04-04-2025
A begrudging review of LiAngelo Ball's follow-up track to 'Tweaker'
A begrudging review of LiAngelo Ball's follow-up track to 'Tweaker'
It's still taking a second for me to get used to talking about LiAngelo Ball, well, really at all, let alone talking about him as a rapper and not a basketball player.
But he's done it, folks! He's made the transition. The dude has a hit single, a record deal and an album on the way. Gelo Ball is a full-fledged rap artist. On Friday, he debuted a new single called "Law N Order."
This is a big moment for Gelo. It's one thing to nail a single. But it's another thing to nail your follow-ups. This isn't the first single that followed "Tweaker." He dropped "Can you Please" with GloRilla earlier this month. The reaction was solid, but it didn't quite land like "Tweaker" did.
So where does Law N Order land? Probably in about the same space.
The beat is fantastic. Shoutout to ThomasM, who produced this banger. Similar to Tweaker, it sounds like a modern take on something you'd hear the Hot Boyz rapping on in the late 1990s and early aughts. You can't help but give it a foot tap when you hear it.
What's unfortunate about it is Gelo is kind of dragging the beat down. His flow? Not great. The cadence is weird. It's also a very monotonous song. The energy isn't quite there. It's certainly not matching the ferocity of the beat.
It's also hard to hear what he's saying on the hook. It's almost like he's putting on his best Brian Kelly impression with a fake southern accent. It's just not really working for me. Maybe it's the beat itself. Maybe it's because I know he's a kid from Chino Hills and he doesn't really sound like that. Who's to say? Regardless, I just don't think this works that well. This beat deserves so much better.
Ultimately, the beat probably saves this song. Put it on some speakers and it almost doesn't matter what Ball is saying or what he sounds like — the people will get it popping. In the end, that's probably what matters.
