Lil Pump’s major label debut, The Harverd Dropout, has been a long time coming. Initially the tape was suppose to drop in August of 2018, but due to an ill-timed jail sentence for driving without a valid license, the release date came and went. After half a year and countless missed release dates The Harverd Dropout was finally released last week posing the question, was it worth the wait?

The album rollout for The Harverd Dropout was messy, disorganized, and seemed like something I’d expect from a highly-anticipated independent mixtape not a debut album being released under one of the largest record labels in the business, Warner Bros Records. Over 40 percent of this album was released as singles dating back to last April. The track “Esskeetit” has been out for ten months and some how made this album. The fact that I already knew almost half the album upon release definitely hindered the listening experience for me.

As for the songs that weren’t pre-released, it’s more of the same from the Florida rapper. The songs lack creativity, taste, and hold a minimal amount of replay value. The amusing ignorant nature and catchiness of Pump’s hooks makes up for this lack of creativity on select songs, but majority fall flat and aren’t worth a second listen. Pump recruits some quality features which makes the album a little more entertaining and save the tape from being a total miss. The album ends far stronger than it begins and the last five songs actually make for an enjoyable 15 minutes. It contains quality features from Lil Wayne, YG, and 2 Chaniz, to go along with my favorite pre-released single on the album, “Drug Addicts.”

While the album as a whole leaves lots to be desired, I can see specific tracks off this project being very successful. One early standout is Pump’s ode to Virgil Abloh on the cut “Off White.” While the song is catchy and easy to move to, it only contains one short verse and its two-minute run time will hurt its replay value. The best moment on this album comes in the form of Lil Wayne’s guest verse on the overtly boastful “Be Like Me.” Wayne snaps and gives this song serious hit potential. While Pump’s contributions to the cut don’t hold a candle to Weezy’s, this is one of the moments on the album where the novelty of Lil Pump over shadows his mediocracy making it a fun listen.

At its best, The Harverd Dropout is a fun tape to turn up to. Some of the tracks are enjoyable and will make it into my short term rotation. At its worst, it’s a disorganized dumpster fire that is hard to listen to. As hard as I try to give it the benefit of the doubt, I just can’t imagine a demographic that can seriously enjoy this album for a long period of time.