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Mixtape Review-Blue Dream & Lean 2 by Juicy J

by Dan-O

If you don’t like Juicy J Blue Dream & Lean 2 is not going to change your mind. If you are a fan of the raucous king of repugnant imagery and gleeful mischief this is a must hear. Juicy doesn’t just give you the hardcore you are used too but a little more than you’d expect.

We’ve written pretty extensively about Juicy on the site and most interestingly about his age and the fight he’s waged against it. Most artists are forced to develop and acknowledge growth as they get older but Juicy still seems his most content on songs like Anybody where he’s choking necks, blowing grass and daring anybody to bring violence to him. That point in the song where he says something really really nasty, planting an image in your head you won’t get out, that’s when you hear Juicy’s voice perked and engaged. He’s scratching his nails on the chalkboard staring right into your face and laughing.  #ClockworkJuicy

That being said Juicy has tempo changes on this one, gear shifts that he doesn’t always use. Stoners Night 3 feels like it should be sped up and made into a Saturday-Night-get-crazy anthem but its mid tempo, Don’t Trust has horror movie piano and a deep baseline with an ominous chorus. When he says “How can a N trust any one of you clowns? When my own family let me down,” it feels like he is taking his hands from the chalkboard and really talking to us. It’s crazy and happens a few times.

The most prominent example of Juicy pulling aside the curtains and really opening up is his last verse on All I Need.  He starts the song throwing nasty sex talk combinations; dirty vaginas, blowjobs, etc and hands off to K Camp who swaggers all over the track. This is all very standard in the Juicy J universe and its fun but that last verse goes in a totally different direction  “Damn I miss the 90’s, yeah sh#$ was wild. We were living like rock stars dropping Mystic Stylez. Ain’t nobody else believe in what we was putting down. N almost homeless trying to get it off the ground.” It’s the most interesting moment of the project. He talks about how hard it was and how the times have turned and Three 6 has influenced everything, in his own words he speaks of his old Three 6 gang and says he loves them and calls them brothers as his voice echoes the words. For someone following the hostility between Juicy and the old gang this was a jaw dropping moment. I wasn’t happy because I need him to collaborate with Gangsta Boo again; he deserves to be content in his legacy and I’m glad he can look back fondly on the experiences without chewing on the bitterness of small disagreements.

My favorite song is Smoked Out, Dabbed Out which moves at an inch worms pace creating the slowest moving head nod of all time. It feels like uncompromising Juicy translated into summer BBQ music.  At least 5 of the 17 songs give production credit to the collective of Juicy J, Crazy Mike and Lil Awree which means Juicy was plugged into this. He didn’t just grab whatever beats were in his email. That doesn’t mean this mixtape is perfect. Workin Hard is just Juicy saying Workin Hard over and over again so I could definitely delete that. Film feels more like a Future song than a Juicy one and those two types of songs are so different that it doesn’t fit. All that said Blue Dream & Lean 2 feels like a new Juicy and the same old Juicy. As shocking as his reflections are on All I Need he sounds like he’s going to LOVE taking revenge on Do It To Em. If you own any Three 6 Mafia you need to download this as its bookend.

Stream or download Blue Dream & Lean 2 below: