Sez you.
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[3.00]
Elisabeth Sanders: Yes mediocre.
[4]
Thomas Inskeep: I know it’s an easy thing to say, but this isn’t even mediocre – it’s just bad. Remember when T.I. made exciting records, like, 10 years ago? When Iggy Azalea, who is not exactly known for being a great or even particularly good rapper, out-raps you on your own single, you should recognize that there’s a problem.
[2]
Micha Cavaseno: Oh Clifford… This Mustard beat resembles the steel pans of the Atlanta he once reigned over, sliding into the sea before dissolving into Alex Mack-like glorious texture. Yet the Kang is providing a rather half-hearted bit of player romp, overclustering his hook in a rare ratchet beat that lacks the space for his worming. And this was already before the arrival of the dreaded iguana reared her ugly head, bestowing on us another collage of the noises you make when you fight off sneezes. Oh I’m sorry, Grand Hustle representatives have told me that’s how she sounds when she raps. My mistake.
[2]
Crystal Leww: T.I.’s never been the rap lyricist’s favorite rapper, but he’s gotten away with it because of his personality and plenty of charm. What’s central to T.I.’s personality and charm is how it shines through his Southern drawl. For example, T.I., while describing his ideal chick: “I solemnly sweah!” with the rhyme scheme continuing into “fat aeh!” Figuring out what’s great about T.I. makes it makes it painfully apparent why Iggy Azalea is ill-suited to be “Grand Hustle’s first lady.” When your accent’s fake and when your personality’s fake, your raps come off as charmless. The other day I heard an edit of “No Mediocre” without Iggy Azalea and segued right into “Single Ladies,” and I decided that, yeah, this song isn’t actually all that bad without “Iggy Iggy” and her middle school flows.
[6]
Will Adams: In the future, everyone will get three and a half minutes to specify their sexual preferences right down to the detail of pubic hair. And an Iggy Azalea verse.
[4]
Patrick St. Michel: I respect T.I.’s devotion to the title here, because the beat and the featured guest are definitely not mediocre.
[3]
Alfred Soto: The title a classic non-denial denial, the steel drum a menace, Iggy a nullity, “No Mediocre” sounds like a top ten sure shot.
[2]
Katherine St Asaph: You want mediocre? Here’s some: “‘For me I think it was something to uplift women,’ T.I. told MTV News today, just hours ahead of the premiere.” As if the tired steel drum, endless demands and presence of Iggy Azalea weren’t enough to accomplish the opposite, now women get the post-“Blurred Lines” press tour of bullshit.
[2]
Brad Shoup: I totally missed Iggy’s verse the first go-round, and that’s only partially attributable to all the texts my dad and I were sending about A&M stomping South Carolina. So I missed the “six inches of space” line, which is killer; that and T.I.’s Jaguar prank almost compensate for some classic pubic nonsense. He and Mustard are in a Caribbean state of mind… I can’t imagine how you get head while riding a scooter, but I bet you could fuck in a steel pan. The melody works, the track doesn’t loom, so it’s kind of a waste.
[5]
Tara Hillegeist: Rap game Taylor Swift and a washup chasing trap rhythms like a lawyer looking for his ambulance with no slickness or skill to reward my ears for enduring it? “No” is word enough.
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