The Party Never Ends is the fifth and final solo album from the late Chicago melodic rapper, Juice WRLD. He had been releasing music on SoundCloud since around 2015, but he really blew up with his 2018 debut album, Goodbye & Good Riddance. The songs, “Lucid Dreams,” “All Girls Are The Same,” and “Armed and Dangerous,” are personal favorites of mine, and were in my regular rotation in my late teens and early 20s. His style of rap is definitely considered to be emo rap or melodic rap, and derisively by oldheads as “mumble rap,” although for the people who bitch about “mumble rap,” they should listen to Juice freestyling on radio shows, the dude was extremely talented as a rapper. His “Doomsday Freestyle,” with Cordae is another strong lyrical performance. He used autotune when he sang, but he had a strong voice and it didn’t sound extremely obvious in his music when it was used. Sadly, he died of a drug overdose at the age of 21, and he had always been very vocal about his struggles with anxiety, depression and addiction. However, as much as I would love to talk about his early stuff, I think it’s important that I talk about the bigger problem that’s currently at play right now.

    I was never the biggest fan of Juice WRLD, as much as others my age were, as I mainly listened to Kanye, Rocky, and Travis, but a lot of what he released when he was alive really resonated with me and has stayed with me to this day. The truth about that this album is that it feels incredibly tasteless and exploitative. Fantano kinda already touched on this, but like so many posthumous releases, whether it be artists in hip hop like XXXTentacion or Pop Smoke, they feel less like tributes to the artists’ legacies, and more like a soulless cash grab. Most of the tracks on this album are short for a reason, because they’re using as much of the unreleased Juice WRLD’s vocals as they can just to throw shit together and hope it sells. The longer tracks are mostly tracks with features. And while I like a few tracks on this album, such as the solo track, “Misfit,” and “AGATS2,” featuring Nicki Minaj, the rest of it feels very hollow and shameless. I really didn’t like Eminem’s verse on “Lace It,” just comes off as tasteless. It disappointed me,  because there’s moments where Eminem actually sounds reflective and respectful to Juice and the other famous musicians who have died from addiction such as Prince and Michael Jackson, but the “rabbit in a hat,” punchline feels very out of place and disrespectful given that this is an album that’s supposed to be released in honor of Juice. There’s a reason why Juice’s fans are pissed about this album, as the album just sounds like throwaways. 

   There isn’t really much I have to say about this album, besides the fact that it’s insulting to not only Juice WRLD’s legacy, but his fans as well. Juice’s estate is going the XXXTentacion route and just milking his unreleased stuff for all it’s worth. It’s honestly disgusting, and I don’t normally review album covers, but this one is easily one of Takashi Murakami’s worst works. What saddens me is how little respect his label and estate seem to have for the late rapper. Most of the tracks on this album should’ve just stayed in the vault, because I doubt that Juice and his team would’ve released these tracks if he was still alive. It’s a total cash grab, and is not worth anyone’s time to listen to. Honor Juice’s legacy by listening to his first three albums, and let the man rest in peace. 

Overall Score: 3/10

Favorite Tracks: “Misfit,” “AGATS2,” “KTM Drip,”

Least Favorite Tracks: “Lace It,” “Love Letter,” “Goodbye,” “Condone It,”

Listen: https://youtu.be/1HgLQP6xkIY?si=ldN6drPpijvEYzbW

Genres: Emo Rap/Trap/Pop Rap