By James Bennett
The rap game has a new redheaded stepchild.
The fast-food chain Wendy’s has gained popularity for it’s witty social media clapbacks.
In October 2017, they went toe-to-toe with chicken chain Wingstop over a Twitter rap battle.
As impressive as the lyrical feud was, I don’t think that anyone could have expected Wendy’s to drop a mixtape.
On March 23, the fast-food chain released their five-track EP “We Beefin?” on Spotify, iTunes and Google Play, being sure to send a tweet to McDonalds saying “🍔🍔🍔Hey Fam 🔥🔥🔥 Hottest new rapper in the game 🍟🍟🔥 Don’t sleep on this mixtape. 👀👀👀.” along the way.
Although the mixtape serves up fresh and never frozen beats, the vaguely witty lyrics simply do not allow the tracks to get by on beat-fetishism alone.
The gimmick of a food company releasing a mixtape doesn’t wear off on “We Beefin?” as quickly as it did on Hamburger Helper’s 2016 “Watch The Stove.”
Wendy’s gave the mixtape their best shot. They really did.
Unfortunately, it turns out that the fast-food company should have just stayed in their drive-thru lane. Twitter beef and stale memes seem to be their strong suit.
Don’t get me wrong. Wendy’s employed the hip-hop legends WondaGurl and Metro Boomin to produce a portion of the album, according to a verified page on Genius.com. Hell, they even managed to release two halfway decent tracks!
The only problem is that Wendy’s, or rather their rap-persona, at Wendys, doesnt know how to arrange tracks on an album. The tape’s strong point is buried within the middle of the E.P., rather than the debut track, and its weakest point serves as a footnote.
It seems at Wendys may have hoped that listeners would just give up on the tape by the E.P.’s disappointing finale. Furthermore, the lyricist (and personified voice of “Savage Wendy”) had a tendency to run out of steam by the second verse of her tracks.
Of course the mixtape isn’t completely full of disappointment.
Most of the beats featured on the mixtape are fairly good! Maybe not good enough to stand on their own for 15 ½ measures, like they attempted on “4 for 4$,” but nevertheless good.
Furthermore, the vocalist’s experimentation with vocal filters adds a dose of relevancy and variety to a few tracks.
Fans of the fast food chain may also enjoy a few witty lines, such as “I’m Socrates ’cause all your ideas just come from me / They love Wendy’s ’cause everything is so quality / Can’t be no king, yo burgers ain’t the finest thing.”
The EP is chock-full of call-outs to Wendy’s main competitors McDonald’s and Burger King.
Sadly for at Wendy’s, their sloppy flow and below-average hooks do not merit the mixtape’s level of confidence. It certainly isn’t worthy of comparing itself to Biggie’s “Ready to Die,” such as the mixtape’s cover art suggests.
“We Beefin?” sounds like one of your friend’s Soundcloud tracks, where you can tell that the producer obviously spent more effort on the song than the actual lyricist attributed to the piece.
1.5/5 Stars
The Crow’s Nest rates albums between one and five stars, with five stars being the highest possible score.
Header photo courtesy of Wendy’s
