The indie music samples have gone the way of the witty lyrics, and Hoodie is a worse artist for it. The music is entirely devoid of originality- Hoodie has even disposed of former producer RJA in favor of simpler, more radio-friendly beats. He originally sold himself as a nerdy non-conformist, think hip-hop’s Rivers Cuomo, but, like Cuomo, his fun, loose style has become co-opted by narcissism and a drive for fame for which he will stop at nothing to achieve.
Nothing feels special about Hoodie Allen anymore. The shameless self-adulation is the common thread on All American, and it is a worn thread by the end of this short, eight songs, mixtape. “Eighteen Cool” sounds like it should be dripping with irony- after all, this is the same guy who samples Marina and the Diamonds and writes songs about James Franco- but is actually 3+ minutes of shameless ego-boosting. Anyone questioning whether or not this is just an act or a case of severely inflated ego will have their questions answered on the preposterous song “Eighteen Cool.” This song targets the popular kids that Hoodie went to high school with however, the song is more braggadocio about how Hoodie goes to the club (and doesn’t even mention the VIP section, perhaps he can’t even get it) and tells his former haters that they “Peaked at eighteen/cool.” The problem with this song lies in Hoodie Allen being far from a household name- he barely has enough money to finance a Midwest tour. Anthems that were once replete with witticisms like “You’re so damn beautiful/like January Jones” have been altered to fit the new persona that he has adopted- one of a hard partying, champagne popping superstar. The new flow is clearly not of Hoodie’s own design, it’s just an attempt to cash in on what plays on the radio right now. Ultimately, All American falters because it all sounds hollow. Frankly, as a longtime supporter of Hoodie Allen, it’s hard not to miss the days of Pep Rally when Hoodie actually sounded like he was having fun instead of telling us how much fun he’s supposedly having. Most of the creativity is gone from Hoodie’s lyrics, replaced instead by a sample of stock tales of Saturday night debauchery and the many women that Hoodie apparently now attracts.
Most songs are now reliant on catchy hooks and relatable, cautious verses. As a result, his song compositions have changed vastly from his other efforts. Hoodie has now adopted a delivery heavy on sing-song rhythms and slurring words together that falls somewhere between his Pep Rally days and Wiz’s Rolling Papers era style.
Most all of his songs now seem to borrow heavily from Wiz Khalifa- he even goes so far as to steal the song structure and portions of the beat of Wiz’s party anthem “No Sleep” on lead single “No Interruption.” Surprisingly, the Wiz influence works very well on All American. That album, along with newfound blogosphere hype and relative fame, brought another facelift to Hoodie’s ever-changing style.Īlthough All American sees Hoodie ridding himself of his Gambino-like rhyme schemes, he has become mired in another identity crisis. When Childish Gambino came along and supplanted him as having the best punchline deliverer around, Hoodie started to steal heavily from Gambino’s style, resulting in the unequivocal disaster Leap Year. Mixtape Pep Rally seemed to cement him as one of the more clever MC’s in the hipster-hop game. Review Summary: For the second mixtape in a row, the most creative part of Hoodie Allen is his nameįor a rapper who has only been in the game for two years, most of which while also working as a Google employee, Hoodie Allen has undergone many changes in identity.
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