The first JACKBOYS record was very, very good. Short, sweet, and hard-hitting. Travis Scott was at the peak of his powers around the time of the EP, and the hype around Cactus Jack Records was high.
Since then, Scott became the biggest artist in the world. He had a controversial concert that killed a lot of people, then dropped an album that kinda came and went, in my opinion. Now, Travis Scott is back, post-UTOPIA, giving his fans new music. He calls upon his Cactus Jack Records artists—Sheck Wes, SoFaygo, and Don Toliver—on enough of the tracks for this to be called a "label" album.
Both SoFaygo and Don have solo songs on Jackboys 2 with "MM3" and "NO COMMENTS", while "ILMB" is credited as a Sheck Wes song with a Scott feature. Most of this album is Travis Scott. This would've been the perfect opportunity to showcase his label's talents, but only 2 appearances for SoFaygo is pretty ridiculous. Toliver and Sheck have a song together called "VELOUR", and clearly most of this music has been made for years, so his lack of contribution is puzzling. The mixing on this project is all over the place. Some beats feel like they should hit much harder than they do. There are elements and techniques that Mike Dean would've done, without the bold and limiter-breaking loudness. For example, "STARGAZING" off ASTROWORLD has a very clean mix, while maintaining an 808 and bass that clips and sounds as if you're listening on festival speakers. The lack of Dean's sound is obvious, considering Scott made a large part of his identity and most important works.
"CONTEST" is a classic TRGC and Yeat-type beat that would've banged in 2021. Scott sounds smooth on the beat, but SoFaygo shines on this type of production. This was his bag, and similar to the sound that blew him up. On "CHAMPAIN & VACAY", Travis remembers he's a rapper. His flow is pretty good, and the Waka Flocka Flame ad-libs help keep the energy. A small nitpick I have is that they sometimes get cut off without allowing them to fade out, which would've sounded better in my opinion. This is also the song where he took a shot at Pusha T.
"Made a hundred off pushin t's / now my phone on DND." and "Man I swear these old niggas kill me / know my YNs feel me." Very basic shots and nothing of note. Don Toliver's contributions on the song were very good.
"Where was you" features a Playboi Carti hook, which is one of his better ones. It's a standard affair for both artists at this stage, nothing noteworthy. "PBT" shows Scott attempting to get in his "Drake doing his Jamaican accent/Dancehall" bag to an okay result for him. He uses so much autotune that it can't not sound good. Tyla's feature is great and fits perfectly on this production. Jamaican Dancehall legend Vybz Kartel has an energetic verse. When traditional Dancehall artists feature on these types of songs, it shows just how boring and slow the popular act that is attempting to do this sound is.
"SHYNE" is a sorta ode to Memphis-type production. Scott's verse is fine, but once the chorus starts, the "moment" is clear. The only way I can describe it is as that one scene from SpongeBob.
"Woah / Woah / Swoop it down, wobble it, wiggle it, wobble it, wiggle it, Wobble it, wiggle it, wobble it, wiggle it, woah".
Glorilla has a great verse, continuing to be one of the better rappers active in the mainstream currently. She ends her verse regretting being too young to fuck actor Matthew McConaughey,
"Don't ask me 'bout no ho I used to fuck with / I ain't got nothin' to say / My only regret is bein' too young to fuck Matthew McConaughey / Yeah, bitch, Matthew McConaughey." and doing her best Travis Scott impression, also doing the wobble it, wiggle it refrain.
Most of the other songs don't stand out in my mind. Comparing this to the original JACKBOYS, it is nowhere near as consistent or even hard-hitting. No song on this album touches "OUT WEST" or "GATTI". Hell, "HAD ENOUGH" is my favorite song from that record, and it doesn't even feature Scott. A lot of JACKBOYS 2 feels like leftovers from albums that are done and waiting to drop. I hope the next release from Scott is inspired. And I hope he allows SoFaygo to release music.