Legendary rapper Phife Dawg’s farewell album Forever is a posthumous record that respects the legacy of the artist but feels stretched out at times. When Phife Dawg is rapping, he never lets down with a series of verses throughout the lp that all contain at the bare minimum, good performances but even at 13 songs, a lot of the material seems unnecessary. It’s nice to hear Phife rap alongside MCs like Rapsody and Redman but the number of features on the album make it feel more like a compilation record at times. While this can unintentionally steer away from the goal of the record at times, most of these collaborations are very good with every single featured artist delivering heartfelt and passionate performances to honor their fallen friend. Still, the best moments on this record are the focused tracks that feature multiple verses from Phife himself. Hearing the Tribe Called Quest member not just rap again, but connect his verses in well-thought-out cuts including “Sorry” and “Forever” are moments that remind you of all of Phife’s greatness. These tracks and verses allow us to further see where the New York legend was at before his passing. In its entirety, Forever is a heartfelt tribute that does a good job at embodying all that one of hip hop’s greatest talents stood for and will be remembered as one of the better posthumous albums we have ever received for that reason.
Rating: 7.3/10
Tracklist Ranked:
- Forever
- Only a Coward
- God Send
- Sorry
- Wow Factor
- Fallback
- Residual Curiosities
- 2 Live Forever
- Nutshell Pt. 2
- Dear Dilla (Reprise)
- French Kiss Trois
- Round Irving High School
- Cheryl’s Big Son
