Follow a basic theory here: Waka Flocka Flame nailed banger-rap in 2010 with Flockaveli, an album Gucci Mane was completely unassociated with; his releases since have brought nothing short of the proverbial hip-hop ruler strike, driving him to proclamations of retirement, and an unfortunate full collab album with Gucci. Then Gucci Mane dissolved from the picture beneath the stresses of his criminal doings and mental instability, thus leaving Fozzie Bear free from his shackle. Now we have Triple F Life, which I can best describe as the beginnings of an evolution, distorted and vile in its afterbirth as it may be. Most important though, is that Gucci is no long in the picture.

Whereas Waka’s previous projects have been marked with immediate mortar tempos, Triple F Life eases into the tracklist unusually, with Fozzie Bear spewing detailed lyricism we’re unaccustomed to, and touching on a softer autobiography, something that sonically limps, but presents a strong effort at breaking away from being tagged a lame-minded hype-emcee. “Let Dem Guns Blam” is quick to pick up the Waka style we’ve caught from his pile of tapes and Flockaveli, showing off ad-lib loaded verses, a Meek Mill feature, and sounds reminiscent of early Three 6 Mafia. Though it’s lyrically pre-school, it presents another stress on Waka varying his flow patterns, exhibiting a notice that his hits can’t be simply marked by overcrowded instrumentals and lower lyric levels compensating for a perceived lack of talent. “Rooster In My Rari,” “Lurkin” and “Everything I Love” take Triple F Life back to the holler and 808 anthems Waka has built his career on, but there’s an obvious balance amongst the music, something that’s alien to his credo, and ultimately successful.

“I Don’t Really Care” with Trey Songz, the B.o.B-featured “Fist Pump,” and “Get Low” with the mega radio cast of Tyga, Nicki Minaj and Flo Rida are obvious crimes in terms of sacrificing quality and principle for the airwaves, and amongst the machine gun high-hat salvos and volume maxes on “Cash” with Who Da Kid and “Lurkin” with Plies, track priority seems out of order on the backend of Triple F Life. We receive both the worst and best, and there isn’t much of a limbo in terms of those halfway decent tracks, though the aberrations are appreciated, be them dunces or accomplishments.

Triple F Life is riddled with more hitches than positive nods in terms of listenability, but it’s the underside here that deserves the most focus. As an artist, Waka Flocka Flame shows throughout the tracklist an interest in expanding himself as an artist, both topically, and in terms of format; it’s difficult to knock an emcee for experimenting in the progression that hip-hop’s been demanding he work toward. “Power of My Pen” and “Chin Up” are a far cry from the album’s best records--obviously, “Triply F Outro” is the album’s worst track--but they show us a more complete Waka Flocka Flame aiming toward more than his past successes. At some point the party ends and the energy falls off (we saw this happen in the mid-2000s), and with Triple F Life, Waka seems to be showing us that he isn’t placing his weight solely on wall-slamming anthems.

C

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