On “Back in the Mode,” a smooth banger on his stellar new album Kiari, Offset admits, ”Lost a bitch last year and got another one,” making it clear that he feels like getting more than a few things off his chest. Having suffered a public divorce from Cardi B last July, those bars home in on what many listeners have wanted to know. Even more to the point, “Move On,” the album’s fiery last song finds Offset quipping, “You fucked around with the wrong dude/Hope your next nigga will be great.” But you’d be mistaken if you thought that he’s just about drama here. Finding solace and looking inward are some of Offset’s objectives on this fluid follow-up to 2023’s Set It Off, in addition to skewering his opps with the barbs he’s always good for.
Since Donald Glover’s Golden Globes assertion, in 2017, that “Bad and Boujee” is “the best song ever,” the whole planet has known that the mild-voiced rapper is that dude. Indeed, every time you hear “Raindrops, droptop,” it immediately follows that you’re about to hear some top-tier bars. Offset is the ne plus ultra of verbal polish. No doubt, craft, finesse, and professionalism are evident in his lithesome, always-in-pocket raps. He gave us some real lyrical oomph on Father of 4, his 2019 solo album, but much of that project seemed centered around family matters. And some fans may have desired more of the unadulterated flames he spit on bangers like “Slippery.” Though Set It Off debuted at number 2 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop chart, it struck even less of a balance, jumping off with restless skippables like the shmaltzy “Fan.” Fortunately, Kiari underscores Offset’s critical gifts, tapping into his chutzpah while demonstrating even more growth.
Energy and shit talk propel the bass-suffused “Professional,” where the Northside, Atlanta native brags, “Head of the food chain, the top of the top/Kickin’ shit — Louis Cane — I cannot flop.” And it’s great to hear him this focused, floating over the track’s infectious snares and ready flutes. Even though he’s traveled the world and made a ton of hits, Offset is still close enough to the streets to remember “I had to go trap and go kick me a door ‘fore I ever had rapped to a fan.” Similarly, the J.I.D-assisted “Bodies” is informed by the “Bad and Boujee” rapper’s byzantine observation that “I keep a stick or a blicky in case it get sticky.”
If he didn’t, on “Back in the Mode,” insist that he’s got “another one,” you would wonder who Offset refers to on the lush heater, “Love You Down,” but, anyway, he’s “coming to visit no matter how long I’ll be gone.” The cool, quiet-storm ambiance gives this ballad an Eighties slow-dance feel. And he raps with both compassion and conviction. Offset is a better balladeer than we give him credit for. (Typically, Quavo gets the top melody-maker love, and rightfully so.) But “Love You Down” is more earnest and smooth than just about any of his big R&B-informed missives. The “On Fleek” MC’s tuneful crooning on “Set It Off” is instantly hummable. His verses on this Kiari highlight are nothing to sneeze at either, as he’s, fortuitously, brought back that trenchant stop-motion “Bad and Boujee” flow, revealing, “I’m pullin’ up trim/stepping out/You getting money like who/Boy, cut it out.”
Regrettably, “All My Hoes,” with its sleepy hacienda vibe, comes up short. As does the treacly “Calories,” where Offset raps in a geeky, affected tone toward the song’s end. Still, “Prada By Myself,” boasting cavernous, Liquid Liquid–style bass and a soaring Teezo Touchdown hook, gives us some needed introspection with such insights as, “Nigga turned friend to a foe/But I had to learn to let it go/Coming like a man as a pro.” Offset has never been more on.