Weekly Fix #28 ('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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Feeling better this week, getting back into at least a positive state of mind despite shit still not going in the right direction in the world. First things first: bless the dead. This week we lost Marlo, killed over this past weekend in his home town of Atlanta; I liked his voice and what he brought to the game, with 1st and 3rd being at least a start to a successful career. But I also lost someone who was very important to my childhood this week… I used to come home from school and watch this show called Mythbusters, where they took crazy shit that happened in movies and TV shows and tested to see of that shit could happen in real life. It was a great way to get kids into the realm of science, and my favorite host on the show, Grant Imahara, died suddenly this past week. I know it’s not hip-hop related, but the shit fucked me up, and this music shit that we have going on is what gets me through it. Keep strong everyone.

Moving on: lots of amazing material to talk about this week, from the trap energies of SahBabii and Phresher, to the underground HEAT of Che Noir and Daniel Son (also a deluxe edition of one of my favorite projects of 2020, The Price of Tea In China). Lots of great singles this week, about a dozen; don’t forget to check out the playlists to easily listen to all of them in a row.

Next week, the Hip-Hop gods decided to flood my birthday with music like I’m fucking Noah, ‘cause we have a doozie this Friday. We got Blu & Exile with a full LP, Blueface with a deluxe edition to his original Famous Cryp, Jay Worthy with a new collab project, my guy KYLE coming with a feature-stacked project, AND Travis Scott announced earlier that his collaborative album with Kid Cudi, THE SCOTTS, will be coming Friday as well. Get ready for the pain ladies and gentlemen.

Here’s a link to the Week #28 Playlist (’20) for y’all

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Here’s a link to the Week #28 (’20) Art Appreciation post

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SahBabii – Barnacles

Whenever you hear an album that’s considered “biting” another artist, you usually think of this as a negative thing. Nine times out of ten, the effort to copy another artist is merely a shade of the original artist’s talent, acting as mindless clone that comes across as redundant and trite. But sometimes there is a clone that comes around that is so spot-on convincing (and emulates a style that has since been left behind) that it feels more like a breath of fresh air that a zombification of old ideas. That’s exactly what we’re gotten with this new SahBabii album; this dude literally, and I mean deadass literally, sounds exactly like ’14 -’15 era Young Thug, from the flows to the hilariously stupid lyrics to the melodies Thug employs, it’s all here, the whole package. It’s far from pantomime or aping Thug’s style; it’s like if someone perfectly recreated one of Mozart’s timeless pieces, we wouldn’t be sitting here saying “wow he just copied that dude” we would say “wow it took some skill to pull off sounding exactly like Mozart”. You get a solid 40 minutes of watery flows, amazingly vibey trap beats, and some of the funniest lyrics I’ve heard so far this year that just keep coming on every single track. If this were a Young Thug album, it would rank amongst his best, so clearly we’re looking at a defining moment for SahBabii, dropping what is undoubtedly his best album, and one of the best trap albums of this year. If you like Gunna, Shad Da God, and Lils Gotit and Keed, as well as beats from people like Pi’erre Bourne, then you need to listen to this bad boy.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Apollo Brown & Che Noir – …As God Intended

A very personal, intricate album, both wholesome and cold, from the Buffalo emcee Che Noir. I’ve always loved this girl’s passion behind the microphone, and her skills as a lyricist were top notch whenever she came on the scene, but now that she has grown so too have her rhymes. She’s more focused, more interested in creating complete songs with well made-hooks and topics, and seemingly so much more in tune with her potential stardom in this industry. The confidence and conviction of her delivery reminds me so much of her mentor, 38 Spesh, and beyond the actual way that she says things a lot of her word choices and flows feel like they heavily inspired the way that Noir presents herself on the mic; not at all copying Spesh’s style, but making it into her own brand of personal therapy. I mentioned song topics, and on this project she’s made a 100% effort across the entire listing. I love the tight cohesion of tracks like Money Orientated (which has a killer sample), Daddy’s Girl, The Apple, and ’94, which focus on specific aspects of her upbringing and mindset, to give us a crystal clear picture of who Che Noir is as a person: her goals, her familial relationships (or lack thereof, sadly), and the role that music played in her childhood. Probably my favorite example of this is some truly Nas-level storytelling on the track 12 Hours, detailing a misunderstanding in a relationship that ends with grave consequences. Apollo Brown gets a little darker on this album for his part: many tracks still have that unmistakable blueprint of a prominent vocal sample from the Soul/Funk scenes, backed by walloping boom-bap drums and pretty instrumentation, but he takes a few moments to match Che’s streetness head-on. Again, I have to highlight 12 Hours for its cinematic edge and perfectly minimal score, and Winter for its fittingly chilly instrumental. This is hands down Che Noir’s best album, and is the perfect starting point for anyone looking to get into her music. Not since Guilty Simpson has Apollo Brown collaborated with someone so grimy, but it pays off in ways that truly surprised me. If you like artists like 38 Spesh and Griselda, mixed with the musical stylings of older cats like The LOX and Kanye West (maybe throw a little bit of 9th Wonder and Statik Selektah in there), the you would be doing yourself a disservice skipping this release.

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DJ Duke, DJ Low Cut, & Daniel Son – Season 7

Based upon the final season of Soprano’s that was never meant to be, the French team of producers Duke and Low Cut enlist the help of the emcee best suited to rhyme generally about the life of a mob boss kingpin: Daniel Son. The thing about Sonzarelli is that he doesn’t mess around with the superfluous bullshit: he’s not out here breaking technical boundaries or being the best storyteller, but what he does have is believability. His always-shouted delivery, vivid metaphors, and devotion to bringing the most compelling of mafia Don life to your ears makes him uniquely equipped to take on an album themed in the way Season 7 is. The album doesn’t leave much room for more personal and well-structured subjects like his Dirty Dishes LP did, and this is mostly due to the length of the project: 21 minutes per side, with side B merely being the instrumentals. In terms of emcees, Cappadonna, Westside Gunn, and Meek Mill are similar emcees in vibe and delivery to Daniel Son. While I love Daniel Son on here, I think a huge shoutout is in order for both DJ Duke and DJ Low Cut on this project: these two guys have been around for a long-ass minute, and their devotion to the stylings of New York boom-bap is impressive. It’s not quite as animated or distinct as a RZA beat, but it fits more within the subdued tones of The Sopranos itself rather than going for the full-throated cinema of albums like Ironman and Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. Two clear points of comparison here: Wu-Tang and Griselda, so if you like anything from either of these two collectives then you won’t be disappointed with this.

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Boldy James & The Alchemist – The Price of Tea in China (Deluxe)

A deluxe edition of a project has become increasingly popular lately, with people seemingly dropping entire projects post-release these days it seems. Boldy and Al take it back to the basics: 4 songs that maybe don’t quite fit into the framework of the record, but damn sure are good enough to stand on their own and are worth hearing in any context. With only four tracks, you can bet that the two are only presenting the best of the b-sides for you, and that’s the reality of it. Two solo tracks, both with fantastic beats from The Alchemist (and a particularly good performance from Boldy on the track Belvedere), and two tracks with features from The Cool Kids & Shorty K on Pots and Pans and Elcamino on Don Flamingo, round out a set of rock-solid bonus cuts. If you loved the original project, you best believe that you will love these new tracks. Listen if you like Evidence, Westside Gunn and Conway the Machine, and Jay Worthy.

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Phresher – BRICK BY BRICK

I remember hearing this guy back on Eminem’s Revival album from 100 years ago; I have fond memories of him being the only breather that album gave us listeners from the onslaught of Eminem verses (even if he only donated a hook to the project), and his energy and manic yelling left an impression on me. I never knew how devoted he was to his ultra-aggressive sound, with pretty much every track on this short EP doubling down on the delivery. There is a lot of yelling, and I mean like throat-tearing war cries here, and it doesn’t let up: hell, even the guests on here are either already practicing this style (Stunna 4 Vegas) or go way harder than usual to keep pace with Phresher (A Boogie wit da Hoodie and ESPECIALLY Casanova). There’s just no time to catch your breath on this one, and sometimes you wonder how Phresh even has time to catch a breath of his own through all of the hollering. All of this isn’t to take away from the guy’s skill: he most definitely has flow, and his wordplay is full of a lot more colorful punchlines than I expected. His accent, being that he is a Brooklyn native of Trinidadian descent, gives him an even more colorful profile, with an energy similar to emcees like Busta Rhymes and Assassin. At the end of the day it’s just a super consistent emcee practicing his style uncompromised, and for that I give him his due. If you like hardcore hip-hop, banging trap beats, huge and overwhelming rapping, and a great spread of energetic young features, don’t pass this one up.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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

Nyck Caution (Feat. Meechy Darko) – Famiglia

I’ll never forgive y’all for underrating my man Nyck Caution, because his skills in every aspect of a hip-hop artist is stellar, and it only seems to be getting better with age. The man has bars (like everyone else in Pro Era had), a killer flow (which he takes some creative risks with on this track), and he had this amazing voice that is both powerful and evokes a sense of an underdog. While I prefer whenever he’s being more nostalgic and reflective, he does this sinister and evil beat the justice it deserves, layering vocals and spitting aggressively to give this trap/horrorcore vibe. The hook is strong, which is something that has never been a problem for Nyck but it deserves special attention here for it’s sense of place amongst the larger Beast Coast movement; he’s acknowledging his place amongst his brothers as a sign of respect (and as a warning to everyone to not underestimate him). I love what Nyck does with the beat, but I’d be lying if I said Meech didn’t run away with the song on the back half. Darko is just pure evil on the microphone, picking this instrumental apart with this crazy manic flow and his trademark rasp of a voice, describing the total disregard he has for civilized society in his hedonistic and debauched bars. A great one-two punch of rappers on this track, and a fantastically dark beat to go with it leads to one of the best tracks out of the Beast Coast in a minute. Three Six Mafia, A$AP Rocky, Lil Wayne, and DMX fans, you need to give this a chance. Fans of modern trap music, give this a shot.

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Aminé (Feat. Young Thug) – Compensating

I did not like this song whenever I first heard it, but luckily I had a few extra days to sit with it and I’ve got to say it’s growing on me like crazy. His initial album wasn’t 100% my cup of tea: I love the singles, but digging deeper into the tracklist I didn’t connect with much besides the occasional lyric. But I can’t deny the man has a distinct style, a penchant for an earworm of a chorus or melody, and a unique spread of topics that separate him from others in his class. This new track doesn’t sound as DIY and authentic as the original album did, sort of combining the tastes of his ONEPOINTFIVE EP with the cuteness of Good For You, but it’s no less catchy than any of the singles from those two projects. The thing that gets me is definitely that melody on the hook, but more than that it’s the brittleness of the vocals; they reach up into an artificially high register, and the thinness gives the vocals so much more emotion (especially when paired with the very sparing and tasteful autotune applied to his voice). In a lot of ways it reminds me of what Young Thug does often in his singing passages, so it’s a no-brainer that he would show up and lend a feature on this cut; he blends in fantastically with Aminé, not taking the shine away from him at all, feeling more like a true featured verse. Solid single leading up to Aminé’s new album Limbo, which comes out at the beginning of next month. Listen if you like guys like Anoyd, KYLE, and Kota the Friend: friendly pop-rap at it’s finest.

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Kid Cudi (Feat. Eminem) – The Adventures of Moon Man & Slim Shady

I’m getting heavy A$AP Rocky vibes from both this instrumental and Cudi’s vocal layering here; you could argue that Cudi definitely influenced this style back in the day, but returning to the sound again this late definitely feels like it takes a few pages from the A$AP playbook, especially in the deeply down-pitched adlibs that are found all throughout the track. Naturally, the spacy and alien instrumental is a perfect canvas for the Man on the Moon himself to wax poetic about basically everything in his life for like 2 minutes straight. The rapping from Cudder is great, everything falling into this monotone and matter-of-fact delivery range, but his wordplay is nothing to scoff at, especially shoulder to shoulder with Eminem; great flow and cadence, but I’ve always thought cadence as Kid Cudi’s strongest trait as a rapper so I’m not surprised it’s so solid here. Going head-to-head against Em, I’m surprised that Cudi doesn’t come across as out-classed, but Eminem has tailored his flow and aggression to fit the track pretty flawlessly, remaining remarkably cool and level-headed throughout his massive verse. Lot’s of great punchlines, a few corny ones, and some politically poignant messages to be found in Em’s verse here; I’d say it’s one of his best featured appearances in a long-ass time. If you like the A$AP collective, spitters like Lloyd Banks and Lil Wayne, and political bars about the state of the world today, then I think you’ll find something to love about this single.

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YG – SWAG

The only thing more surprising than finding out that this beat is in fact not constructed by Pharrell Williams is the fact that YG still has the capacity to make a killer hit. To be fair, much of YG’s content since Still Brazy has not been given nearly the push, not gained near as much organic traction, as his political anthem Fuck Donald Trump, so to see some heft behind a new YG single is a welcome turn of events. You can tell that the track was made for a modern audience: the beat is kooky and groovy with little to no slap to it (completely different than his usual West-Coast shit), the flows are more wordy and frantic, and it’s accompanied by a very well-constructed music video that is looking for some sort of viral attention (which it’s getting for it’s Colin Kaepernick imagery). A track of this nature, with the flowery keyboards and relative lack of a banging beat, is something that I never would have expected from YG. It sounds sort of like a track that a late-career Snopp Dogg would jump on (who also features in the music video funnily enough), with the lack of seriousness in the music reflecting his weird sense of humor, but to hear YG over it tells you where YG thinks he is in his career. The lyrics are bizarrely disconnected from anything presented in the music’s marketing, legitimately reminding me of Smokepurpp or Lil Pump lyrics, but it’s quite funny the way the whole thing is presented in contrast. SWAG is like if Dr. Seuss made a hip-hop track, and for that I give YG props for making a great hit again. If you like The Neptunes, Snoop Dogg, and Lil Pump, you will find this track cute and endearing. If you are expecting Fuck Donald Trump, you will not get that.

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Pressa (Feat. Sheff G & Sleepy Hallow) – Head Tap

Toronto’s Pressa has a voice that you just need to get used to, full stop. It’s like a mix of Kodak Black and Gizmo from Gremlins; he sounds like a character Dave Chappelle would play if his show was still running. It took me a minute to acquire this taste, but now that I’ve gotten over how ridiculous this guy sounds, he can be quite funny and enjoyable. On this track he’s playing heavily into his inherent weirdness, with his quick and disjointed flow barely resembling rapping. The off-kilter vibe is completed with a fantastic instrumental, with is a hard-played plucky piano melody and some magic-forest-level woodwinds giving the track a more comical and cartoonish spin. The warped subs are slightly reminiscent of the West-Coast, so at the very least expect a solid slapper. While I like that Sheff and Sleepy make appearances, I’m not sure if this style of beat really complemented them? I’m used to hearing this two over darker Drill/Trap beats, and while their performances are fine (if a bit short) it doesn’t sound quite… natural, you feel me? Still, I think this is a really fun and bumping hip-hp track. If you like dudes like Playboi Carti, MadeinTYO, Nef The Pharaoh, and Young Thug, you’ll probably like this.

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Lil Gotit (Feat. Future) – What It Was

This feels a lot more like a Future track featuring Lil Gotit, with the hook on this track from Future the most standout portion of the track. Super actually tries really hard to sing well on this thing, and while it obviously isn’t Chris Brown levels I love how he’s able to get a little bit of vibrato out of his voice; just enough warble to show he cares about how he sounds, but also not self-serious enough to warrant this amateur sound. I wish I had more to say about Gotit on the track, but every time it seems like he’s getting going into a great verse, Future will just spring out of the sidelines and take over the track again. His flow is great, his cadence and vocal quality very reminiscent of an older Young Thug. But other than that, you won’t find anything you haven’t heard done before: just well done modern Atlanta Trap music. The beat is definitely a crispy banger, with great astral-sounding synths and deep dramatic organ samples or some shit. Like I said, I’m definitely here for Future’s performance, but if you like Young Thug, Lil Baby, or any of these other dripped out ATL rappers then give this a listen.

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Dominic Fike – Politics & Violence

Very pop-friendly and easygoing vibe from this dude. Never heard of Dominic before, and I have a feeling his content is usually more pop-leaning than some aspects of this track, but I think this track has a great vibe and structure to it. It’s broken up into two parts (which come and go quickly given the song is only three minutes), where the first part is more of a sung inspirational piece, while the second is a cute little trap number with quick flows and sharp snares and hi-hats. The first part is definitely for those pop fans out there, and while the melody doesn’t stick with me, I’m sure some of the more radio-friendly listeners out there will love this part with it’s smooth stroll through a paced drum pattern, layered vocals, and larger than life background vocalizations being par for the course for a modern pop song. The second part is where I come in, shifting into a slightly more technical hip-hop pattern, establishing a pocket that Fike is able to exploit surprisingly effectively. The way he glides over the instrumental reminds me of guys like Earthgang and JID, maybe not with the same proficiency but it’s still impressive. Overall, the vibe of the track is very positive, romantic at times, uplifting in others, a great change of pace from the murder shit that usually pops up in my Weekly Fixes. If you like guys like the Dreamville team, Kota the Friend, and KYLE, I think you’ll love this track.

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Benny the Butcher – Deal Or No Deal Freestyle

The beat is appropriately dusty and cold; produced by Daringer himself, the entire instrumental is merely a looped bass groove, backed by his trademark drone that hangs in the background setting the ambiance heavy and serious. It sound like some mafia shit for real, which is exactly what Benny needed on this motherfucker. What more needs to be said about the Butcher at this point? The dude is a god damn monster on the microphone, with his skills in punchlines and evil deliveries reaching Pusha T levels real fuckin’ quick, and he shows these skills ever-so-briefly on this track, only rapping for about a minute and a half on this freestyle. I’ll say that even when he’s not rapping it’s interesting and cold-blooded as hell, because Benny’s shit-talking game is A+ as well; he spends the last minute of this track basically threatening everyone from haters/posers to the FBI. There really isn’t much to the track besides Benny doing what he does best: being a boss on the microphone. Any coke rap aficionados (if you aren’t already tapping in) need to get on this: Pusha T, Jadakiss, 50 Cent, etc. Griselda fans obviously need to get this in your ears.

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Blueface (Feat. Coyote) – Yea Yea

The duo Coyote was unknown to me before this, and while I don’t think they made a huge impression on me with this track, I’ll be sure to look out for them in the future. The two are aggressive emcees, taking a lot of their cues from other Latino rappers from the West-Coast, namely the repetitious and mantric nature of the lyrics and hook. I like the slightly different subject matters found in their verses too, talking about the cartel and DEA; it’s nothing groundbreaking, but it’s slightly refreshing to hear things like this. Blueface actually does incredibly well on this beat (which is a quick-acting slapper with a great sense of cadence and cool little beat layers with snares, walloping drum beats, and the ubiquitous piano melodies that seem to find their way into every Blueface track on the planet), hitting all of this charismatic notes that he’s so well known for, throwing in a few stupid punchlines to hit it out of the park. I would have liked to have seen a lot more Blueface on this track, but it seems like he has an album coming up very soon that will give me all of the “yea aiight”s I can stomach. Listen to this if you don’t mind your music being goofy and unserious, and if you have a taste for cheap west-coast bangers that slap enough to warrant listen.

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Lil Skies – Red & Yellow

I’ve got to say, this mixtape that is leading up the release of the new Fast and Furious movie (which is somehow on it’s 9th installment…. I just don’t understand…) is shaping up to unusually solid. If you remember, the tape they put out for Fast 8 was pretty bad, D-sides from popular artists like Uzi and Travis, but tracks like the YoungBoy single from a few weeks ago, the Tory Lanez and Kevin Gates single from last week, and now, the best one yet, this new single from Lil Skies, show me that Atlantic Records is actually trying to curate a good quality album to promote this movie. The hook on this song is catchy as fuck (maybe a bit grating to some), with Skies’ start and stop flow he has going on here and his melody being well-written and creative. Getting into the verses, there’s nothing besides the typical rap fare for Lil Skies: raging in a moshpit, people underestimating him, his Rockstar life, and the lavish things he owns. It’s a little strange that, besides the refrain “My Car is Red”, there is really nothing car related on the track, but honestly it keeps the track detached from the movie enough that I could see myself enjoying this on a normal Skies album easily. Fans of ian diorr, Juice WRLD, Yung Pinch, and Trippie Redd will like this; the nocturnal beat mixed with the young and quick rapping is a must for you angsty listeners out there.

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Desiigner – Hate Me Now (FREESTYLE)

Of all of the tracks that Desiigner could have reimagined, Nas’ Hate Me Now is basically on the very bottom of the list of songs I would have guessed. I’ll be 100% real with all of you: I’m a huge Nas fan, obviously Illmatic and It Was Written are essential (and I’ve even gotten into some more modern Nas efforts like NASIR and Lost Tapes 2), but I’ve always disliked I Am immensely. I’m not as attached to Hate Me Now as many of you are, so, in that spirit, I love what Desiigner is able to do with the basic idea of the original song. It’s not a remake, redo, or remix, it’s more of taking the spirit of the song (and it’s key phrase) and molding it into a Brooklyn Drill banger. All of the drama of the original is still here, with the grand symphonic vocals leading the track in and the Drill beat (which all have a sense of huge and cavernous anyways) playing well into said drama. As this is a freestyle, there’s isn’t much meat on the bones here; think back to the original Tiimy Turner freestyle, with just the hook and a very short verse over the course of two minutes, and you pretty much get the idea. But, also like that Tiimy Turner track, imagine an earworm of a chorus and a great flow; I like how he takes on this new kind of beat and makes it his own. It reminds me of how people like Lil Tjay and A Boogie wit da Hoodie would approach something like this, maybe a bit stiffer in delivery but it suffices. Give this track a chance if you like modern hip-hop, especially the new Drill wave going on in New York right now, and you don’t mind a little bit of melody amongst crushing sub-bass.

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D-Block Europe – Plain Jane

I value the voices that these two guys bring to the UK Hip-Hop scene; short of M Huncho, I think out of all of the understated British Trap crooners out there Young Adz is one of my favorites, with Dirtbike being a close follower. What we have here is a great single from the duo, showcasing their infectious melodic deliveries and aptitude at choosing hard-hitting trap beats. While the Drill sounds of the area are more unique and revolutionary, there’s something special about hearing the usual trap sounds you’d hear from people like Lil Baby and Gunna done in a slightly different way overseas. Like I said, I love these dude’s voices and use of vocal manipulation, scratching an itch for new melodies that I never know that I had until I hear it. If you like guys like the aforementioned Baby and Gunna, NAV, 88GLAM, & 24hrs, you’ll like this too.

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Jay Critch – Money Talk

There was a sudden switch with Jay Critch recently, within the past year or two, where he just dove headfirst into the melodic trap lane. He’s done some singing before, a little bit of autotune, but since that time I can’t say I’ve heard him on a verse in a long time where he isn’t singing with heavy layers of autotune. I’m not saying I don’t like his new formula (and I’m sure it’s getting him way more hits and listens), but I miss his older more straightforward triplet trap tracks. Still, I give the kid props for a voice that’s at least nice to listen to, if a bit robotic, and a great head for producers and good beats. The beat on this track is made by Tony Seltzer and Adrian Lau, two guys who are well-versed in making both trap bangers and more traditional hip hop beats, and the ethereal and crystalline beat they provide here is arguably the best part of the track. If you like Gunna, Lil Tjay, or Lil Skies, and want more spacy trap vibes, then give this track a shot.

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