After a long and exciting few weeks of rollout, Richmond-based rapper Nettspend finally released his much anticipated album “early life crisis” on March 6. The project is 21 songs long, and is Nettspend’s second studio album.
Even before the album was released, an exhilarating rollout with multiple promotional trailers, a tour announcement, and a unique merch drop that doubled as a tracklist reveal made it clear that this album was going to be a tremendous one. So it’s definitely safe to say that Nettspend made the year-long wait, including two delays, totally worth it.
This album is a solid addition to the already crowded rage-rap genre, which has been seen in more projects throughout 2025 and 2026. “early Life Crisis” is in good company, joining albums such as “Unmusique” by Lucy Bedroque, “REST IN BASS” by Che, and “psykotic” by OsamaSon. Like all these artists, Nettspend isn’t new to the underground rap scene. Starting his career in 2023, releasing dozens of singles, and eventually an album titled “BAFK” (Google it) in 2024, he’s made waves throughout both the music scene and across social media, getting closer and closer to attaining mainstream recognition.
Going into this album, I was most excited to see producer CXO working with Nettspend. Through his years of work with Che, he’s proved to be personally my favorite producer. His versatility when it comes to tailoring beats to fit different album themes and highlighting whatever era an artist may be in is something I don’t see very often in rap.
“early life crisis” has a great blend of grungy rage songs, balanced out with more melodic, plugg-inspired songs. In case you’re unfamiliar, plugg is a rap subgenre characterized by melodic and minimalistic beats. Nettspend starts off “early life crisis” on a calmer note, opening with “you ready?”, a pleasantly ethereal sounding track. It functions perfectly as an opener, hooking you by the ear and keeping you attentively listening throughout the entirety of this innovative musical journey. It contrasts perfectly with the next song, “ce,” in a good way. “ce” is the first of the proper rage songs on this album, which features Nettspend using a more distorted voice over a typical sounding rage beat. The beat sounds really good, but what holds the song back from being great for me is the grimy vocals.
The third track, “pain talk” also comes with the first feature, delivered by OsamaSon. I’ll get straight to the point: this song is not it. Both Nettspend’s and OsamaSon’s verses sound more like hooting and hollering more than rapping, and the sub-par beat doesn’t do anything to help it. OsamaSon also continues this trend of mimicking the voice of whoever’s song he’s featuring on, similar to Che’s song “WHIPPIN.” Both artists give up their unique styles on this song, making for a disappointing crossover compared to past collaborations like “wake up” or “withdrawals.”
Luckily, Nettspend turns the album around, going on a hot streak with “crack,” “still standing,” and “who tf is u.” My favorite of the three, “still standing,” is a great combination of Nettspend’s older sound with his new sound, blending jerk rap and rage, resulting in a phenomenal, unique track.
The next standout on this album is “masked up,” containing an unexpected feature from rapper Youngboy Never Broke Again. While having a very short verse, Youngboy outperformed Nettspend and showed how much his style of rapping is congruent with rage. I hope to see him making music similar to this, and maybe even collabing with other rappers in the underground scene, in the future.
Coming up on the album’s halfway point, “halftime” makes a great interlude. Nettspend finally nails his use of a voice different from his current voice, switching between the two throughout the song. He also throws in a Fakemink diss, which is surprising considering they were seen together days prior to the release of this album. This song is one of the most energetic songs on this album, transitioning quite seamlessly to “meet me in richmond,” which ironically features one of the most minimalistic beats on this album.
Following “meet me in richmond” is another slew of solid songs: “no sleep,” “<3 me,” “paris hilton,” and “sick.” I found “sick” similar to the earlier track “still standing” in how it also blends jerk and rage with its trademark distortion and hard-hitting drums, making it a favorite of mine on this album.
One of the most surprising songs to see on “early life crisis” was “plan b,” considering it was teased and then leaked around seven months before the release of “early life crisis.” By the time it was released, I had already overplayed the leak, but I’m still glad to see that it made it past the chopping block.
Nettspend signs off the album with “lil bieber,” including a message about the toll that success takes on your relationships with those close to you. It’s also somewhat reminiscent of Nettspend’s old sound, making for a great outro and addition to “early life crisis.”
Overall, this project serves as yet another great addition to the rage rap genre, solidifying the fact that Nettspend certainly isn’t going anywhere, and is probably only getting better from here. Every song, with the exceptions of “pain talk” and “cross em out,” is nothing short of a hit, with the big 3 for me being “crack,” “still standing,” and “you ready?”, and “sick” and “who tf is u” as some honorable mentions.
But does it measure up to BAFK? I’m still unsure. But once enough time passes, I think “early life crisis” will prove to be superior. One thing I can confidently say, however, is that I don’t think 2026 will see many projects greater than this one.
Final Ranking: 10/10
