Rittz – The Life and Times of Jonny Valiant

Rittz – The Life and Times of Jonny Valiant
Strange Music: 2013

You might remember Rittz from one particular breakout guest feature, or from his own passable 2011 mixtape White Jesus, but whichever way you do, it will likely always be with another rapper in mind. Rittz spends a number of bars on The Life and Times of Jonny Valiant, his debut studio album, singing the praises of his mentor Yelawolf, and it’s not hard to tell why.

Either by featuring him on his own “Box Chevy” or helping out on the highlight of Rittz’s own output so far, “Fulla Shit”, Yela’s had a big part to play in affording Rittz the relative status he has now. With Yela seemingly still languishing in post-flop-debut purgatory, it’s tempting to be cynical of Ritt’z ability to keep his head above water, but at this point to talk about him only in terms of his relationship to his apparent benefactor; at this point in time, Rittz is certainly making music better than him, at the very least.

Their styles, predictably, aren’t miles apart, (a fan of one would almost certainly be a fan of the other), but there are important differences. Sonically, Rittz is on Yela’s spectrum but occasionally leans much further toward the organic, Southern fried classicism of Big K.R.I.T., (who shows up here on “Wastin’ Time”). He also has a less outsized personality; Rittz is humble, earnest, and honest, and he also comes equipped with a rough enough sounding past to generally keep those positive attributes from becoming too dry. It’s one of his greatest assets, the other being his expertly harnessed, relentlessly speedy flow.

Almost all of the bars on The Life and Times of Jonny Valiant are spat in a vicious double- or triple-time, and it’s hard to at least raise your eyebrows at first listen, especially during the album’s great early four track run from “Like I Am” to “Goin’ In”. There are no clunky phrasings or cadences, just technically impeccable raps that actually tend to contain some content too; whether its story raps or accounts of Rittz’s own less than easy past and dalliances with drugs, on the occasions that he actually has something to say, it tends slot into his manically multi-syllabic flow pretty neatly. He’s certainly a bit of a one trick pony in this regard, but it’s a trick gratifying enough to sustain at least the first half of the record.

Rittz’s style sounds great over half-time, paradoxically half-time beats that give him plenty of elbow room to duck and weave as he sees fit; it’s something that Rittz knows perhaps a little too well, as Johnny Valiant’s most glaringly obvious weakness is the holding pattern it falls into beat-wise. Far too much space is given over to portentous, plodding, piano-driven that is clearly supposed to provide space for Rittz and add an air of significance or drama, but it quickly becomes monotonous. The diversions are welcome and often the most enjoyable moments. The updated g-funk of the Eminem-esque “Goin’ In”, the steely “Fuck Swag”, particularly the country-fried video-drop “Like I Am”; he even tries out Auto-Tune on “For Real” and comes out looking pretty good. These slightly more idiosyncratic tracks make Rittz’s relentless spitting sound that much more exciting than it does otherwise, and show up the remainder of the record’s unimaginative shortcomings. Also, serial douche Mike Posner shows up twice, which is obviously nigh unforgivable.

It all comes down to Rittz compiling a few good components, (his generally likeable and interesting character, his undeniably skilful rapping), but not giving them the environment in which they would be able to truly thrive. At least a third of his debut is great, and most of it is certainly better than your average unfortunate rap debut; but too much of it is bogged down in identikit production and a flow that, impressive though it is, could use being switched up much more often. He has enough going for him right now to differentiate him from other rappers working on his level; but based on this, his own claims to be a “future hall of famer” seem premature.

2.5 out of 5