Chad Rico, the self-proclaimed “rapping math professor” from Richmond, CA, continues his insanely active 2019 campaign by dropping the final installment of his 12 Weeks of Summer EP.
The idea of any artist dropping songs back-to-back in the span of a few weeks would make you immediately question the quality of the releases, but the artist’s trajectory has been trending upward since the release of the project back in June, and ultimately dropping the final releases in the following order “Still Wit It,” August 9; “Success with the Shade,” on August 17; “Wonder,” on August 23 and “Sleep in the Phantom” on August 30.
The hard-hitting single “Sleep in the Phantom” appropriately serves as the best outro to the project, setting the tone for an album that sonically fuses a handful of different styles. Its energetic hook instantly establishes Chad Rico’s inspiration for living life to the fullest.
12 Weeks of Summer contains the kind of cohesion needed in holding the listener’s attention span with most the songs being short and precise, and the project feels organized as a whole with each track transitioning seamlessly into the other.
Stories of ambition and success on records like “Still Wit It” and “Success with the Shade” effectively highlight a recurring major strength for Chad Rico. The versatility of the artist’s musical style shines for most of the project, but there are moments where the content gets a little bit mild. However, he makes up for it by picking up topics that aim to bring his vision to life.
From song to song, it is nearly impossible to anticipate the style of the next record. You go from hard-hitting rap on “Wonder” to a smooth, early 2000’s hip-hop jam on “Still Wit It,” you can never predict whatever eclectic style the artist is feeling. And that’s one of the beauties of Chad Rico’s music.
His gradually gotten slicker, smoother, and wittier. That is a remarkable feat, especially for an artist whose travelling around the whole world in pursuit of happiness and still have the time to relentlessly craft music for the hip-hop community. There’s a mutual sense of relief in the air among hip-hop fans knowing that one of the finest and most impressive creative’s around is hopefully here to stay with the completion of his project, 12 Weeks of Summer.