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Rating: 3.5 / 10

In case you didn’t know, Lil’ Twist is an 18-year-old artist from Dallas, Texas, signed to the YMCMB collective. Featured on compilation songs and loose Weezy tracks, Twist has become a favorite to a steady group of younger fans. Hoping to enter the New Year on a high note, The Golden Child mixtape heavily samples the 1986 Eddie Murphy film of the same name.

Right from the start, the sound is what you might expect. “Blame Tez” boasts an abundance of bass and corky synth work at an attempt to be catchy. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. “Light Up” and “Twisted” follow the same pattern, with the latter being the most successful of the both unsuccessful cuts. Lil’ Twist relies on an array of vocal distortion and sound effects to keep tracks intriguing (like in “Gunzo Meets Twizzy” and “Steady Hatin’”), but it doesn’t always work, as halfway through the mixtape every instrumental begins to sound like work from a poor-man’s Lex Luger (though he does actually make an appearance on “Reckless”), and a flow that does not provide much variety. “There She Go” is comical, as he speaks about women in such an unbelievable manner, and over hooks like “I’m as hard as Godzilla” on “Godzilla,” laughing is all there is to do.

The best song here is, without a doubt, “#1812,” possessing an infectious, crunchy bassline and decent verse from guest Lil’ Za. For the end of the mixtape, Twist slams on the breaks to slow it down with love songs “Past Life” and “If Only She Knew” – a drastic change from the heavy, braggadocio mood of the rest of the project. The best things here are the sometimes catchy beats, but Twist’s flow and lyrics are basic. Like a kid let loose in a worldly candy store, some of his claims are obnoxious and preposterous: pulling triggers, sleeping with lust-filled women, and spending racks. But hey, he’s 18, and in a few years and with a little work, he may be “the golden child.”

Download Lil’ Twist’s The Golden Child for free HERE