After several years of making mixtapes and living in-and-out of prison, 19 year-old rapper Dieuson Octave, known as Kodak Black, released his first studio album, “Painting Pictures.” The project officially dropped on March 31, 2017, and received major hype from singles “Tunnel Vision,” which peaked at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, and “There He Go.”

The album features a total of 18 tracks and a surprisingly lengthy 63 minute run time. It also features other accomplished rappers like Future and Young Thug.

Overall, your general opinion of this album is going to depend on your expectations. Anyone whohas ever listened to Kodak knows that he isn’t the most profound lyricist in the world, and that doesn’t change here. Sometimes his verses will come across as dull and predictable. But if you’re the type of person that enjoys listening to acts like Future and Lil Uzi Vert, artists that usually rely on more bass-heavy songs that stress beats more than deep lyrics, Painting Pictures is right up your alley. But if you’re more of a Kendrick Lamar or J Cole type of listener that prefers storytelling, the album may leave you feeling disappointed.

I think “Painting Pictures” is a step in the right direction for Kodak. It has tracks that appeal to any type of listener. It features loud, club bangers like “Patty Cake” and “Tunnel Vision”, and slower tracks like “U Ain’t Never” and “Save You.” Like I said before you won’t find anything too riveting, but it’s good to see Kodak putting himself out there and trying new things on this record. I was surprised that the album featured so many tracks, considering that he is such a young artist and hasn’t been exactly available due to his legal troubles. Unfortunately, some of the songs come across as repetitive and seem like filler to me. In my opinion, he should’ve limited the song count to ten or 11 so the better songs would stand out more.

Overall, I’d give Painting Pictures a 6.5/10. It’s a promising effort, but it has a lot of empty tracks that don’t stand out and seem to all sound the same. My favorite song would have to be “Up In Here”. It’s bass-heavy, has a steady beat, and an addictive hook.