Once you get past the major label formalities on Watch Dis!—the triumphant intro with a “Dreams & Nightmares” drop, too many “Spend Dat” remixes, 2000s nostalgia bait, Quavo—it’s pretty fun listening to Miami talk about diamonds and fucking on a bunch of Saturday-night-at-the-roller-rink beats. The retro swing of “Put Together” is a smooth backdrop to her taunting hook and sort of clunky but funny rhymes about how everybody wants her: “Girls wanna fuck me, on some rainbow shit/White men love me, on some Anglo shit.” She’s clowning on small dicks and any guy who isn’t a billionaire on the So So Def Bass All-Stars-inspired “Just Might Go,” which for some reason has a mailed-in Travis Scott verse tacked on. She links up with Rick Ross, Trina, and Trick Daddy on “Dade County” for a catchy tour through the 305 that works as an update of Anquette’s “Shake It (Do the 61st)” with a lot more self-mythologizing.
She’s got some clever concept tracks on the album, too. On “Letter to My Mwah,” she argues with her most intimate body part like it’s a rebellious imaginary friend. Then with “Dear JT,” as Tiffany Evans shows off her pipes in the background, Miami opens up about missing the days when her and JT were a “modern-day Thelma and Louise.” The feelings seem genuine because of how specific the writing is: She’s wistful for their matching sets, parking lot hangouts, and Miami night brawls. In a better world this would be the record’s emotional centerpiece, but there’s another relationship on the album that has more of an impact.
Yung Miami remains one of the most vocal supporters of Diddy amid all of the accusations of sexual assault, sex trafficking, and physical abuse; in fact Watch Dis! includes “Ride for You,” a terribly schmaltzy “us against the world” slow jam dedicated to Puff. On the track, she describes how he made her feel seen, and how she will always have his back no matter if that means risking it all. Her position is that she’s a victim for having to deal with all of the lost friendships and backlash that has come with being in his corner. Who is this even for? Weird as hell.
It might be only one song, but the message taints the entire album, because then you start picking up on the crumbs elsewhere. Normally, “I bring the freaks out to the orgy” on “Just Might Go” would be just another risqué City Girls fantasy, but here it’s just off. So is “Freak Like Me,” which makes fun of the girls who can’t be freaks without the drugs, who aren’t about their money enough to deal with the work it takes to get it. The City Girls have always talked about sex somewhat transactionally—this was part of their thing—but the change in context makes some of Miami’s raps come across as blurring the lines between what is and isn’t sex work, as if helping to lay the groundwork for Diddy’s reassimilation into hip-hop on the grounds of having been punished for being too freaky. I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t want to engage with Watch Dis! for that reason, or if you’re put off by my feeling that some of the music is good anyway. But what was supposed to be Yung Miami’s sweet mainstream moment has left a sour aftertaste.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
