Larger Than Life Review: Brent Faiyaz Proves His Presence In R&B Is Inescapable

Larger Than Life Review: Brent Faiyaz Proves His Presence In R&B Is Inescapable 

By Dylan Barbee

Photo Courtesy of @brentfaiyaz on Instagram

Release Date: October 26, 2023 

Brent Faiyaz has deservingly become one of most prominent voices in the current R&B scene. His addicting, melodic flows are flooded with his raunchy lyricism about toxic relationships while simultaneously boasting about his player lifestyle. In his newest album Larger Than Life, Faiyaz spends the whole album persuading a woman to be with him, convincing her that being with him is larger than life itself. He does this by mixing his familiar brutal transparency we’ve been hearing throughout his career on projects like F**k The World and his 2022 release Wasteland, with the r&b sounds of the late 90s and early 2000s. 

Larger Than Life was a surprise drop and was announced the day of the album’s release on Oct. 26, 2023. The cohesive project has 14 songs that span across a very enjoyable 36-minute listen with the use of skits carrying on the album’s message of how Faiyaz lives large. This is the R&B artist’s first album under his own record label, ISO Supremacy. 

Larger Than Life opens up with “Tim’s Intro,” which immediately sets the tone that Faiyaz is taking inspiration from both his own roots as an artist and the sound of R&B that defined the 90s and early 2000s. This is done through the name “Sonder,” being repeated at the very beginning of song, calling back to an EP he released in 2017, Sonder Son while also paying respect to the music group he has performed with through the years. Also, legendary R&B producer and songwriter, Timbaland supplies adlibs to the song under Faiyaz’s smooth vocals. “I’m ninety-nine overall, bitch I glide when I walk,” Faiyaz boasts. 

I respect Faiyaz’s selection of features with artists ranging from A$AP Rocky, Babyface Ray, and even Missy Elliot showing up on Brent’s newest album. However, the best feature was from a name I have never heard prior to listening to Larger Than Life: Tommy Richman on the song “Upset,” one of the best songs on the project.

The production throughout Larger Than Life is amazing. The tone of the album is able to encapsulate a feeling of nostalgia when it comes to the glory days of R&B. Songs like “Best Time,” and “Belong to You,” sound vibrant with their rhythmic approach and feel like songs you would expect to hear R&B icons like Usher, Aliyah and Justin Timberlake to sing on. Instead, Brent Faiyaz makes these beats that feel so reminiscent of the past complement his own style in an innovative fashion. Faiyaz’s ability to invoke nostalgia while also being original is the best part of Larger Than Life.

The flaws on Faiyaz’s newest release are very minimal. There were just a few songs that didn’t live up to the overall quality of Larger Than Life. For instance, “On This Side,” featuring A$AP ANT and CruddyMurda did not sound like a Brent Faiyaz song. Instead, it was a long 3-minute song where the features awkwardly rapped offbeat and Faiyaz himself felt more like a background character that rarely made an appearance. 

The highs of Larger Than Life come when Faiyaz is on the frontlines. Most of the songs on this project are short but sweet allowing Faiyaz to effectively get to the point. The album has a lot of potential to be athematic as songs like “Moment of Your Life,” and “Last One Left,” have catchy choruses that perfectly allow Faiyaz’s mysteriously sly persona to flourish.  “If they gon’ run your life, get your ass out of mine, Tell ‘em watch they f**kin mouth when they speak about us,” Faiyaz sings on “Last One Left”.

Overall, Larger Than Life is a great addition to Faiyaz’s near flawless discography. I think the album can be compared to quality of Faiyaz’s earlier projects like Sonder Son and F**k The World and is stylistically more successful than his 2022 release Wasteland. I hope Brent Faiyaz will eventually have the same influence as artists like Usher did. Faiyaz has clearly solidified that his presence in the R&B world is larger than life itself. 

Rating: 9/10