Weekly Fix #18 ('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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Great week for hip-hop: good underground projects and solid mainstream singles make up a week that seemed to have been dominated by a surprise Drake album. Really nothing else to say other than that everyone knocked it out of the park this week: good fucking job to everyone.

I don’t see anything coming out of the underground for this next week, but the mainstream will attempt to answer for taking the week off with projects from Lil Durk, NAV, and Lil Tjay. Come look at my Upcoming Heat page to learn more, and to look out farther into the release calendar.

I’d also like to address something that I didn’t have a chance to last week, and that’s the death of  New York rapper Fred The Godson. The man has been around for a decade, and in that time received respect from anyone who’s opinion is worth anything in the game. He was a psychopathic thinker, a wizard of words, and the grimiest of streets cats who’s skills on both records and freestyles being the talk of anyone invested in hip-hop. Rest in Peace to this underground hero, and let’s get this coronavirus shit under control before we lose any more talent that simply can’t be replaced.

Here’s a link to the Week #18 Playlist (’20) for y’all

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Ka – Descendants of Cain

This is a special album ladies and gentlemen. Ka is a person who is legendary in this genre for the way he can communicate the woes of the street in a form of poetry that no other emcee can. Words like meditative, reflective, wise, and patient do little to convey his skills lyrically. This album is dense, packed from its first words to its last with profound statements on Ka’s personal life, his childhood, the shared childhoods of those who grew up on the hard streets of Brownsville, faith, violence, and the role that guidance (or a lack thereof) has had on young men growing up amongst all of these things. Descendants of Cain is simply brilliant, an album that you really need to listen to a digest to understand it’s nuances. Listen to this. Period. I already have a Write-Up of this album out now; come read about some new perspective on the project.

Spotify/YouTube/Ka’s Personal Website (Please consider buy from him)

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Elcamino – Money For Bail

The thing about Elcamino that I have always found admirable is how effortless a lot of his music sounds. Not that it’s *low* effort or lower quality, but how the man can put out project after project without sacrificing any of his charm and skill. This project sees him share a lot of the airspace with some collaborators, mostly people I haven’t heard of like Boat and Miserable Genius, but also Madhattan, who seems to be on the come up in the underground right now. Like always, Elcamino is being belt-fed amazing beats from quality producers, with standouts being the heavenly Sake In Japan and the suuuuper chill Animal-Crossing-type-beat on Plague. This is that grimy underground street-tale rap backed by smooth nostalgic samples, with both flow and melody; dude is kind of a jack of all trades. I’m seeing there’s some confusion as to what this release is actually called, seeing that on streaming services it’s called The Minotaur and has a track missing (and the track Tears in a Bucket is repeated seemingly in error), but Money For Bail is in its intended form on Elcamino’s bandcamp, so go check him out and support this art.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music/Bandcamp

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Flee Lord – Lucky 13

This has turned into one of my favorite projects from Flee Lord, which has me paying attention to some of his bars in ways I haven’t done before. He seems lyrically sharper on this project; maybe it’s from his shorter verses, maybe it’s from the number of big name lyricists he has weigh in on several tracks here, but regardless I’m really getting into his energy on this one. Great beats too, but I feel like a couple of them could have been utilized better with more verses, as there are a few tracks that don’t even make it to two minutes, like that Fresh off Tour beat is fire I needed it to go longer. A solid list of names round out the tracklist, with Nems, Daniel Son, and Conway the Machine dropping the highest of quality verses. For his 13th official project, Flee just seems to be getting better, representing Far Rockaway every step of the way. If you like Eto, Cypress Hill, high-energy and scratchy voiced emcees, all in front of some great sampled beats, then this is for you.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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38 Spesh & Rasheed Chappell – Ways & Means

Another solid entry into 38 Spesh’s unreal production output over the past few months. This time he teamed up with New Jersey emcee Rasheed Chappell, who’s been around for a long minute but seems to be finally getting some shine under Spesh’s Trust Gang collective. The production goes down about how you would expect; minimal, soulful, and sharp, with Spesh’s unique ear for samples becoming bolder and bolder as he goes forward. Rasheed on the other hand is an emcee classically trained, drawing heavily from older emcees like Jay-Z, Taib Kweli, and Mos Def. He definitely feels like he’s trying to help and save lives with his music, with a lot of his topics revolving around bettering his neighborhood and the people in it. Good features on this project from Spesh’s usual suspects makes this another must listen, fitting well with the latest Elcamino, Planet Asia, and Che Noir projects that have come out recently.

Spotify/YouTube/Bandcamp

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Drake – Dark Lane Demo Tapes

Like every Drake project, there is no middle ground when it comes to the internet. Half of the internet is claiming this is the best Drizzy has sounded in years, and the other half is massacring this project for being both redundant and vulture-y. I like this project a lot, with there being a significant number of highlights among some lackluster demo cuts. Desires is one of my favorite Drake songs in a while, and I was glad to see it’s placement here. Pain 1993 is getting the shit kicked out of it online, but I rather like the track, especially Drake’s part. I also like how, in true Versace fashion, Drake cosigns NY Drill with Fivio and Sosa with the absolute banger Demon. I think the best moments are the ones where he’s embracing newer sounds; tracks like From Florida With Love and When To Say When are okay, but the internet does have a point that they’re are tracks he’s done dozens of times by now. Overall, for a project of demos, this isn’t bad. It’s way better than Care Package in my opinion, but I’m not also the biggest fan of late-2000’s Drake so take that with a grain of salt.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Tha God Fahim – After Every Dark Days Comes Sunshine

This might be Fahim’s best project yet. No features, entirely self-produced; I’ll be 100%, I wasn’t confident that this project was going to be as good as it ended up being, but it’s clear that Tha God Fahim saved his best production and verses for this project. The whole thing feels incredibly DIY, with many of the beats being made up of piano chords looped in surprisingly varied and friendly ways. That’s something huge about this project: it’s clear that Fahim wanted to make a hopeful, sunny, and uplifting project, with both lyrics and instrumentation being uncharacteristically positive. There’s nothing grimy or even too terribly dense about this project, with Fahim’s lyrics being pretty universally understood philosophies and sayings, things to help you through life without challenging you with cryptic wordplay. Listen to this project if you like easygoing hip-hop with solid messaging and a good spread of hand-made beats.

Spotify/YouTube/Bandcamp

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Jay Worthy & Harry Fraud – Eat When You’re Hungry Sleep When You’re Tired

My first project with Jay that isn’t over Sean House beats, and I don’t think he could have picked a better producer than Harry Fraud. Being one of the most diverse producers in the game right now, Fraud is qualified to make albums from everyone from Action Bronson to Curren$y, and Jay Worthy just seems like a natural extension of that. Being that Jay is a rapper that has drawn heavily from the West-Coast styles of G-Funk and gangsta rap, it was up to Harry to meet him in the middle, and he’s done a fantastic job. There’s a good mix of meat and potatoes West-Coasting, as well as some more eastern sample-driven beats. Jay has a voice for rapping that has such character and presence that he almost doesn’t need features to carry him, but it doesn’t stop him from bringing in people like Elcamino, Guapdad 4000, and G Perico to join him on the project. . It’s short, everyone brings their A-game, and Jay and Harry have a chemistry together that I hope they explore it more in the future.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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

Kota the Friend (Feat. Joey Bada$$ & Bas) – B.Q.E.

I wasn’t a fan of Kota’s last project because the tracks were too short and there were no features. This track is pretty much exactly what I wanted from the man: solid flows, a great beat (more trap inspired that a lot of the soul and jazz flips on his last project), and bringing in emcees on his skill level to spar with him. All three emcees kill it, staying neck and neck with each other in terms of quality. A special mention to the hook, which is both catchy and relatable for people who live in a city like his; a smart move for someone seeming to want to go the way of Bada$$ and appeal to as many people as he can. If Kota can keep up energy like this, both in the collaboration and strong hook writing, I have no doubt he could be a staple of the underground.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Megan Thee Stallion (Feat. Beyoncé) – Savage (Remix)

Suga came out while I was on my hiatus, so this track was brand new to me as I had never listened to that project (went back and gave it a spin when this new remix came out, not bad). I was impressed by the beat, which is cute and bouncy in a Pharrell sort of way (not sure who produced it to be honest), and the hook definitely has a stickiness to it that warrants repeat listens (and apparently TikTok fame). But Bey is why we’re all here talking about this track, and besides a few insanely corny lines (that shit about the “I don’t do crosswords” took me the fuck out), I think she holds her own. She’s obviously not as nasty and R-rated as Megan is, but she still has an appropriate amount of attitude not to stick out awkwardly. Will this make the track bigger? Without a doubt. Was it necessary? I don’t see why not, it’s fun enough.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Tee Grizzley – I Spy

If you’ve heard one Tee Grizzley single you’ve pretty much heard them all. Ultraviolent, great one-liners, banging beat, and a flow that never seems contained by the bar structure. There’s a good hook on this one too, and while I don’t think it’s going to blow up and do numbers or anything like this, it’s always nice to see artists like this give attention to songwriting. I’m looking forward to a new Tee project, because I feel like it’s been a hefty minute.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Stunna 4 Vegas – Freestyle

As much as I like this track, I gotta get a negative out of the way: “Freestyle”? Really my man? You couldn’t come up with literally anything else my guy? “Vegas Freestyle” maybe? I get the whole “I don’t give a fuck” angle but damn how are people supposed to find this track? It’ like naming a book “novel”, like come on. ANYWAY. This shit is fire. Fiery and energetic flow, bop of a beat, doesn’t overstay it’s welcome being that it’s a song about nothing; yeah, it’s just a quality track from a youngin that y’all should keep your eyes on. His album from a few months ago, Rich Youngin, was a lot better than people give it credit for, and for an artist in his lane I’d expect a new project sooner rather than later. Keep your eyes peeled.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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T-Shyne (Feat. Young Thug) – Moncler

I wanted to like this more than I do, but it’s just okay. Thug’s performance sounds older, maybe not Barter era but definitely some JEFFERY-esque inflections, and he brings a great hook on the track. But that’s kind of the thing: T-Shyne doesn’t get too much time to… show his talents on the track (y’all thought I was going to say it), with Thugger taking up most of the airspace. The beat is also strangely barren, more on the empty side than “minimal”, which is great for Thug to cram in his… whatever he does… but T-Shyne needed a great beat to back him. Listen if you like trap music.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Punch (Feat. Nick Grant & Lyric Michelle) – Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain

Another in the series of TDE singles the label has been dropping recently. We has Ab-Soul on last weeks Weekly Fix, and this week we have Punch, one of the most mysterious members of the collective. As the president of TDE, his work as an executive is obviously more important than his music, which lends to a carefree and truly “for fun” vibe to his music; a sense that he’s already established himself so what he’s giving us is a gift for us. He’s very warm and personable on the track, which is good, but I think Nick Grant really steals the show here. Very dexterous flow, spitting hard as hell on this thing, Nick kind of runs away with the track and makes it his own. A unique track on it’s own, and worth a listen.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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