Album Review: SAINt JHN - Ghetto Lenny’s Love Songs

SAINt JHN the Guyanese-American rapper has made it clear in promo interviews that Ghetto Lenny’s Love Songs is not an album, but a collection of love songs. His first album is simply called Collection One and Ghetto Lenny’s Love Songs build on the sensibilities established in the first album. ‘Lenny’ in the title is a reference to SAINt JHN’s stylistic influence Lenny Kravitz. SAINt JHN used the term ‘Ghetto Lenny’ to describe the type of music he is trying to make.

The album has features by Lenny Kravitz, Lil Baby, Meek Mill and A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie.

SAINt JHN shows his versatility through several tracks in the album. While ‘5 Thousand Singles’ is a fast track that is perfect for a long drive on I-95, ‘Borders,’ featuring Lenny Kravitz on chorus, is a soothing love track. The songs in  Ghetto Lenny’s Love Songs aren’t superficial they are abstract enough to explore just one dynamic in love.

The transitions between songs are super smooth. ‘Call me after you hear this’ discusses closeness and is a perfect follow up to ‘Borders’ that deals with borders between the lovers. If SAINt JHN says this album is a collection, then it has many pairs of songs that reflect each other and go together. ‘Trophies’ and ‘All I want is a Yacht’ is a good pair of songs and one follows another. ‘High School Union’ and ‘Cult4ever’ are another good pair of songs that talk about looking forward instead of backwards.

Ghetto Lenny and Lil Baby sing about their love for TRAP and meeting their match who is game for anything. ‘Monica Lewinsky,’ a track featuring A Boogie wit a Hoodie, is a track in which Ghetto Lenny talks about him wanting just an affair with not-a-wifey material. The song is not a “diss-track” about the white house intern after which the song is named after.

Overall, Ghetto Lenny’s Love Songs is the kind of album that flows like juice on a slope. SAINt JHN rocks in the album by exploring various themes of love, lust and combination of both. The fact that he can pull off different types of tracks that are all about love is a testament to the rapper’s ability. The beats and production values of the tracks are top-notch and highlight the fact that making music from scratch, instead of buying beats and making a song, is the good artistic choice.

Catch SAINt JHN live in 2020.