Vonnie D – “Thoughts In The Norf” Album Review

Hailing from Long Beach, CA, Vonnie D is the latest of a talented wave of artists from the LBC. Having had a couple loosies see some success on SoundCloud, Vonnie dropped off her debut EP Thoughts In The Norf earlier this month. 8 tracks and 24 minutes long, it serves as a punctual, straightforward look into life in Long Beach.

With an intro and outro on the first track by Long Beach star Vince Staples, On My Soul gives a peek into Vonnie’s pre-success struggles, and deals with loss she’s gone through in past years. With soul bearing lines like “When you wanna come up they don’t understand it, but when you fall they the ones waitin by the landing”, Vonnie delivered a deep introspective track to grab your attention from the first track on. The next track, War, is one of the two singles released before the album, and is a standout track from the EP. With light, bouncy production, Vonnie floated while talking about the climate of Long Beach, making you forget the song is deeper than it sounds. Track 5, Addicted To Flexin’, is an expensive, slithering instrumental with Vonnie doing her usual floating about her high fashion spending habits. The 7th track, In My Bag, is a description of her chase to the money, how she got to where she is, and about her problems now that the money came around.

Overall, Thoughts In The Norf is a well-put together, cohesive album. Vonnie mentioned this on twitter, saying “I listen to it everyday to make sure y’all can play it from start to finish”, making it clear she wanted the album to be complete from front to back. Carrying a similar sound throughout, the album flawlessly flows from one track to another, making you forget you have on a full-length EP. Bearing all her hardships and struggles out for the world to hear, and making that emotional investment paid off, as it provides a detailed perspective of coming up in Long Beach, where it takes a lot to make it (because of the storied history of the music in the city). Thoughts In The Norf is a listen well worth your time, and Vonnie D should be on everybody’s radar moving forward.

Tracklist