The conceit—to deconstruct and recontextualize demeaning language of women through a feminist context—is a good one. The execution of story and response, even at its most mundane (on, say, "Put it Down," which joins a fine and robust pantheon of songs about being fucked so well that all other flaws can be forgiven), goes a long way to adding layers and nuance to a term meant to flatten and singularize women.
So, good gimmick. The songs work, too, with the best of the album's offering standing firm on ten toes divorced from their larger framework. "Lost One" sounds like it's coming from the bottom of the Delaware River, rushing toward the surface to exhale heartbreak, both plainspoken and profound, as a desperate, resigned goodbye ("Don't have too much fun without me... try not to love no one"). "The Other Side" is the album in micro, explaining the "gold digger" myth as a response to poverty as opposed to siphon personified.
A brief note on Anderson Paak: rap critic Andrew "Noz" Nosnitsky once summarized the performer thusly: "He's Kenrick Lamar with more hats. We already have Kendrick Lamar, do we need another who just owns and wears more hats?" I perform this drive-by to say this: If budgets or schedules don't allow one to secure Lamar for their features, it's nice to know you can get 60% of the way there at, one assumes, a fraction of the cost.
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