‘Heaven or Hell’ is the debut studio album from Cactus Jack affiliate Don Toliver, an artist who first came onto my radar after a great feature in 2018, on Travis Scott’s ‘Astroworld’. After a pretty underwhelming performance on 2019’s Jackboys project and a lifeless Tik-Tok hit that seemed robotically engineered for the site, my interest was admittedly dialed back a bit. I hoped the lack of energy Toliver brought to ‘Jackboys’ was a fluke, not really indicative of his future as an artist, but sadly, I was let down dramatically by ‘Heaven or Hell’.
The Bad: Don Toliver struggles to do anything on his debut that does not resemble a far better artist. He often sounds like a bad version of his label head, Travis Scott. Other times, he seems to not just emulate, but plagiarize Young Thug’s sing-song style flows, just with less personality and flair than Thugger. Furthermore, throughout the 12 song track list, there are nearly no songs that actively jump out to me. Toliver’s dreary style is the epitome of boring; he makes songs that are 2:30 feel like 5 minute treks. I couldn’t count how many times I had to rip my finger away from the skip button, as Don Toliver stumbles his way through a lifeless instrumental with lifeless autotune and lifeless melodies. The title track, Heaven or Hell, and Company are both prime examples of this. The lyrics are pretty typical trap rap: drugs, money, sex, and the occasional gang talk. Toliver doesn’t seem to realize how ridiculously clichéd his writing is, and without an interesting vocal presence or a well-executed beat, it is mind numbing. The few features on the album aren’t bad, but can sound painfully out of place, like the explosive Sheck Wes on the chilled beat of Spaceship. Wes creates such a dramatic contrast of energy to the utter lack of vigor that Toliver provides and it almost sounds forced.
The Good: There are moments on some songs where I found myself nodding my head. After Party, one of the shorter tracks, has some pretty sticky vocal moments and some good production. No Idea, while being oversaturated and overhyped, delivers some fun in its high pitched, playful chorus. Some features, while not incredible, deliver a kind of oasis from Toliver’s same-old-same-old.
Conclusion: The primary feelings I got from ‘Heaven or Hell’ were lifelessness and unoriginality. The record is solidly produced, yet still finds a way to sound toothless; it is tightly mixed and mastered, yet still finds a way to sound half-assed, unfinished, and underdone. Most of the blame is on Toliver’s uninspired performances. It’s ironic that Don Toliver, with all his melodic non-rapping, sounds so incredibly monotone. He always sounds like he exists under the instrumental, not standing out or commanding attention. Even in the brightest moments of this record, Toliver just sounds like somebody else. He shows potential for sure, but with a debut so shaky, it makes me wonder why I was excited in the first place.
I give this album 3 purgatories out of 10. Thanks for reading.
art for cheap 