“Happy Camper,” the second album by rapper Hoodie Allen, was released Jan. 22 for free via Allen’s website. The rapper’s sophomore effort offers pleasantly unique vocals plus features from SUPERDUPERKYLE, Blackbear, Meghan Tonjes and Ricky Smith.
As the title suggests, “Happy Camper” is generally a lively and upbeat-sounding album. There are few catchy songs but certainly not any groundbreaking lyrics, as seen in his first verse of “Too Invested”: “I go hard like I'm trying to catch a taxi cab in rush hour, but no Jackie Chan / Yeah, you try, but I actually can / You stuck up like a maxi pad.”
While some of the songs on the album are about relations with women, most of time Allen just illustrates his desire for a monogamous relationship.
On “Too Invested” he raps, “Read between the lines, you ain't an actor / You could be my ex or be my factor / One and only person I look after / After you, there won't be any chapters.” However, while the lyrics don’t hold incredible depth, the songs are still very enjoyable. The hooks really do hook, and the instrumental beats make the songs all the more memorable.
Despite the album's success with individual songs, its quality as a cohesive body of work leaves something to be desired. A major flaw with “Happy Camper” is a lack of a conclusion after its final track. This unfinished feeling likely results from the final song on the album, “King to Me,” which has a much more somber tone and explores subject matter differing from the rest of the album.
Turning to a darker memory, Allen raps “Yeah, okay, the man who showed me how to fight / The same one who took the training wheels off of my bike / Then when I swerved and almost crashed into the neighbor's car / You screamed so loud at me that I fell over the handlebars / And I was scared to make you mad / You were scared that God was 'bout to take away, like, everything you had.”
This change in tone in the final song, paired with only 10 songs, makes the album feel half-finished.
In the end, “Happy Camper” feels more like a collection of singles than a cohesive body of work. However, overall it is still a good album; a majority of the songs are very catchy and enjoyable to listen to repeatedly, making it well worth its low price.
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