Album Review: Tyga - Hotel California

It takes exactly 12 seconds to get a complete understanding of what Hotel California is all about. It's when the first snare drum snaps, it's when the first f-bomb drops and it's when Californian gangsta Tyga begins his hour-plus tirade against the world.

Bitches, niggas, blunts and guns are the order of the day, and with guests like Lil Wayne and Chris Brown, the artist known as Michael Ray Nguyen-Stevenson to his mother is in esteemed company. Not to labour the point, considering Hotel California is littered with tracks titled Don't Hate Tha Playa, Hit 'Em Up, Get Rich and Drive Fast, Live Young, it doesn't take a genius to work out that this probably isn't one to listen to with the kids.

In fairness to Tyga, he backs himself fully on this record. Even on tracks like It Neva Rains, where samples and beats are at their most prominent, Tyga's raps are crystal clear. The majority of the record is filled with sparse, treble-heavy productions, so that Tyga and his guests don't have the chance to retreat into the muddier aural terrain of blurry basslines. His rhymes never falter, and unlike many of his contemporaries, the production is appreciably subtle.

Gangster rap singles have been a dime a dozen since the late '90s, but it takes an ambitious artist – think Dr Dre, Eminem, Kanye West – to produce a full album's worth of quality material. While Tyga has a lot of work to do before he can separate himself from the rest and reside in such illustrious company, Hotel California shows serious potential.