It’s been more than five years since Young Dro dropped his major label debut, Best Thang Smokin’, which topped both the Billboard Rap Albums and R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts, and came equipped with his breakout hit “Shoulder Lean.” Though the Grand Hustle rapper hasn’t been able to duplicate the success of that single or give the label reason enough to put out his follow up, P.O.L.O. (Players Only Live One), it’s not for a lack of grinding. Staying determined, Dro dropped his We Outchea mixtape earlier this week.

The tape starts off with attempts at whirling bangers, and Dro finds some success early on with the catchy “Upgrade,” but doesn’t quite hit the mark with routine attempts at routine concepts like on “Getting To Da Money” and “Shawty Gone Get It.” All is not lost, though, as the production is amped up enough to warrant some spins and the Atlanta native displays flashes of sharp-tongued rhymes: “Money over bitches and stitches over the riches/And riches get us to sixes and sixes get us the bitches/I’m lost/I thought I just said money was over bitches/And everything that I spent, I bought that shit for them bitches,” he posits on “Getting To Da Money.”

As the project progresses, Dro shows a few different sides—both musically, crooning a handful of hooks, and from a content standpoint. “Fell In Love Again” shows a more personal side, while “The Wake” is a smooth triumph.

Though We Outchea may not spawn a single that will bring Young Dro back to the popularity of his “Shoulder Lean” days, the mixtape proves, in the very least, that he hasn’t given up on returning to that status. —Adam Fleischer

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