Tory Lanez, a Canadian singer, rapper and songwriter, is back with the fifth installment of his Chixtape series. Chixtape 5 is his first full-length project since he released his album Love Me Now? back in October 2018.
Throughout his discography, fans have been given a taste of his true versatility. Lanez has shown his lyrical ability time and time again. However, his R&B style is just as impressive, and that’s what he delivered on Chixtape 5.
This album is very reminiscent of the mid-2000s, from the beat and sample selection to the various features, including T-Pain, Ashanti and Fabolous. However, the features don’t benefit the album as much as Lanez does consistently throughout.
Providing infectious and catchy hooks has always been easy for Lanez, and he continues to show out throughout Chixtape 5. His verses share stories of love and/or heartbreak, giving the listeners great R&B love songs that keep the album rolling.
The single for this album, “Jerry Sprunger (with T-Pain),” was one of the highlights that kicked off the track list. The song is a great upbeat track that would’ve been a definite chart-topper in the mid-2000s. The one problem with that song, along with many others, is the featured artist.
None of the features on the album were bad; they complemented the overall theme. However, Lanez outshined the features on every track where there was a feature with a prominent role in it.
One of the only features that was really entrancing on the album was Ashanti on “A Fools Tale (Running Back).” Lanez, as per usual, gave a great opening verse, and the chorus was a great collaboration with Ashanti on the background vocals. She also gave a great verse that helped maintain the theme of the song and provided something different than what Lanez had to offer. Lanez comes in again at the end to provide a rap verse and great change to the track and the album as a whole.
Another thing that Lanez mastered was keeping the album from getting repetitive. An album that revolves around one main theme can easily get monotonous to the listener, but Lanez seemed to know how to put together a mid-2000s-sounding R&B record while keeping it interesting on every track.
Songs like “Beauty In The Benz (feat. Snoop Dogg)” were perfect R&B love ballads that were great feel-good tracks, as Lanez showed off his vocal versatility. The artist gives a more intimate and passionate performance on the more laid-back track “Luv Ya Gyal // Love Sounds (feat. The-Dream).”
Throughout Chixtape 5, Lanez delivers great vocal performances over extremely catchy instrumentation. Any fan of R&B or Lanez should find this sonically appealing. It’s evident that everyone involved in the making of this album worked hard to give it a certain theme, and their work paid off well on this project.
Overall, Lanez outshines all of the features on this album, placing the spotlight on himself consistently. His versatile performance from track to track made the album a solid project that is definitely worth checking out.
Rating: 4/5
