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Album Review - American Boyfriend: A Suburban Love Story


Music is special, it's emotional and if something really resonates with you, it touches your soul. But every now and then you come across some music that pulls all kinds of emotion out of you even when you can't relate to it. That's where I found myself listening to Kevin Abstract's album American Boyfriend: A Suburban Love Story.

I came across this album via YouTube as silly as that sounds. I was watching a video for Big Boi's new song and one of the related videos is for Kevin Abstract. I check it out, it was cool. So I head over to Spotify and take a listen to American Boyfriend and let me tell you, it was not what I expected. See, I expected a love story, about a boy and a girl, but I got a love story about a boy and a boy.

The album tells the story of Kevin coming out as bisexual and having a secret boyfriend. A boyfriend that was in the closet and also had a girlfriend. It deals with people around him rejecting Kevin opening up about his sexuality. Eventually he comes to terms with who he is after his boyfriend's suicide. This is not my life and I relate to none of it.

That's the great thing about this album. You don't have to relate to it because Kevin does such a great job at displaying emotions through the music. There's also the fact that he doesn't expect you to relate but to feel the music instead because music is universal. That's shown in song Miserable America where he raps:
My boyfriend saved me, my mother's homophobic. I'm stuck in the closet. I'm so claustrophobic. I just want help if my best friend's racist. My mother's homophobic. I'm stuck in the closet. I'm so claustrophobic. I just wanna know shit, why we all love Young Thug
Kevin is really good rapper but he also sings really well too. Not just that autotune off key thing that a lot of rappers are doing now, but actual singing. The album features him going back and forth between the two really well. Most verses are below the standard 16 bars but that's all good because when you're done saying what you have to say just wrap it up. Production on the album features a lot of synths and string instruments, I'm pretty sure I heard a harmonica too. You're not going to get any of the standard rap production in this one.

If I had to pick one track to be my favorite it'd probably be Echo. It's like a nice summation of the whole album wrapped up in a few minutes. I also really like Miserable America because it shows that no matter what at the end of the day it doesn't matter if you're straight, bisexual, gay, black white, Muslim, or whatever, America is pretty fucked up. You're gonna be miserable if you let all the things wrong with America get to you. So sometimes, it's best to care anymore.

I didn't know what to expect going into this album. I was caught off guard by the content but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a good album. I'm a fan now. It's a lesson that sometimes you need to go places you didn't plan to just so you can find some really good music.

You can hear Darrell on the CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts. He also plays classic arcade games on The Cabinet. You can also check out his playthrough of Sleeping Dogs or Skyrim
Darrell S.

Hey, I write stuff, a lot of different stuff, that's all.

5 Comments

  1. I watched a random video on Kevin Abstract and I find his story interesting. S/O to him and his collective. Peep that Ugly God XXL freestyle though lol. Very lit! Booty tape coming soon!

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    1. That Ugly God freetstyle was fire. I'm excited for the booty tape

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    2. My nigga! -Tai

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  2. Howdy Darrell it has been a while since I left a comment but I feel that once again I need to urge you to explore your hidden bisexuality. First there was the porn, then there was the expression of bisexual tendencies based on your post about Michael B. Jordan and Ryan Coogler. Then we've seen your tweets as well. You sometimes joke about how you would be gay if you didn't have to have gay sex or you wish your friends would get sex changes so you could have sex with them. And now we have you listening to and admittedly feeling emotional attachment to an album about a young man, probably close to age hiding his bisexuality and finally coming to terms with it. Darrell, can you please stop lying to yourself? There is no shame in being bisexual as 80% of people are bisexual even if they don't admit it according to the Kinsey scale. Darrell, you're young. You should be living your life right now. There's always time to get things together in your thirties for right now you should be exploring who you are. For you I believe that means having sexual relations with another man or at least admitting that somewhere in your mind it isn't just jokes but you're open to a committed relationship to another man. You're probably nervous about sex with another man because you assume it involves anal but a lot of gay couples only have oral sex and masturbate together. You need to stop hiding behind jokes and embrace your sexuality because right now you are what people like to call a down low brother.

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