After the release of his critically acclaimed album “I Didn’t Mean To Haunt You” in November 2022, Quadeca would take a break from releasing music for almost a year before returning in late 2023 to announce his new rollout titled “The Scrapyard Series”. His idea was to release five mini projects or “installations” over the course of 10 to 15 weeks, each having their own sound and genre.

However the series was scrapped after the release of the third project due to “new developments,” as stated by Quadeca on X. As unfortunate as this was, Quadeca reassured his fans that he plans to “go out with a bang” with the finale of the series, making fans excited to hear what he had up his sleeves. On February 16, 2024, two months after the announcement, Quadeca would finally release the long awaited finale to “The Scrapyard Series”, respectfully naming the mixtape “SCRAPYARD”.

The album features the eight original tracks from the previous Scrapyard releases along with seven new tracks, making a total of 15 total tracks and features the artists Kevin Abstract from BROCKHAMPTON, along with brakence, who was featured in the first Scrapyard.

“Some of the songs are loosies from the creation of haunt you that just didn’t fit in the narrative of the album” Quadeca stated in a YouTube comment on the music critic Anthony Fantano’s video about the Scrapyard series, “others are songs I made after, that also won’t fit in the new album.”

The production on this album is unlike really anything I’ve heard in my life. Every song has its own sound, concept and execution, which makes the mixtape extremely incohesive, but I like it a lot. That being said, my favorite tracks on the album include “DUSTCUTTER”, “UNDER MY SKIN” and “U TRIED THAT THING WHERE UR HUMAN”, but in my opinion, every song on this mixtape is outstanding.

“DUSTCUTTER” was featured on the second Scrapyard release, and happens to be the opening track for the entire mixtape. The song is a cut from his previous album “I Didn’t Mean To Haunt You” which follows the narrative of a ghost who, after battling with depression, wishes to not be forgotten posthumously, so the lyrics in this song have a similar theme in them. The line “Everybody knew / Everybody but you,” in the post chorus refers to his mother as she didn’t know what he was going through before his death and is ultimately her grieving the loss of her son. I think it’s a great track to open the mixtape with because it sets the theme of the rest of the project.

“UNDER MY SKIN” was an original song also on the second Scrapyard release and is the 11th song on the mixtape. This song, however, was never supposed to come out, according to Quadeca on X in February of 2023 following a snippet of the song. The song is about Quadeca not being able to let go of his past lover, which is referenced in the chorus with the lines “I’ll put you under my skin / I’ll keep you safe from him,” which is him attempting to hold onto her for as long as he can. This song is one of my favorite songs on the mixtape because his vocals throughout the song seem extremely genuine, especially during the chorus, and the instrumental is very well-made.

“U TRIED THAT THING WHERE UR HUMAN” is track 13 on the mixtape and one of the new seven songs featured on the tape. It’s one of the more unique songs sonically and atmospherically. The lyrics talk about how he’s given up on trying to be human, that he’s tried everything and he’s had his turn but he’s over it, heard in the intro lines, “It’s time to give up on being human”. In terms of production, it’s very minimal, but his vocals are melancholic, making this song emotional yet weirdly comforting. This song is beautiful and definitely one of my favorites on the mixtape.

I would highly recommend listening to this project if you even remotely enjoy the concept of music. It’s extremely high quality and well produced and definitely deserves any and all attention it gets.

Quadeca is one of the most innovative artists of the past couple years. Maturing his artistry more and more after every release, going from a “corny” rapper to re-inventing genres. He’s made a huge name for himself in the underground music scene and is slowly but surely poking through to having a more admired music career in the near future. For now, I will be keeping up to date with Quadeca and what he plans to do with music moving forward.

Overall Rating: 9.4/10