FRATPACKER WORLD.

A ‘BLACK & WHITE’ ALBUM REVIEW

As winter starts to fade and we go into the summer of spring, that feeling of experiencing the sun’s warmth again just puts you into an appreciative mode because you realised all you’ve been missing out on in that time. That’s how I feel about Flvme dropping his sophomore album, Black & White, that bloomed out of nowhere two weeks ago on Monday, the 11th of August 2025.

Before we look into the new heat Flvme just dropped on us, lets start at the spark and how he ignited on to the scene and our earphones. Flvme started out with Pretoria collective, The Wrecking Crew (TWC). He famed along A-Reece as being one of the heavyweights of the group, with A-Reece taking mantel as King of Rap and Flvme as the King of R&B in the group and having Mashbeatz as the King of Instrumentals to help raise both artists even higher. In his time with TWC, before the group split ways in 2019, Flvme released his Clouds EP and a collaboration project with Zoocci Coke Dope, tilted Do Not Disturb.

The split with the group and dealing with their personal issues didn’t hinder Flvme or his ability to make and put out high quality music with him dropping projects such as; Germander (EP, 2019), Candyman (Album, 2019), Dead or Alive (EP, 2020), Red Light District (Collab Album with Die Mondez, 2020), While You Wait (EP, 2021), Germander II (Mixtape, 2022). The Lost Packs vol 1 (EP, 2023|), Note to Self (EP, 2023), Inferno vol 1 (EP, 2025). Having put out such a catalogue within the last 6 Years, I was kind of scared for Flvme and his new album.

I say this because we’ve seen it happen to multiple artists, but in this reference, we’ll speak mainly to Lil Wayne, where he put out so much music before your album that the anticipation and expectation of it becomes so high since the album is meant to be the real gold and everything else like a teaser leading us to the promised gold but unfortunately most of albums didn’t live up to the hype created from his mixtapes and side projects. With the quantity and quality of music that Flvme has given us over the last 6 years since his debut album Candyman that the expectations of his sophomore album were set extremely high.

His sophomore album, Black & White, was released very spontaneously. He had mentioned the album being on the way, on the 10^th of July [2025] and then on the 1^st of August [2025] he started the rollout with wanted posters of 25K & Die Mondez ahead of releasing and announcing their single, Count Up, on the 4^th of August. The next day he announced the rest of the features, using the same wated poster format. He proceeded to announce the tracklist and the album release date (11^th of August) on the 8^th of August. Finally releasing the album on the 11^th of August. Within a month of teasing the album is on the way and a week after dropping the single we had a new Flvme album. The standout of his whole release was that both the single and album were released on a Monday; instead of the common practice of releasing on Friday.

Now that I’m done with the fun facts let’s get into the music. The album consists of 21 tracks, equalling to a 71minute listen, averaging it out to 3:30mins per song. 21 songs are a lot of songs and not just in modern times but throughout hip-hop history, when you really look at it most albums averaged at around 12-15 songs, excluding bonus tracks. Usually, a 21-track album only works if it’s made of bangers as seen with 50 Cent and his albums; Get Rich or Die Trying & The Massacre; or with Kanye West’s The College Dropout & Late Registration. Now it’s only been two weeks but I feel as though Flvme executed this perfectly.

The album opens with the ‘Dark Outside [Intro]’, a pleasant surprise where we hear Flvme rapping, not something he does as he states in the intro himself but there are things that he needs to get off his chest, for real. I loved it because I always believe the intro should be the prologue of what is to expect throughout the album and the theme of getting all these feelings and thoughts off his chest resonates throughout the album. This theme carries on with the next track, 10 TOEZZZ ft Westside Boogie, where Flvme speaks on having to deal with all the stress and, personal drama and trauma he’s going, and gone, through while still having to hold his family down and holding it down as a man. The track is interlaced with an interview with Westside Boogie on The Breakfast Club talking about mental health and sometimes how the pain is needed to be a rapper before Westside Boogies goes off on a crazy verse, where he acknowledges Flvme and affirms their friendship.

In track 3 & 4, Game of Thrones & We Ain’t Into It, Flvme gets in his trapper and rap braggadocios bag, which is a really fun and easy listen that you can switch on at any time. We then get to track 5 and the single off the album, Count Up ft Die Mondez & 25K, in which fans got to experience the duo again and a reminder why they were so loved together. They way the play off each other’s flow with Flvme’s melodic flow and Die Mondez’ hard rap flow. The power of the duo is really felt in the following track, BUTTER FLOWZzzz, where it’s just the both of them bouncing off each other, 4-bar for 4-bar, like passing the basketball back and forth, each allowing the other to get their shot off, something like The Splash Brothers or LeBron & Kyrie going 40 for 40.

The end of BUTTER FLOWZzzz goes into a lady singing harmonies and melodies. This is noteworthy because in a 20+ track album I’ve always conceptualised it as being a 4 separate EPs/seasons being put together to make one album/movie. This melodic harmonising adds a sense of a bookmark that it’ll be a check point for the album but as well as being able to introduce the next chapter or arc of the album.  

Into the next arc of the album, we go. In the next song, Daddy Issues ft Zoocci Coke Dope, it brings in the new theme for the arc, which seems to be trust issues around love and Flvme’s relationships, whether romantic or with his friends. In Daddy issues, Flvme speaks directly to how modern-day relationships all seem to be transactional but also breaking it down that it’s due to the fact that nowadays we are being taught to survive and strive for a superficial lifestyle and not how to really love, while Zoocci Coke Dope speaks on the men side of things and how Daddy Issues affect boys and the men they grow up to be.

The next 3 tracks in the album are dope to vibe to. Not anything bad but great music to bump if you having a slow day with the homies or you know sitting with a pretty little thing on the side. The notable song for me is track 11, All Night Long (Interlude). Reason why this is notable for me because again we hear a new arc/chapter of the album come in. From having trust issues and dealing with the fickleness of his relationships, Flvme goes into trying find this elusive love and where things go wrong. All Night Long (Interlude) is a 3-minute interlude that talks about how this break-up has him drinking, smoking and in the club as he is going through umgowo.

This leads nicely into the next song, KOCTY ft Dire Fox, where it seems like there is a rekindling of the relationship and them picking up from where they left off talking about their chemistry and the intensity that they always had and you know…some loveback hey. Dire Fox has them PIPES!!! Couldn’t leave that out, he his a must listen to.

The next two notable songs for me are; track 15 [Dance For Me] & track 16 [Can’t Fall ft KashCPT], simply because they are just some really good R&B bops. With Dance For Me being more of a seductive, sexy time in the strip club vibe and Can’t Fall being more of a f*ckboy, just got out of a relationship and back on the streets type of energy. We are introduced into the 4^th and final act of the album with track 17, Habibi ft Young Stunna. It’s interesting because with Flvme being more of an R&B artist you would assume and expect him to lean more into the Amapiano sonic (which the song has in its instrumentals), but in a splendid surprise, we hear Young Stunna going back to his roots as a rapper and genesis as an artist and delivers a great performance and verse. The verse actually gives me the craving of wanting to hear Young Stunna rap more on these melodic Amapiano meets Jazz meets Hip-Hop sample, sonic fusion.

This sets the theme for the close-out of the album which is on an island chill, vibe and wine feeling. The notable closeouts for me are; track 19 (Up 2 Sumn) ft track 20 (When You Call ft DaVionne). This vibe is actually the perfect closeout to the album where we were started out with heavy raps, went into the trap for a bit, got our dose of love and now we are walking out dancing and happy for the experiences and just glad we got to live through it all.

I believe and hope that was Flvme’s intention when presenting this body of work to us as the audience. Black & White, feels as though it’s his resurrection from drowning in all the bullsh*t around him and he’s made it out and taking a deep breath to finally let it all out and talk about it. Showing us that the story is not all black & white but some colourful happenings in between. I would rate this an 8.5/10 in the short time I’ve been able to live with it but I don’t see it going down (maybe to an 8/10) in my ratings, for the work of art that it is.