Music Review: Eazy Call by Eric Bellinger

When I heard Eric Bellinger, one of my favorite singer/songwriters right now in R&B was releasing his “debut” album I was excited after being a fan of his past projects that include “The Rebirth”, “Cuffing Season Pt. 1”, “Cuffing Season Pt. 2”, and “Eventually”. However, his debut album “Eazy Call” was call that dropped its signal a few times before it was all over. After penning some great hits and album cuts for top artists such as Usher, Chris Brown, Tyrese and Trey Songz it was exciting that Eric was finally getting his chance to shine on a more mainstream stage.

Using his recent “beef” with fellow singer Tory Lanez, after Lanez dropped some bars on his “Hate to Say” track off his sophomore album “Memories Don’t Die”:

I think it's time we cut the silence by n***as that's talkin' violent

Speak of silence and give 'em coffins and violins playin'

R&B n****s with Sisqó haircuts, wildin' and stylin'

They dissin', guess they just tryna go viral, I feel 'em

This your favorite song, this gonna be your favorite song

Except when I say it, it's really the people's favorite song

You did a vid dissin' to flex the i8

I could've flexed a 'Rari or Wraith, but n***a, I ain't

Instead, I bought my house the other day; I'm flexed in the paint

In response, Eric Bellinger dropped the scathing “Yikes” over re produced version of “Hate to Say”. Bellinger openly admitted while on his Press Run that he was using the talk of their beef to promote his album and get interviews with various outlets. Personally, as a longtime fan since about 2014 I had no problem with this until I heard the album.

The album starts strong with the sultry and sexy “Legs”, which leads into the Mason Betha, assisted “Not a Love Song”, which has the potential to be a banger if serviced to radio and worked. Starting strong, other highlights of the album were “Silent Treatment”, “Role Play” featuring Scootie, and my two personal favorites, the 112-sampled “Y.A.K.” featuring Sammie and Chevy Woods and “Ain’t Ya Ex” featuring Mila J and Tink. While warranted, the self-titled track “Eric Bellinger” which finds Eric boasting about his talent, it didn’t seem like the right track to end album, I personally would’ve chosen “G.O.A.T. 2.0”, the remix to his standout track “G.O.A.T.” from his last project “Eric B For President: Term 1” except this time around his adds frequent collaborator Wale. While I love the track, the only negative critique from me is that the song dropped in 2017; I would have preferred to hear a new track from the duo.

Other bumps in the road include the Ne-Yo assisted “Dirty Dancing”, which gives off island vibes and will get women moving, it just did not move me despite Ne-Yo probably being my favorite singer in R&B. Others include mainly the last 4-5 tracks, which none really stuck out to me. Despite not fulfilling my expectations because of his past work, the album does an excellent job of showing Eric’s versatility and talent that rivals and gives resemblances of many of Eric’s peers, some that he has actually penned records for in the past. I suggest any new listeners to still give the album a listen as well as checking out his previous work, mainly his “Eventually” mixtape and “breakout” project “The Rebirth”.