Weekly Fix #17 ('20)

Welcome to the Weekly Fix, where I go over everything that I’ve listened to that has come out within the past week. I’ll give a little blurb about the project/single with my feelings on it thrown in there, throw some descriptors and other artists names to give you an idea what the project/single is like, and link to all applicable streaming services/online stores where you can find the music. Click here to see a list of previous Fixes.

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4/20 has come and gone, and I have to say this year we were really eating. Lots of quality and very little mid. Usually, a lot of corny music comes out on this day, but this year we were spared forgettable music in exchange for some great projects (that maybe aren’t 100% focused on weed) from some of the “Stoner Rap” icons. Wiz and Smoke DZA made their voices heard, but there was a strange lack of Snoop Dogg…

We have playlists again! Spotify is going to be the main one for a while, being as that is my main source of streaming music right now. I’m making YouTube playlists, but I’m being much more aware of official sources; a common thing I was seeing was that I would link videos from people who has uploaded an artists project or single without permission; while it may suck for some of you guys out there, I 100% respect an artists right to limit where there music can be found, so if I can’t find an official avenue to provide the music, I’m not linking it. Even if that means someone like RJ Payne, who often releases his music on his own website with no streaming options, won’t be on the playlists.

Finally, I’ve started getting back into following release dates and upcoming projects, all of which you can find over on my Upcoming Heat page here on TSDK. Next week it looks like we have another project from Elcamino, Money For Bail, and *another* album from 38 Spesh, this time with the storyteller Rasheed Chappell. Also, KA has announced his next album coming within the next few weeks. Keep up with everything I see coming over on Upcoming Heat.

Here’s a link to the Week #17 Playlist (’20) for y’all

-----PROJECTS-----

Smoke DZA – Worldwide Smoke Session

The unusually good 4/20 begins with one of the most well-known pot-heads shy of Snoop himself, Harlem’s own Smoke DZA. The man has built a brand and reputation for years as being a marijuana aficionado, but more than that he’s been a magnet for musical talent, collaborating with and cosigning anyone who’s anyone in both underground and more mainstream hip-hop. This new tape here is an incredibly solid playlist stacked with features from people that represent a lot of different streams of hip-hop. You get buried gems like Domo Genesis, LOWFi’s Jayy Grams, and LNDN DRGS’ Jay Worthy, mixing them with trappers and melody-makers like Flipp Dinero and Guapdad 4000. You won’t find a spread like that anywhere else, and that’s what you get from someone who doesn’t fall into any one lane. This is a guy who has done records with Pete Rock and Curren$y, so expect a little both of both of those styles.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Wiz Khalifa – The Saga of Wiz Khalifa

Although he’s always come across as a stoner try-hard, you can’t deny Wiz has become an icon in weed culture. Him skipping a 4/20 would be entirely unacceptable, and we are lucky and blessed this year that he’s come through with one of his best projects this year. Last year he had his 2009 album with Curren$y, and I was surprised by how impressed I was with his performance; I’d never known him as the best rapper (and very far from the best singer), but the tape was a great show of his true skill. This new tape here? It achieves what his previous tape did, and much much more. 7 tracks, 7 great song ideas with strong fleshed out concepts, solid hooks, charismatic performances from Wiz himself, and a showing of talented features ranging from the chameleon Ty Dolla $ign, Megan the Stallion bringing her hot girl shit, and Logic giving a unexpectedly competent singing performance on High Today. Even the beats are highlights on this things, with a couple of great cuts from DJ Mustard bringing the vibrancy of this album to a career high for Wiz. Overall, this project is one of the friendliest, accessible, and sunny releases Khalifa has put out to date.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Eric Bellinger & Nieman J – Optimal Music

I have a soft spot for people with great voices *and* they can rap. Even if it’s the dumbest, least-common-denominator lyrics, if you can flow like a motherfucker and hit those notes, then I am on board. But Eric Bellinger is more than just a Chris Brown clone: he must have a talented team behind him to put together albums like this one with rock-solid hooks, a healthy mix of harder and R&B-inspired song concepts, and fantastic beats. But I think what I respect about Eric the most is how he tries so very hard to make every one of his performances and hook memorable, whether it’s a catchy bit of melody or a ear-worm on a chorus. I did a lot of research trying to figure out who exactly Nieman J is, and I can’t come up with anything, so shout out to my guy but I wish I could point to something he did. If you want some clean, modern, pop-rap/R&B (think Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown, and Jeremih), then this is for you.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Nicholas Craven & Ransom – Directors Cut (Scene Two)

I’m feeling this new Ransom much more than I did the previous “Scene” that him and Nicholas put out a month or so ago. Amazingly soulful beats from Craven, and Ransom is hitting those punchlines like Mike” “The Wordsmith” Tyson. More than anything, I think I’m feeling the inclusion of features on this one; the last one was a lot of instrumental an remix space, but this one is more consice, broken up by a great pair or features from Eto, as well as a barn-burner of a verse from Rochester’s Che Noir. It is quite short being only about 15 minutes, but for what I’m gathering all of these “scenes” they’re putting out are supposed to add up into a full LP, which if you take all of this material together we’re getting way more Ransom than we usually get, which is always good. Looking forward to the next installment in this series.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Jamal Gasol & DirtyDiggs – 100 Blunts in Venice

Jamal went out to California to hang with the DirtyDiggs bros, and the results are this potent 4/20 tribute tape. Short, only 5 tracks, but each one has fire instrumentals as you would expect from the duo. Cool samples are their bread and butter, and they come in spades on this tape where at times it almost feels like both a Gasol tape and an instrumental tape. Jamal is a great emcee, measured and seemingly wise for his age, and will surprise you with these Jay-Z-esque observations that will make you think about this crazy life (and plenty of references to smoking weed given the theme here). Big highlights come with the features, with frequent DirtyDiggs collaborators Planet Asia and Flashius Clayton making appearances in supreme fashion (Clayton in particular is icy as hell on his verse). Great project if you’re in the mood for some slower paced and moody sample-based hip-hop.

Spotify/Bandcamp/Apple Music

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Guapdad 4000 – Platinum Falcon Tape, Vol. 1

I’d have more to say about this tape if the majority of the tracks hadn’t been released as singles beforehand. There are only a handful of new tracks, and the new material we get is good enough to warrant a recommendation. HUGE personality coming from this guy right now, who seems to walk the line between joke-rapper and a superstar better than anyone in the game right now. Some of the things this guy says is truly hilarious, but he also has real rhyming talent, and his melodies are almost always on point (or at least entertaining whenever he gets into his more manic and strained register). The beats can also be very inventive, like on Platinum Falcon with the skeletal beat accented with his own voice having stuck with me for a long time. Guapdad is one of those rare talents that hits all of the checkboxes for an artist that will last a long time, and I cosign this dude 100%. The only negative I have is that there are no features on here; if you’re looking for features, go back and listen to his last album, Dior Deposits, which was one of my favorites from last year.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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RJ Payne – If Cocaine Could Talk 6

This actually dropped a month or so ago, but it was exclusively on RJ’s personal website, and now it’s rolling out to streaming services for everyone to hear. This dude is a lyrical monster, with a brutal presence on the mic that reminds me of a golden-age inspired DMX. While his flow can become a little formulaic (but if it’s working why fix it?), he almost never drops the ball on a punchline, and some of his wordplay will have you running back his verses over and over again. The production, largely handled by frequent collaborator P.A. Dre, is by and large what you’ve heard before; a mixture of minimal sampling and hard-hitting boom-bap that goes back to the days of Mobb Deep and Kool G Rap. The only negative I have is that some of these track could have been built out with a good feature, with some tracks barely scraping by the 2 minute mark. If you like Griselda, Jadakiss, or any other hard-ass-motherfucker in rap right now, RJ Payne will not disappoint you.

YouTube/iamrjpayne.com

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-------SINGLES-------

Earl Sweatshirt (Feat. Maxo) – WHOLE WORLD

Personally, I like FEET OF CLAY more than I did Some Rap Songs; the beats and vocal performances were more concrete and tangible on the former, and while I still like the latter immensely, it’s just a matter of what I would prefer him to be doing. This new single over here is definitely the direction I want Earl to continue in, because the clearness of the mix puts the emphasis on Earl the writer, being one of the most skilled pens in the game today. Some of the shit he says reminds me of the direct cold-bloodedness of his I Don’t Like Shit album, but it rides the line between cryptic and esoteric better than I think Some Rap Songs did. There are no distractions from an odd and antagonistic instrumental here, in fact The Alchemist keeps shit suuuuper cool on this cut, being a very low-key loop that brings the atmosphere while not sacrificing “legibility” of the artists. Maxo is an interesting choice for a feature; very Da$h-like in his delivery and presence. Overall, a great offering from Earl, and we can only pray and hope for more.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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The Scotts (Travis Scot & Kid Cudi) – The Scotts

In the most 2020 development in music so far, Travis and Scott Sr. debuted this song on none other than the smash hit battle royale game Fortnite, with a full concert experience simulated in-game. I don’t play Fortnite, but seeing the videos of this was weird as fuck.. especially given the song is really no different from anything La Flame usually drops (mature content in a 12 year-olds’ game?) It feels much more like a Travis Scott song with a Cudi feature on it (maybe not as good as the original through the late night collaboration), but the entrancing nature of the vocals mixes well enough with the Astroworld-like futuristic vibe that I can look past percentage contribution. While I like the beat, I could have done without the Mike Dean keyboard solo at the end, which sounds like I just booted up Galaga for 45 seconds. Supposedly this single is leading up to a collaboration project between Scott and Scott, KIDS SEE GHOSTS style; if this is true, consider me hyped as fuck.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Ab-Soul – Dangerookipawaa Freestyle

A barfest from TDE’s most intelligent bar-maker. Soulo has always been about punchlines and witty turns of phrase above all else, which at times has clashed with a traditional album format in the past, but on a one-off single like this (labeled a freestyle no less) you get everything great about Soul in 4 minutes. For someone who is throwing out metaphor after simile after metaphor you get a surprising hit-rate, with only a few corny bars in there as opposed to other cats who try to be “lyrical”. Separate from the lyrics, you get a great TDE sounding beat from Devin Williams, with a superb soul-sampled beat leading us into a second half of cobbled electric guitars and brass phrases; I could easily see someone like Kendrick on a beat like this. TDE seems to be putting out a string of singles from the artists on it’s roster, some have been my thing and some haven’t, but this one is by far my favorite.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Benny the Butcher, Rick Hyde, & Heem – Da Mob

This shit sounds like what Scarface’s most lethal enemy would listen to. That dude with the black shades that iced Tony was bumping this shit on his AirPods. This beat, done by the unbelievably talented jack-of-all-sounds producer DJ Shay, is a claustrophobic 80’s mystery, with these recurring piercing synth notes that are ill as hell; shit bumps too did I mention that? I don’t know what magic river this dude was dipped in, but he is perfectly tapped into what “Black Soprano Family” means atmospherically, and has never missed providing these guys with fire beats. Rick Hyde spazzes the fuck out on his verse, with his characteristic intensity coming across with more hunger than I think I’ve ever heard from him; hella excited for his Plates 2 tape. I’ve never heard of Heem before, but he pulls his weight on this track, being appropriately grimy as mafiaso. Benny, as I’m sure I don’t need to say, kills it; everything this man says on a track demands all attention, and not a single bar is wasted on wack shit. “rap made me all political like Pac before Suge” is a BAR. I hope this is the beginning of a rollout for a BSF tape, those guys deserve every bit of shine they’re gonna get.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Bhad Bhabie – That’s What I Said

Aaaaaand here is where y’all stop reading my shit here on TSDK. I will die on this hill of Bhad Bhabie being fun to listen to, and not one of y’all motherfuckers can stop me. There’s just a nasty energy with her, youthful and punkish, that I can’t get with anyone else. People like Rico Nasty try too hard, and Asian Doll and the City Girls play WAY to hard on sexual energy to get my true endorsement, but Bhabie is just a young girl saying fuck all of you I’m going to make music. It helps that she’s got talented writers and very talented producers in her corner too I guess… but yeah, this track here is just another catchy tune. Beat seems DaBaby-like, definitely some bop in it. There are some swagger bars on here, and the hook is catchy, but at only a minute and some change, this track either needed a second verse or a great feature; she’s gotten the likes of Tory Lanez and Lil Baby on her tracks before, so I think she could have gotten someone great on here (DaBaby is a no-brainer) and made this a fantastic track. Still, I’m looking forward to her next project. Go back and listen to her last mixtape, 15, unless y’all are c o w a r d s.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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SiR (Feat. Boogie) – Rapper Weed

The beat is a crispy trap banger with this super eerie operatic melody behind the hook, but instead of an aggressive trapper we get SiR, who’s presence on the track is almost non-existent. I’m not saying it’s bad, but it’s strange how it works so well given how different the two parts of the track are. Even when Boogie comes in there is a huge shift in how the track fits, with Boogie being mixed much louder than SiR. Overall, the beat and the weirdness of the hook is what is drawing me to this track, with something hypnotic about how the track was made that keeps me coming back. Being but one out of a string of new TDE singles makes this release much more palatable, but if you’re normally a fan of lowkey singers who dabble in rapping, give this a shot.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Reason – Might Not Make It

Out of the newer generation of TDE artists, Reason is shaping up to have the most potential to carry on that lyrical torch that people like Kendrick and Ab-Soul held before him. This new track might be a little heavier on the humorous side of his personality, but there are some real bars and gems on this track, showing a mind that definitely has the potential to create something profound like Kenny. I also like how he sticks to this loose concept of fucking with celebrities and other famous musicians, saying that by rocking the boat and being outlandish he “might not make it” in the industry. In many ways Reason is presenting himself as the perfect adaptation to the changes in music going into 2020, humor and all. The beat is a stripped back bassline and a few snares, sounding like some A Tribe Called Quest in their prime, maybe with a bit more bite. This one doesn’t seem to be apart of TDE’s string of singles this past week, rather another in what is turning into a very lone rollout for Reason’s album, which is hopefully coming out soon.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Hopsin – Covid Mansion

Great flow, about 50/50 on corny/funny bars, and a Tay Keith-like beat complete with hard pianos and a banging sub. For Hopsin, this is a quality track, and if you’re looking for a good laugh and a competent lyrical exercise, then go into this knowing you’re going to have a good time. Lots of observations on quarantine, and he sticks very closely to this topic throughout the track, so you gotta give him points for being on task. Yeah, not much else to say: if you like fast rappers, think Eminem or Twista, throw a little D12 in there for nastiness, then you’ll enjoy this track.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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