In a genre where an artist's death is often nothing more than an opportunity for relentless cash-ins, What It Means to Be King is a rare, respectful tribute to the rapper it claims to represent. King Von's first posthumous LP arrives without radio-ready collaborators or garish merch deals; instead, WIMTBK dedicates its hefty 19-track run to bloodthirst and boasting.
Bizarrely, some of Von's most high-octane material seems to have been left in the vault: the Von of WIMTBK is a relentless soldier, a sadist metering out death while cackling out of the car window. With adrenaline flooding in, he blasts through the sauced-up drill of "Straight to It" and the dismissive "Mad," bringing an outlandish energy matched by few in the industry. Back-to-back performances with Fivio Foreign ("Straight to It"), OMB Peezy ("Get It Done"), and G Herbo ("Facetime") make for the highest highs of all, while fan favorites like "Evil Twins" and "Grandson for President" make their welcome debut on streaming services. There's no watering-down Von's violence, here -- fans of the rapper may relish his murderous outbursts; outsiders may find them repulsive.
As expected, the project's lighter material provides most of its pitfalls: "My Fault" is corny and unfeeling with a limp appearance from A Boogie, "Hard to Trust" stumbles toward the finish line in half-time, and "Don't Play That" squanders a 21 Savage appearance with half-rhymes and parodic production. "Trust Nothing," undeniably the worst of the lot, is an ugly cluster of misogyny and sexual assault -- a solid verse from Moneybagg Yo would have been better placed elsewhere.
Despite its questionable content, it's impressive to see a posthumous rap release which affords so much respect to the ethos of its late creator. Of course, no album is completely safe from tampering -- much of WIMTBK's namedropping has been cleverly edited out, and the fan favorite "Story of JR" has been mangled into the noticeably shorter "Where I'm From" -- but Von's first posthumous tribute nonetheless proves a candid reflection of the late artist. This is Von, warts and all.