On his third studio album, Pegasus, viral rapper Trippie Redd continues the shuffle of styles and approaches that brought him chart success and millions in streaming numbers on multiple previous releases. Embracing moody cloud rap, hybrids of tormented R&B singing and sultry flows, and even high-energy blasts of grunge-influenced rap/rock mash-ups, Trippie's albums and mixtapes are generally lengthy affairs that don't stick to one sound for long. Pegasus is largely the same, beginning in a slow, reflective gear that keeps the first third of the 70-plus-minute album in a blurry midtempo haze, reaching its hookiest heights with the PARTYNEXTDOOR-assisted track "Excitement." Trippie eventually introduces more rhymes as the track listing goes on, offering Juice WRLD-esque emo trap routines on "Personal Favorite," more direct radio rap delivery on "Oomps Revenge Pt. 2," and bellowing bars on the 2000s throwback "I Got You," which is completed by a feature from the instantly recognizable Busta Rhymes. Trippie's stylistic switch-ups are emphasized by Pegasus' many guest appearances. Lil Wayne, Sean Kingston, Chris Brown, Young Thug, Future, and many others all stop by for a verse or to sing a hook over the course of the album's 26 songs. There are moments of engagement and excitement as Pegasus stumbles on, but by and large the album plays out like a numbingly similar collection of random, interchangeable segments. There's very little variance in tempo, instrumental tonality, and atmosphere from track to track, and Trippie's overstated and under-inspired vocal melodies wash over so much of the project that it becomes nearly impossible to tell when one song ends and another begins. Pegasus is as ambitious and wide-reaching as any of Trippie Redd's other releases, but it's so overstuffed and creatively empty that when the rare inspired moment does pop up (as with the unexpected acoustic guitars and genuinely pained wail of album closer "Sun God"), they're already lost to the overwhelming deluge.
© Fred Thomas /TiVo