Okay so actually I take it back. There is such thing as bad music.

I was about to write about how there’s no such thing as bad music. But then I went in search of the worst music I could find to help me prove my point and well... I was wrong. There is such thing as bad music. And I think I may have found one of the worst songs out there. So here is an analysis of “Wordplay” by Blueface and Trendd

Firstly, let’s take a listen to the track. I’d recommend listening on headphones if you don’t want to anyone to have to endure second hand embarrassment

Okay…so now that we’ve stomached that, let’s get into a little analysis shall we?

Blueface is a rapper most well known for his song Thotianna, which is characterized by his extremely offbeat rapping and subpar word play. It is truly beyond me how this man has a following. If you try really hard to see it as joke music then maybe you can get a laugh or two, but he has reached the Billboard charts with some of his songs un-ironically. Now I believe this album We over Famous came out in 2018, the same year his album Famous Cryp was released, which is the album that “Thotianna” and a few of his other popular tracks are from. This means almost nothing. The only difference between the two albums is that it seems that he was able to acquire a better microphone and a mixing engineer for Famous Cryp. However his wordplay, and the way he literally cannot find the beat has stayed the same.

Opening the track, Blueface declares:

“Bitch, this only took one take.”

It’s quite obvious that this took one take. If we couldn’t already tell from the distorted and clipping vocals. Or maybe it was the way the the beat cuts off randomly in the song and restarts slightly behind tempo in the first 30 seconds? Maybe the way every verse and chorus are off beat? Not sure what gave it away…

The track sees Blueface bragging about how he has 18 carats on what I assume is a watch or necklace. He mentions his distaste for people talking shit online.

“You niggas killin’ me, what’s up with all the net typing?

How I’m supposed to respect a nigga thats on the net trippin’? “

And one of my personal favorite lines that almost borders on philosophical:

“Life’s a bitch, it’s not about how quick you can get it up but how long you can last”

So this song is mainly just about flexing his money and shit talking people he doesn’t like. That’s pretty basic rap stuff. But what makes it bad? And what makes it different from any other rap song with the same kind of lyrical content?

To me the only thing that makes a song bad is if it is disingenuous. Even if a song sounds bad, if there is purpose behind it then it still has redeeming qualities. Songs that are devoid of meaning or musical interest and that are clearly just a cash grab are the kind of music that I would consider bad. That being said, this Blueface song is:

1. Musically bankrupt. The beat sounds like it was ripped from a 1 44 pixel Youtube video and looped haphazardly. It’s not mixed properly or seemingly at all. You can literally hear the track clicking when it stops and starts at points that are supposed to be beat breaks for lyrical emphasis.

2. Lyrically it hardly makes any sense. Someone please explain to me what “Stop the sauce biting” means? It’s painfully offbeat. And not even in a way that can be seen as stylistic or intended. It sounded like he just rapped a verse with his headphones half off and couldn’t hear the tempo but just kept it. Since, y’know he did this in one take as he mentions numerous times in the hook.

3. In the context of the whole album, it is a rushed, half assed project. Much like the rest of Blueface’s discography. This may have been released before he rose to viral fame, but even after he gained recognition, the quality of his music has stayed around the same. I mean, look at the cover art to his debut album he released in 2020.

Enjoy this playlist my brother made featuring some of the most insufferable music I have ever heard.

It’s honestly kind of embarrassing. If you’re going to be making something this bad, at least do it with some gusto. He seems to be half assing the half assing. Quarter assing if you will.

Sometimes a song is so bad that it’s funny to listen to and becomes enjoyable. Artists like IceJJFish or Naomi Elizabeth fall into this category for me. Their music is an earache to listen to, but it’s genuine and they both seem to be putting their all into their work. But with Blueface, there is nothing enjoyable about it. It’s just bad. It’s a lazy attempt at music, and honestly kind of insulting that it would gain a following when there are plenty of other unknown artists making far better music with fewer resources.

All in all, there is such thing as bad music in every style of music. However, I find that with rap being a very popular genre, it makes for a plethora of talentless people looking for a cash grab. If you’d like to hear some music that I believe is truly insufferable, check out the attached playlist that my brother curated. He is somewhat of a bad music connoisseur. I’m sure there are a few Blueface tracks on there too.

Blueface has additionally taken part in some problematic behavior during the pandemic that I won’t even get in to. For those of you not hip to him, I hope this was a nice little introduction that will encourage you to never listen to his music again.

So unfortunately my former proposed thesis does not stand. Music can be bad, but only because of the intention of the artist. If an artist creates something for a reason, I’m sure that it will appeal to someone’s niche. However, an artist like Blueface who pumps out lazily performed and poorly produced identical sounding tracks year after year seemingly for profit, is not the kind of music that I will ever celebrate or enjoy.