Rich The Kid – Life’s A Gamble

Rich The Kid is an arch collaborator, a rap talent who has walked alongside some of the best in the game. Drawn into the orbits of Ye’s Vultures project, his profile has gone stratospheric in the past 12 months, and new album ‘Life’s A Gamble’ is a good opportunity to re-establish his core credentials. Peppered with highlights, it leans on his natural skills but also feels uneven at times.

His first solo LP since 2020’s ‘Boss Man’, ‘Life’s A Gamble’ races out of the traps with some fiery highlights. ‘Not In The Mood’ pivots between Rich The Kid’s East coast styles and Offset’s inimitable flows, while a resurgent Chief Keef illuminates ‘Louie Coat’.

A record that emphasises Rich The Kid’s breadth, there’s even room for a UK feature – Young Adz appears on ‘Tell Me’, and while his bars aren’t the dominating factor on the record it’s another sign of UK rappers being given more gravitas by their Stateside peers.

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Naturally, given his involvement with Vultures, that project looms in the shadows here. ‘Gimme A Second 2’ is essentially a Vultures re-run, complete with bars from Ye and Ty Dolla $ign – that’s no bad thing, though, and the track harnesses the dark energy of its parent endeavour.

Ye returns on ‘Plain Jane’, and the increased subtlety of the production here spotlights different aspects of their art – it’s a creative relationship that runs deep.

Those moments shouldn’t obscure the more singular aspects of the project. ‘Keep It Exclusive’ is a raucous partnership with Quavo, a mosh pit starter built with studio finesse. Closing with ‘Rocking & Rolling’ – “I was 16 when first had X / 19 when I first had sex” – this is a record that succeeds in bursts, one that sparks into life before moving forwards once more. A noble solo experiment, it allows Rich The Kid to redefine his rules, on his own terms.

7/10

Words: Robin Murray