Big Fil comes through with his debut album Stadium Status, one that many have been waiting on for some time now, after his two previous mixtapes 3 AM and 3 AM Applied.

The album starts off pretty well on the song “Audience of One”, with him basically explaining that his life is on stadium status and the audience is only one person, Jesus, and it’s meant to flip the notion of why we do the things we do. As I listened to the album, I felt a number of things; the first is that I wished the concept of stadium status was able to be fleshed out more. I felt that while there were many good songs on the album, which they could have been songs on any project, because they didn’t flesh out the concept that I see for stadium status. When we think of stadiums, we think of something that is big, very important and I felt that he could have played more into that concept with the fact that God is THE biggest and where we find our importance from period.

While that is something I feel takes away from the album, at least in one sense it was explored in that, as in stadiums where the artist “serves” the fan-filled stadium, so Big Fil serves God and it shows in life. For instance, by being a “Gentlemen” which he describes how a man should be and celebrates it. There was one other thing that nagged at me for some reason, and it was just this feeling that at some points it felt like he was trying to show he has a place in Hip Hop. Through the years in the past, I have known how hard it is for Christian artists to show their legitimacy in the genre, yet for one, if the call is from God there would be no need to try and prove it, and another is that Big Fil is a quality artist which is why it felt weird when I felt this in certain parts of songs.

Now that you have seen me pick at the proverbial scabs, let’s not try and smash this as a lame album by any means, because there are a lot of good things in here as well. One thing that I really liked about this album is the production and not just that it’s hot beats and all that, but its production that fits Big Fil as an artist. You can have artists who have hot beats and don’t use them right, or can have hot beats and it just doesn’t fit them in some way, but whenever I hear Big Fil on beats, it always fits hand in glove. Another thing I liked was the portions of songs where he actually sang, which I would really like to hear some more of for he has a pretty good voice!

Another strong point on this album are the features he chose on the songs. My favorite song on the album is “Clap On It” featuring Redd Lettaz and D-Maub. The verse from Redd Lettaz, I feel, is his best one to date in how he rode the beat as well as the lyrics.

As I listen to Big Fil himself rap on the songs, even though I don’t see the strong wordplay, I definitely see the passion, sincerity, and also the simplicity in how he conveys the truth. Another track I really like from him is “My Everything” which shows this all in one, just worshiping Him.

This album is a good offering from Big Fil, I liked the intro to the album as well as the next track “I’m Gone” which just knocks hard! I felt that the next track could have been better, and the next two tracks didn’t really capture me too much, but on the second half of songs from the album finished out extremely strong for me! May we all keep in mind to live our lives for an audience of One, in Him is where we live, move, and have our being.

Categorical Ratings Background:

Originality/Creativity: 3/5
Lyrics: 3.5/5
Delivery: 4/5
Beat Selection/Production: 5/5
Concept/Arrangement: 3/5

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