Testing Review

Rocky billed Testing as an experiment, and it is one, in the sense that plenty of it does not work. The highlights are real: Praise the Lord (Da Shine) with Skepta, a flute loop and a grin; A$AP Forever, built around Moby; and Purity, where Frank Ocean takes over the closing track. Those three are as good as anything he has made.

Between them the album wanders. Distorted, half-finished ideas sit next to conventional trap, and the features, Kodak Black and French Montana among them, pull the record in directions it never resolves. Rocky's own verses are the least memorable part, which on a record this dependent on his taste is a real problem.

It debuted at number four, his third straight top five album, and reviews were generally positive. With time it reads as the bridge between the Yams era and the long wait for Don't Be Dumb: interesting more often than it is good.