Every rapper with a pulse and a SoundCloud tried the Migos triplet flow after last summer's YRN tipped the Atlanta trio into the national consciousness. The group, in turn, spent an unfortunate chunk of follow up No Label II reminding us that the offending parties were old and out-of-touch. They've since lightened up, and the just released Rich Nigga Timeline seems content with letting the flamboyance of its craft state the case. Early highlight "Hit Em" spread's the pugilistic theme of No Label II single "Fight Night" around a bit. It's never clear what the chorus' manic "Hit em wit it" is imploring us to hit—eggbeaters? gunshots? backshots?—but a mix of perfectly cockamamie punchlines and real triumph over adversity pulls the spotlight off a foggy concept.-=-=-=-

Offset steals the show with a quick designer spot check and a Farnsworth Bentley joke midway through: "I am not a mason but I'm rocking Margiellas/ Higher than a motherfucker, just like a propeller/ Riding in the Mulsanne, Bentley got umbrellas." But Takeoff's verse three account of the group surviving a highway drive-by back in March is a sobering rejoinder. You get the sense that the Migos' gutbusting snaps are a coping mechanism, a bit of "Tom and Jerry" to break up the Snow on tha Bluff.