Though it slipped under the radar, MellowHype's "La Bonita"-- the first single off their sophomore album Numbers-- was an interesting new direction for the duo of Hodgy Beats and Left Brain. Odd Future got popular without really ever going pop, but "La Bonita" threatened to change that. It didn't, of course, but for all the hosannas that Odd Future have issued in the direction of Pharrell, this was the first song to sound like it could be dropped straight into a classic Neptunes mix. Pharrell's attempts at this kind of light, slinky funk in the past half-decade have yielded results frighteningly close to Jimmy Buffett, but "La Bonita" pops, thumps, and pays off at the end when Hodgy nearly cops Pharrell's honeyed falsetto.
So it comes as a disappointment that Numbers itself is a retreat into insularity. Though it's the nominal follow-up to the group's debut album, Numbers follows more in the footsteps of Hodgy's Untitled EP, which was a pleasant, though unspectacular, foray into weed-fueled indie rap. But both that EP and Numbers lack the blistering energy of MellowHype's debut, and that's something that the group initially made its name on. There is no "Fuck the Police" on Numbers-- a song like "Untitled L", which aims to play that role, feels like its going through the motions. Odd Future's greatest asset as a collective was that they demanded you pay attention and form an opinion, and BlackenedWhite succeeded at doing that as well as anything the group put out. Numbers does no such thing. Above all, it asks one question: What's the end game for MellowHype?
That's because there's nothing wrong with making rap for stoners, but Hodgy-- the group's main MC-- isn't exactly MF Doom. He can rap on a technical level, but Numbers begins to reveal flaws in MellowHype's formula. Hodgy raps quickly but not exactly creatively, and without the foot-through-door bangers that pepper BlackenedWhite, his verses and Left Brain's wonky productions begin to bleed into each other in a way that does its individual songs no favors. Where the group's debut explicitly suggested that you play it while wreaking havoc on Halloween, Numbers is dragged down by a distinct aimlessness and lack of direction.
There are high points, but a lot of the album feels interchangeable. If songs like "Break" or "GNC" or "Monster" exchanged titles or switched out verses, it would be hard to tell. "La Bonita" doesn't have that problem, nor does "Snare", which effectively deploys a group of singing children (or at least the simulation of one). "P2" and "Astro", which feature Earl Sweatshirt and Frank Ocean, respectively, also stand out, but even those magnify the lack of starpower that is Numbers' relative downfall.
If there's one thing that could've improved the album, it would be the increased presence of Left Brain. His production, whether he's playfully pawing at your face with sampled guitars on "P2" or pounding out radio-ready synth melodies as on "Astro", is fantastic. His beats are mostly built from the noise up, and it would be difficult to be as obsessed with sounds as Left Brain seems to be without making beats that are formless. But that's Left Brain's charm-- the central gurgling synth figure of "Beat" shouldn't really work, but it's one of the most repayable things on the record. He appears too infrequently as a rapper, though-- his charming goofiness and laid-back charisma cuts through Hodgy's unflinching seriousness but isn't deployed enough.
Numbers is a solid rap record, but MellowHype have shown themselves to be capable of more. They further burrow into their own world here, but it results in exponentially diminishing returns. The group that offers skewed takes on Waka Flocka Flame and the Neptunes is galvanizing, but the MellowHype on Numbers is standardized, and that's something it never quite seemed they would be.
