Album Review: Bad Habits by NAV

On March 22, 2019, Canadian rapper and producer Nav released his second studio album Bad Habits. It follows his Brown Boy EP, which was released a week earlier. In total it has 16 tracks, with some of them featuring Meek Mill, The Weeknd, Young Thug, Gunna, and Lil Durk. The deluxe version of the album, which was released three days later, has three new songs, with features of from Future and 88GLAM. In addition, all of the songs from his EP to have 24 tracks in total.

Earlier in the year, NAV had announced that he was gonna retire after just releasing one studio album Reckless. The funny thing about it is that literally no one cared about it because he didn’t really add anything new to the rap game and it was obvious that he was doing this as part of a marketing strategy for this album. At first, I was kind of excited because the album was going to be executive produced by The Weeknd, who is an amazing artist; but then, after hearing it, I was very disappointed. Even though Bad Habits became NAV’s first US chart-topping album, it didn’t really mean anything because of how bland and dull it was. The Hip Hop/Rap/Pop album was full of generic beats and trash lyricism and was very lackluster in almost every aspect.

My favorite songs from the album are “Tap” (feat. Meek Mill) and “Price On My Head” (feat. The Weeknd). Yes, those were the only songs that truly stuck in my head and that I considered “playlist worthy”. Meek Mill carried Nav in “Tap”, and so did The Weeknd in his song. Both songs featured catchy hooks and poppy beats.

I didn’t really like the album. I really think that he should just stick to producing even though the beats weren’t that great in this album. The majority of his criticism comes from his nasally voice, which many people find annoying. Al so, he has one of the worst lyricism in all of rap. He doesn’t talk about absolutely nothing, he just rhymes words just to rhyme. His lack of coherency and substance really affects his music in a negative way, which is why he receives so much hate. I’ve heard of people saying that if he ever left the rap game for a reason, it would be the same, which is bad because it speaks to his nonexistent legacy and impact. I don’t know why but I get the feeling that he just wants to be part of the rap game because of the fame and fortune and not because of the hard work and dedication. If he were to put these factors into priorities, he would become a much better artist. NAV should definitely work harder on getting better writers and learning to have more complex and impactful lyrics to stay relevant.