Hailing from Chicago, Alex Wiley has had to fill pretty big shoes with Chance the Rapper and Vic Mensa taking over the Chi-Town scene. But from the looks of it, Wiley doesn’t give a fuck what you think. Coming off his last project, Club Wiley, Alex looks to impress listeners with a totally different vibe than what you are use to hearing nowadays. Right off the bat, Alex gives us a blast from the past with introductory song. With an almost 40’s vibe to it, Alex and THEMpeople gives us a taste of the Chicago Juke scene.
Throughout the project, you always seem to catch yourself eyeing his creativity. From “See The Day” to “Ideas,” you see Alex go from a more alternative, electronic feel, to a Migos trap record. From start to beginning, it seems like Alex Wiley is sorta trying to trick you into thinking the song will turn out differently. For example, the song “Yung San Diego,” the song starts out with a sedated guitar solo, something you would hear out of the Aerosmith playbook, but then quickly turns into boastful lyricism and swag-filled undertones — feels like a Clint Eastwood movie.
The next song, “Vibration,” really captivates Wileys versatility. Selecting to use auto-tune for the songs bridge, you start to see that Alex isn’t one to be scared of being creative. On songs like “Ducats,” “Ova,” and “Forever,” we see not only seems to be the future of Alex Wiley, but we are also starting to see an aura of confidence that we have never seen from Alex Wiley.
The only drawback from Village Party, is the fact that every song seems to be shorter than 3 minutes. Although, I am not one to be nit picky (& I also like shorter songs), having such short records have the ability to skew the creativity that goes into a project. Just like production value and lyricism, creativity has a continuous medium that needs to be met at all times — anything below or above that line just isn’t accepted.
You’re almost there Alex, you’re almost there. 7/10
