{"id":663939,"date":"2026-11-01T20:36:10","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T20:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/663939\/"},"modified":"2026-11-01T20:36:10","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T20:36:10","slug":"album-review-bigxthaplug-better-over-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/663939\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: BigXthaPlug, ‘Better Over Time’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tBigXthaPlug<\/a>, a Dallas, Texas<\/a>, vocalist with a deep, grainy, and authoritative mic presence, is one of the most intriguing voices in years. He\u2019s the rare twentysomething mainstream rapper that actually raps. He doesn\u2019t rely on an android-like croon like Don Toliver or hearty \u201ctrap-soul\u201d laments like Rod Wave. Instead, he spits hard and from the chest, his momentum hitting the ears like NFL linebacker Myles Garrett shoving wide receivers into gridiron grass. And happily, at least for old heads disenchanted with the state of modern rap<\/a>, he frequently pays homage to OGs past and present. On 6WA, a consistently entertaining project with his 600 Entertainment crew<\/a> released last March, he invited Texas-\u00e9migr\u00e9-turned-West-Coast-pioneer the D.O.C. to offer a benediction, then referenced the old-school hardness of Too $hort and the late Eazy-E. On his new album, Better Over Time, producers Tony Coles and Charley Cooks sample the Notorious B.I.G.\u2019s \u201cSky\u2019s the Limit\u201d while Leon Thomas revives 112\u2019s classic chorus: \u201cSky is the limit and you know that you can have what you want, be what you want.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIronically, given his meteoric rise, Better Over Time often presents fame and fortune as a mirage that can\u2019t mask lifelong pain. In an RS cover story<\/a> on BigXthaPlug earlier this year, journalist Eric Diep wrote, \u201cHe\u2019s in better spirits now, and not making sad music anymore.\u201d Perhaps Better Over Time isn\u2019t as persistently melancholy as I Hope You\u2019re Happy, his Billboard Top 10-charting suite of broken-hearted collaborations with Nashville\u2019s top country stars that helped land him <\/a>a spot at the 2025 CMA Awards<\/a>, where he performed \u201cPray Hard\u201d with Luke Combs. Yet his frustration with seeing his friends and neighbors turn him into an object of gossip and envy after he successfully overcame poverty simmers until it nearly overwhelms what should be a glorious, Life After Death-styled victory lap. Much like on Baby Keem\u2019s Ca$ino<\/a>, another recent rap epic undone by its author\u2019s inability to overcome lingering trauma, BigX can\u2019t always navigate around his unnamed haters. His main instinct is to pull out a wad of bills and fling it in their faces.<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tDespite the peevish tone of Better Over Time, BigX remains a ferociously magnetic presence, someone who retains a listener\u2019s focus with ease, whether it\u2019s alone or with collaborators like GloRilla, who snaps with canny sharpness alongside him on \u201cFAF.\u201d Rap aesthetes have blanched at some of BigX\u2019s arena-pop moves, like pairing with Ava Max on Better Over Time\u2019s advance single, the airy and declamatory \u201cBurn.\u201d But \u201cBurn\u201d also underlines his expansive nature and his ability to encompass different sonic moods without cynicism. (The single even gives BigX an opportunity to celebrate his cover glow-up, as he raps, \u201cWho from my state front-page Rolling Stone and proudly rep they city?\u201d) Elsewhere, he blithely offers a chipmunk-soul delight reminiscent of early Kanye West on \u201cLite\u201d while comparing himself to Jodeci and \u201cLil Wayne on Tha Carter III\u201d and dominates a cipher with critical favorites Babyface Ray and Lil Yachty on \u201cBelieve.\u201d Dark clouds may be slowly distorting BigX\u2019s frame of mind, but moments of pleasure often shine through. \u201cBeen collectin\u2019 this green\/This big n\u2014- like salad with dressin\u2019,\u201d he delightfully brags on \u201cCracced.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\tBigX frequently alludes to the importance of family. The first voice on Better Over Time belongs to his mother. \u201cIt seems like just yesterday, you was fighting and getting kicked out of school and shit. Now look at your ass,\u201d she says on \u201cStand on Business.\u201d \u201cYou\u2019re a boss, a legend.\u201d He talks about making money to feed his two children and support his extended family and boasts on \u201cDa Fucc\u201d that he\u2019s spent so much money on guns that \u201cmy grandma strapped with a stick.\u201d \u201cMillion-dollar n\u2014-, shit I got, you can\u2019t afford this\/Tryna stay off the Forbes list \u2018cause that\u2019s when they gon\u2019 want shit,\u201d he says on \u201cPeace of Mind.\u201d However, a few cuts later, he contradicts himself on \u201cGive It All\u201d when he raps, \u201cI want the billions, the trillions, and whatever else, \u2018cause the millions, I already got.\u201d Big numbers like that will certainly put him on the IRS\u2019s radar. It\u2019s also proof that BigX is working out his ideas and beliefs in real time.<\/p>\n

\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n

\n\tBetter Over Time should give him an opportunity to expunge his anguish and, if not necessarily heal, then find clarity on why his preternatural talent has brought a mixture of blessings and frustration. He\u2019s had plenty of success, from Drake<\/a> and Beyonc\u00e9<\/a> cosigns to Wingstop licensing his 2024 hit \u201cThe Largest\u201d for a widely aired 2025 commercial<\/a> starring NBA sharpshooter Jalen Green. So why does he feel overwhelmed like \u201ca slave with all these chains\u201d?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tAs he grinds away over the album\u2019s 42 minutes, lucidity seems distant. \u201cWonder if I said fuck it and stayed in the streets sellin\u2019 dope,\u201d he fumes on \u201cLately F Rap.\u201d \u201cWould them n\u2014-s still speak on my name for some clout?\/Probably not, \u2018cause I wouldn\u2019t have an image.\u201d On \u201cHeal Me,\u201d a cut that almost drowns in Florida singer Fridayy\u2019s blandly Christian fervor, BigX admits that he\u2019s riding in a \u201cdouble R\u201d Rolls-Royce:\u00a0 \u201cMy rug\u2019s been damp from all these tears\/But I been fightin\u2019 how I feel for some years\/I think it\u2019s time I take this moment to heal.\u201d Still, the final track centers on an interpolation of Harry Nilsson\u2019s \u201cOne.\u201d As producer Bandplay sings, \u201cOne is the loneliest number that there ever was,\u201d BigX raps, \u201cI\u2019m out by myself all alone\/Don\u2019t feel welcomed in what I call home.\u201d It\u2019s a bit of a downer.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s easy to dismiss BigX\u2019s anguish as the familiar pop trope of a rich man\u2019s blues or, as Biggie once put it, mo\u2019 money, mo\u2019 problems. But he\u2019s only 28 and clearly struggling under the glare of increased expectations from fans, his community, and the music industry. He may still be prone to youthful mistakes, as an August DWI arrest<\/a> on unlawful firearm and marijuana possession charges suggested. Better Over Time implicitly promises that he\u2019ll keep evolving in the years to come, even as it withholds the satisfaction of hearing him find closure now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BigXthaPlug, a Dallas, Texas, vocalist with a deep, grainy, and authoritative mic presence, is one of the most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663940,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[157161,146,744,85,46,409,735,5727],"class_list":["post-663939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-bigxthaplug","tag-entertainment","tag-hip-hop","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-music","tag-rap","tag-texas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}