lie. Rather than spitting ferocious raps with more words than a Tolstoy novel, Stacks opts for a slower methodical delivery with clever lines and impactful words. Opener "Lost" echoes this sentiment. "Encouragement," with a Barack Obama speech sample, gets very interesting, especially when the rap bleeds in over the sample. Probably the strongest song on this release, Young Stacks shouts out that he's "destiny's child" after referencing 'Say My Name.' Stacks does his fair share of shouting out to rappers, but rather than calling for murder, he's shouting to them to reflect his inspiration. Other than the aforementioned Drake influence, Stacks pays homage to T.I. and Big K.R.I.T. , which both feel right at home on this album with the style of rapping and production. Stacks isn't indulging in out-and-out mimicry, but simply defining what inspired him to rap (and of course many rappers do this - whether by name-dropping or sampling.)'MLK' has Stacks pointing out that he has a dream, much like the titular civil rights leader did. They aren't the same, obviously. The verse is surrounded by bumping bass and a clicky, minimalist percussion, which is much more intense than nearly every other instrumental. Laying it on thick, there's a sample of MLK's 'I Have A Dream' speech, thundering a bit of resounding poeticism beyond the rap track. "Feelin Myself" has a rather annoying hook and it doesn't help that the hook gyrates over and over and returns multiple times throughout. File this song under "filler." "Boulevard On Mars" is mediocre, being more about women and sex than the dreams mentioned previously. Young Stacks puts his foot in the door to lay down some good raps and leave us with desire for more after listening. Certain tracks like "Lost" and "Encouragement" shine, but hit-and-miss is a very good term to define this effort. Being ambitious and talking about good-looking girls really defines your motives, and while defining your motives is a great thing to do, it's highly overdone and never interesting. We champion rappers like Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Nas, Jay-Z, and even Earl Sweatshirt for being inventive with their music. Young Stacks needs to find this inventiveness on his next release to ensure he does not fade into obscurity.