The sticky hooks on "Saint" and "Black & Chinese" propel their verses forward, with Scott inhabiting infectious pockets in the beat to allow the pair to rattle off flows with ease. The album's redeeming moments come mainly at the hands of Scott when he's able to adapt his cadences to suit production needs, his choruses grant the verses a fundamental momentum. Even "Best Man," a dedication to the pair's close associates, is delivered in an emotionless daze. While this works to their strength in the atmospheric layering of "Moon Rock" and "Where U From," for the most part it further lobotomizes the tracks, gutting them of any variance or flair. While trap is hardly renowned for poetry, HJJH's content is markedly poor: phrases like "wait for the swag to unlock" are cringe-worthy, while "We was tribe, Navajo/We was real, Jack and Jill/Like the pill had awoke" is just nonsensical.Īlthough a punchy delivery could mask this significantly sub-par writing, the pair opt instead for a humming Auto-Tune, slathering their verses with robotic filters. Yung Lean's ethereal opener on "Dubai Shit" is quickly discarded for a monotonous 4-note beat, while the gloomy production of "Motorcycle Patches" is thrown under the bus by Scott's tuneless "fuck shit up, we fuck shit up." This fundamental lack of care is equally reflected in the album's writing, arguably the worst of either artist's career.
Despite some excellent musical frameworks and concepts, the pair put no effort into utilizing them to create great music. What "Modern Slavery" demonstrates so aptly is the album's core failing, a lack of focus.