Week #47 ('20) Singles
Welcome to my Singles post, where I go over all of the loose songs released over the past week so. These are songs that are not currently attached to projects, and may either be promotional singles for an upcoming project or songs dropped at the random whim of the artist. I’ll show you the single, where to find it out in the wild, and a little blurb about it for my thoughts/further context. Click here to see previous Singles posts.
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Hit-Boy (Feat. Big Sean & Fivio Foreign) – Salute
This is a fucking banger, through and through, another hit from the aptly named Hit-Boy. The biggest surprise here is that Hit-Boy as a rapper is actually sick as fuck, the lyrics sticking to the subject matter beautifully, and a great technical and clean flow bringing it all together. It doesn’t need to be said that he kills the horn-backed beat…. but he killed the horn-backed beat. Big Sean kills it with all of the above: flow, wordplay, bravado, it’s all here, working perfectly with the celebratory and respect-demanding track. Fivio (even though his appearance is only a handful of bars) is the perfect cap to the song, with crazy energy and memorable bars. I hope this leads to a solo album from Hit-Boy, because this is the way to go.
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$tupid Young (Feat. Mike Sherm & Blueface) – Supposed To
This dude has been one of my favorite L.A. discoveries, uncovering a whole subset of Asian-centric rap out of the West-Coast. $tupid Young seems to be holding the scene on his shoulders being it’s more prolific face, but it goes beyond profile: the man is crazy talented as well. His flow is cutthroat, his accent is hard, and his hook game is always strong as hell. He’s not a singer by any means, but he can still come up with hooks that have that very slight melodic influence that latches on to your brain. You get two faces on here, Mike Sherm and Blueface, and they both add to the track in a big way. Sherm is another one of those voices that is super memorable, layered vocals that give you that old-school West-Coast vibes but also with those crisp and precise modern Los Angeles vibes, while Blueface is pretty much who he’s always been on the backend of this track: a goofball. It’s my favorite $tupid track to date, and has me fiending for a new project from this dude more than ever.
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Statik Selektah (Feat. Conway the Machine, 2 Chainz, Killer Mike, & Allan Kingdom) – Play Around
So the legendary producer Statik Selektah has an album coming out this upcoming week, and, like most of his affairs, the tracklist is an absolute monster. One of the most interesting songs that I saw on the listing was this one right here, with a lineup that I’m so glad I get to hear as the lead single. On paper, Conway, Chainz and Mike don’t have much in common, but they all come together on the strength of one thing: monster bars. Conway comes with the emotion and reflection, Tity Boi comes with the humor, and Mike comes with the technicality. It’s a back-to-back-to-back situation of bars right here, exactly the kind of treatment a beat of this quality deserves, the rolling pianos and backing vocals from Allan being perfection. I can’t wait to hear the rest of Statik’s album, The Balancing Act, releasing this Black Friday.
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GANG51E JUNE – 51st Disciple
Highlighting local artists is hopefully going to be more of a recurring feature here on Tha Soup Dude’s Kitchen as I get more familiar with the artists based around my hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma. This time I got a guy named GANG51E JUNE for y’all, much different from Chris Combs (COMBSY) from the other week: while Chris is more of a jazz instrumentalist, JUNE operates in the super-processed pop/trap realm of hip-hop, much in line with guys like Kevin Gates and YoungBoy NBA, with a little bit more of a sunny disposition overall. His flows are on point, his melodies are exaggerated and dramatic but expressive, and his lyrics I wouldn’t say are “deep”, but they feel real to a person who has lived through struggle. The dude has already gotten some shine in the game (the beat here is a D.A. Doman cut, someone that you should be familiar with if you fuck with modern trap nowadays), and in my eyes he has all of the qualities needed to really make a splash in the game, so check out this guy if you want that real pain, that real autotuned street shit. Let’s get Tulsa on the map for something that isn’t utterly depressing.
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Kash Doll & DJ Infamous (Feat. Mulatto & Benny the Butcher) – Bad Azz
This beat is a bouncy slapper, with this DJ Infamous guy coming through with a scant but rubbery baseline and this warped vocal loop that is very much like a Drum & Bass loop. There’s a lot of room to breath on the instrumental, a lot of ambiance here, and the three emcees use it to amazing effect. Kash Doll has a solid hook, taking advantage of the minimal instrumental with a minimal chorus, Mulatto has all of the sex bars you could ever need (one of my favorite emcees on the come-up right now), and a VERY surprising appearance from none-other than Griselda’s own Benny, who’s braggadocio on this track is absolutely top notch; some real pimp shit being spoken here. I’ve been waiting for a standout album from Kash Doll, which I know she has in her given she’s Detroit-born, and I hope whatever project this is attached to is that album.
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Boldy James & Real Bad Man (Feat. Stove God Cook$) – Thousand Pills
Boldface is about to drop for the FOURTH time this year, this go-around with production from fashion-house-turned-beatmakers Real Bad Man. I’m liking how this track is a little faster than the usual fare we get from Boldy, with the increased tempo getting him going on a little bit more nimble flow; hell, even the hook is pretty good on this one, a great single to lead off with for sure. Going back to that beat though: I love the low-key keyboard notes, the chimes, the vintage and vinyl’d soul samples that blare throughout some of the passages here. But the glue that really binds this track together is Stove God Cook$; if you don’t know of this man’s work, I highly suggest you go check out an album called Reasonable Drought (produced entirely by none-other than Roc Marciano), and get hip. If Pusha T was a gremlin, Cook$ is what you get after letting him cook after midnight. I’m very excited for this new Boldy James project, and I fully expect him to go 4/4 in 2020.
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CyHi the Prynce (Feat. Canjelae) – Ryder
We’ve been waiting for a MINUTE for some new CyHi man… we just passed the three year mark for the release of his last project, No Dope On Sundays, and album that I feel was massively underrated whenever it came out. CyHi is one of the best writers of our time, period. His wordplay is smart and bold, his voice is gravelly and full of wisdom, and his song topics are usually cohesive and work with the beat in thoughtful ways. In every way the man is an artist, and I think on this single more than any we get a taste of that artistry. I’ll be straight and say I think CyHi should have had more of a presence on here, but it’s clear he had something specific to say, and wanted his feature (who has a beautiful voice for what it’s worth) and the Sunday-Service-esque keyboard/drum kit to fill the space. He’s been doing this weird play/performance art piece thing recently, playing these songs “live” in a like a TV show setting; it’s a little confusing, but he’s promising more music soon, and I hope this new single is merely the beginning.
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Jamal Gasol (Feat. 38 Spesh & Yaya) – Hi Rise
The Ghost of Fritz is the upcoming project from Niagara Falls’ own Jamal Gasol, and he’s getting us ready for this big endeavor with this killer single right here. There is a big Trust Gang energy on this one (and not just because 38 Spesh leads off the track with a rabid attack on the beat), with the dramatic string sections coming together in a fantastically cinematic way. Jamal himself is just as sharp as he always is, weaving that street wisdom with moving weight (leaning towards more of the latter on this cut). The singer Yaya gets a lot of air-time on the backend of the track, reminding me a lot of that old-school Blue Raspberry crooning we would get back on those older Wu albums. I was a big fan of his The World is Piff 2 project he dropped a few months ago, and I think with tracks like this he could top that last album.
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IDK – 2 Cents
The instrumental on this one is fucking immaculate. This is like some baroque-trap right here, with the grand string sections being laid over a minimal but hard-punching 808s. It’s a very slow and paced beat, but IDK makes his own speed throughout the instrumental, not really having much of a flow in favor of quick pockets of flexing. He has some funny bars and ego-centric bragging on here, coming together as an assault on haters and bitches who fuck with his style (and what he thinks of his critics). It’s only two minutes long, so there’s not really much time to get into the vibe of the track before it’s over, almost feeling like an intermission between more built-out tracks, but it stands well on it’s own as a unique instrumental idea.
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Willie the Kid & V Don (Feat. Eto) – Mother of Pearls
WTK has another album coming out soon, this time the sequel to his acclaimed Deutsche Marks album he dropped a few years ago, coming back again with another project entirely produced by the superb New York producer V Don. A master of the exact style of luxurious/mysterious/James-Bond-martini-shaking music that Willie excels over, V Don is the perfect match for the unique emcee. This single seems more of what the two do best: rapping about the life of a mafia don, mob boss, business owner, or whatever other uber-rich motherfucker they decide to inhabit, but this time they bring along Eto to complete the trinity. I think Eto has been in his lyrical bag recently, coming with some heavily thoughtful bars that really have me thinking this guys’ pen has been massively underrated up until this point. I expect Deutsche Marks 2 to be every bit as good as both this single and the original tape; get excited for it, and tap into the rest of Willie the Kid’s discography if you want that real hip-hop shit.
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Tierra Whack – Peppers and Onions
Solid personality (a lot like JID), technically whizzing and bubbly lyrics, and a good flow that doesn’t get too insane but still impressive enough to get a head nod. I’m glad that Tierra is building out her tracks a little more into something bigger than glorified freestyles, with the hook and multiple verses doing wonders for replayability (at least for me). It’s still on the shorter side, but there is more meat on these bones (or peppers and onions in the… basket? Man I’m not good at this comedy thing) than her usual tracks, so for that I’ve got to give her credit. Listen to this if you want an entertaining and colorful rapper.
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Wale (Feat. Gunna) – Flawed
Man, fuck y’all. Got Thug singing at the end of the track got me all excited to hear some SHIT and then the track ends like that’s fucked up. Everything before that was still fire though… the hook is fantastic, Wale’s got some great bars to spit on here about relationships and whatnot, and Gunna, not surprising anyone who understands this mans’ feature-power, kills it in his appearance. The thing about Gunna is that he almost always tries to match the same vibe/melody scheme in his verses, feeling like he really understands the track and is not just sending off bum-ass 8 bars for 100k and calling it a day. Maybe Wale’s got an album coming out soon, and I’d be happy with more tracks like this one if he decides to go a more melodic route this time around.
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