Dreams Don't Pay Bills is a rapper-producer album by Youngsta CPT and producer Shaney Jay. One of many of its kind for Youngsta CPT.
The album follows Youngsta as he navigates his surroundings and gives an over-the-shoulder view of his experiences.it carries a lot of his opinions on society and the Hip Hop scene in general. Something he does really well in his music.
Youngsta has a solid rap foundation - he always capes hard for where he comes from. His thoughts and experiences always find their way to his music. He is candid in his raps, even speaking about personal losses and cautionary tales. He works in a lot of consciousness into his content while finding pockets to drop some flexing and humour. His lines are as thought-provoking and sobering as ever.
He plays a lot with his tempo throughout the album, his cadence allows for it, sometimes making the raps sound like they're faster than they actually are. He does this excellently on Hometown Advantage. A suitably named track as he is in his element we hen rapping about his place of origin.
The production by Shaney Jay The Plug is smooth with beats that blend into the background, bringing Youngsta's raps to the fore. There's good synergy between the two of them. Youngsta does most of the hooks on the album and manages to make them work. Something a lot of conscious rappers struggle with. Even though he does the traditional single-phrase chant with a different phrase at the end, he finds a way to make them melodic in the right places and doesn’t feel like something he thought would be a pain to do.
Dreams Don’t Pay Bills is a total of 16 tracks, with 15 that are full length tracks with the exception of the intro skit.
It’s a rap heavy project centred around the concept that you have to hustle hard in order for your dreams to be worth anything tangible. Otherwise they remain mere concepts that get you nowhere. Youngsta makes a lot of references to pop culture and old scriptures alike, and speaks to some much known real life situations he's been through. It is a good representation of his mind state at this point in time. One thing about Youngsta, he is far from done.
