NBA Youngboy "Sincerely, Kentrell" Album Review
I don’t even know if the word cult is the right word to describe NBA Youngboy’s fanbase. From six year old kids in Louisiana having Youngboy themed birthday parties to Youngboy caskets, NBA Youngboy has a hold on the youth that we have not seen in a long time.
He’s built his fanbase off of being able to blend aggressive gangsta bars (they aren’t ever bars they are threats that happen to be over a beat) with a level of vulnerability that many can relate to. To the Gen Z kids in these communities, Youngboy speaks for them.
They hang on to every word he says, they dress like him, and even adopt his slang and accent. These kids really believe that “YB better”. He’s one of the biggest artists on Youtube without having a big push on any of these major platforms. Youngboy transcends the Gen Z generation though, his fans range from Gen Z to fully grown adult Millenials.
On this project, NBA Youngboy sticks to the same formula that lead to the massive success of his 2020 album, Top. There’s no overarching theme on any of his albums (which is fine, the quality of music is all that matters), his albums are moreso time capsules, used as a record of his feelings at that point in time.
There’s plenty of classic albums that are of that nature, much of Drake and Hov’s music serve as a time capsule of their emotions at the time. Not every single album has to run like Kendrick’s Good Kid M.A.A.D City or Wale’s The Album About Nothing, the phrase “there’s more than one way to skin a cat” applies here.
While the music on Sincerely, Kentrell is enjoyable, still balancing having a complicated love life while also trying to spin the block at a good level, I do think it falls a bit short of Top and AI Youngboy II if I were to compare these projects song for song.
Standing alone though, Sincerely, Kentrell still contains the aspects of Youngboy that have made him a rap superstar without a major media push. Youngboy, having just turned 22, is still trying to figure out life just like the rest of us.
He’s a multi-millionaire at the age of 22 sitting in a jail cell awaiting a court date to see what happens next. And while the fans may love him for his gangster presence and erratic rants on IG live, at his core he seems to be going through many of the same issues any average 22 year old would be going through. Those issues range from fake friendships and trust issues to his relationship with his family.
He’s got an entire generation in his palm for these reasons. Sincerely, Kentrell serves as the timestamp for not only NBA Youngboy but many of his fans who hang on to every word he says for dear life.