Bad Cameo

Iconoclastic rapper Lil Yachty and electronic producer/songwriter James Blake play off of each other with both gentle curiosity and soft excitement on their joint effort Bad Cameo. While both artists have their own particularities when it comes to scoffing at genre (see Yachtys 2023 excursion into psychedelic rock on Lets Start Here for what might be the strongest example of this), they take a less aggressive tack throughout Bad Cameo, delivering textural ambient pop that brings each players deepest tendernesses to the surface. "Midnight" sounds like an equal ratio of both personalities, with Yachty singing Auto-Tuned verses before Blake drops in for melancholic yet anthemic choruses, a relaxed electronic kick drum thumping along as a guide for waves of different synth tones and rushes of vocal harmonies. Theres some actual rapping at times, with Yachty flowing melodically over a Blake-ian dubstep instrumental on "Woo," and quivering his way through some weightless sung flows at the end of "Missing Man." More often than not, both artists seem to be enamored with each other and trying to emulate their ideas of the others style. The breathless vocals Yachty turns in on "Twice" seem informed by a cram session listening to Blakes back catalog, as Blakes production throughout seems to aim for the same confounding beauty Yachty achieved on his weightless trap hit "Poland." Its sweet to witness two artists carefully adapting to each other, even if the results are sometimes light to the point of forgettable. In its best moments, however -- the cloudy lament that builds into cinematic grandeur on opening track "Save the Savior," the weary, rhythmless groove of "Missing Man," the spacious plastic balladry of "Run Away from the Rabbit" -- Bad Cameo is a compelling picture of two collaborators inspiring each other to try things they might not have on their own. ~ Fred Thomas