Beach House
*Beach House* takes all the darkest celebrations of trap rap—drugs, guns, sex—and filters them through the vulnerable croon of Ty Dolla $ign. The results are fantastic because of that juxtaposition. Even when Ty is exploring something sinister, his tone makes it impossible not to be drawn in. Produced by Ty’s constant partner DJ Mustard, “Paranoid” and “Or Nah” are no-brainers; with just the right mix of simplicity and eccentricity, these songs will still get play in 50 years. It\'s the slow, slippery “Work,” though, that is the album’s sleeper gem.
After paying dues producing for Compton stars YG and Problem and featuring on Cali rap records of every stripe, Los Angeles singer/producer Ty Dolla $ign zeroed in on a sleek, commercially viable sound on his Beach House mixtape series. Beach House the EP succeeds where last year's Beach House 2 didn’t, further commercializing Ty’s sound without sacrificing the meat and potatoes of it.
On his debut EP for the Atlantic label, singer, rapper, and producer Ty Dolla $ign comes off as a hip-hop and street-level alternative to R. Kelly or T-Pain, one who's able to sling the slang like it ain't no thing (key track "Paranoid" goes "I got a bad light skin from the Valley/She be in the club with not panties") while making epic musical moments (opener "Work" sounds like a suite that travels across pop-rap, gangster music, and dubstep).