Weekly Fix #30 ('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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So much shit came out this week it’s hard to keep track of it all. Two things make this week one to watch out for: firstly is the huge number of deluxe editions we got from hip-hop cats ranging from the ultra-mainstream Gunna on down to hip-hop recluse Earl Sweatshirt. Some work, some don’t, and while I’m not really judging them like I would a full project, most are worth a listen through again. The second thing is a much more important responsibility as a listener: tons of stuff dropped on Bandcamp this week, with a couple of quality releases are only available through that service. I know people are hesitant to spend their money on this shit, but consider supporting the artists directly with a purchase.

Pop Smoke, Gunna, and Boldy James come through with expected fire, but I think it was those I was not expecting that made the most impact on me this week. ??? (aka Hidden Character) impresses with his debut album, Jamal Gasol is out here showing us definitively why he’s here to stay in the game, Slim Thug & Killa Kyleon set it down for the south coast, and Curren$y blindsided me (with help from Harry Fraud) with one of his best projects in a long time. Oh, and a source of absolutely no disappointment at all, we did NOT get Kanye. I am not disappointed. I am not. I am…… *sigh*

Next week (tomorrow; I procrastinated like a motherfucker this week) we have another huge weekend full of quality releases. I’ve been eating off of two Big Ghost releases that I’ll talk about next week (M.A.V. & Rob Gates is a few weeks old, but K.A.A.N. is brand new), 38 Spesh *finally* has a new project, Eto’s got some fire for us, Flee Lord had MORE fire for us produced by Pete-fucking-Rock, Black Thought; I could go on, but go check out my Upcoming Heat page to get the full scoop, because tonight you’re gonna need some help sorting through this shit.

A big thank you to everyone who read and engages, y’all are the reason why I do this. I hope everyone has found some ill shit to bump, discovered a new artist, delved into a new sub-genre/scene, and maybe even found some new favorites. Keep it up, and I’ll see everyone next week.

Here’s a link to the Week #30 Playlist (’20) for y’all

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Here’s a link to the Week #30 (’20) Art Appreciation post

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Pop Smoke – Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon (Deluxe)

While I don’t think it’s as high-budget and glossy as his debut album (I mean technically it’s still his debut album, just with some tracks added onto the end), I think that these new tracks are solid enough to warrant their inclusion. What you’re getting is b-sides from what sounds like the actual album-making process (mostly reserved for the album’s middle portion with Tsunami, Backseat, and She Feelin Nice), tracks that those who wanted a more true to form Pop Smoke album will enjoy (bangers like Showin’ Off Pt. 1 & 2, Iced Out Audemars, and Hello), and remixes to tracks on the original album that went unfinished or needed more love (I used these tracks to beef up the original tracklist, getting rid of the unreleased versions). What we have is an unfocused spread of tracks, but I think there is more of a raw edge to them that sound more like what Meet the Woo 3 would have sounded like. I can hear 50 Cent (literally in the sense Pop Smoke is straight up using lines from 50 with his blessing) in his delivery and voice, so anyone who likes those older 2000’s gangsta rappers (especially ones from New York) will love this tape. One last thing to note: Paranoia is a track that 100% should have been on the original album, and would have damn near been the best track on this shit if For the Night didn’t exist, and it’s a travesty that Pusha T was taken off of this track. Anybody who liked the original album will find this deluxe a natural fit.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Curren$y & Harry Fraud – The OutRunners

By far the best Curren$y release this year (I think we’re up to 5 now? 6?). Curren$y is an emcee that you need to grow accustomed to, I admit, but, similar to Westside Gunn, I think if you give the man the time he needs to get into the zone he can impress you with some supreme vibes. He always sound like he just got done with a nap and yawn, jumping in the booth right after he woke up (or, more realistically, after he just smoked some of the finest kush available to man), so the slow and slightly repetitive approach may not be for everyone, but where Curren$y excels is in his charisma and uniqueness, making us fans of him willing to listen to his enormous number of his projects. Consistency is key, and while every Spitta tape isn’t a classic, they are all good, and whenever he drops a project like this one here you notice the elevation. Two things set this album apart: one is a great use of a features, something that isn’t usually the case on his albums, and two is the depth of collaboration between rapper and producer. We have Rick Ross, Wiz Khalifa singing surprisingly well, Jim Jones (two features in one week, here and Sha Hef’s new project), and Conway the Machine giving only the best of quality. More than the features, the project serves as an extended collaboration between Spitta and the producer Harry Fraud, who kills these instrumentals with some wavy samples. The beats bump, the instrumentation from the guitars on down to those smooth horn lines are heavenly, and there isn’t a redundant idea on the project to be found. The two have collaborated in the past (the classic Cigarette Boats comes to mind, and the Marina EP from 2018), but I daresay this is their most exciting venture. If you like weed rap: guys like Wiz Khalifa, Smoke DZA, and Berner (three guys who Spitta have done projects with in the past), lots of rap about getting high and driving fancy cars, and a little bit of edge from the West-Coast riding influence, then throw this on late a night while you’re driving home.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Boldy James & Sterling Toles – Manger on McNichols

Far and away Boldy James’ most personal album to date, and probably one of the most detailed emotional experiences I’ve heard this year. James has always been a rapper obsessed with the little details of his stories and personal interactions, being so evocative of an emcee because of the way he can paint pictures with his words in ways that I have heard very rarely. I think of people like Evidence and Jonwayne whenever I think of the skill displayed here on the microphone. The craziest part to this is that this album, with the exception of one or two verses, is all over a decade old at this point, being recorded years ago while Boldy was a younger man using Sterling’s basement studio back when Detroit was all that they knew. You can hear the frustration with his situation, the pain of losing his loved ones, the deep hurt caused by his mother sending them away as children, and the challenges of living in one of Detroit’s most brutal neighborhoods. But this record is more than just a miracle of words brough by an A-tier poet, it is a spread of beats that run a jazz gamut, tapping into happy horns, dejected saxophones, well-placed drums, and an overall sense of live instrumentation (which is the majority of the material here) that is so full of life and character. Sterling Toles has had a decade to refine and perfect this album, and I think all of that time has resulted in a seminal release in Jazz Rap this year. Listen if you like live performances, A Tribe Called Quest, the jazzier aspects of Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, and a vague resemblance to Griselda and their members (Conway the Machine especially).

Bandcamp

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Gunna – WUNNA (Deluxe)

Another one of the many deluxe editions that dropped this week, and this one is another massive hit for me. There is something that is unflinchingly successful about these new tracks, and that is the goddamn beats. I don’t think I can praise these clever, clean, and punchy trap beats enough, both on the original project and these new deluxe tracks. This motherfucker Taurus is very quickly becoming a name I can count on to deliver heavenly, detailed, ethereal, and unique trap beats, perfect soundscapes for Gunna to do his thing with his perfect flow. Am I going to get on here and say that Gunna is the best lyricist that has ever lived? Hell-fucking-no, and anyone who says I said that, ya mom’s a hoe. But Gunna can literally flow for days, comes through with a few clever bars (and some admittedly cringy ones), and oh yeah his flow is impeccable. The melodic skill he shows across a lot of these beats is another thing to love this guy for, seemingly able to capture the vibe and idea behind a beat effortlessly. These tracks fit so well into the original record, I’m not even mad he’s restructuring the tracklist to include them; I’d raise HELLA eyebrows at something like this normally, but these tracks naturally fit into the flow of the record. If you aren’t convinced, show up to hear some of these other names on here: if NAV alone doesn’t have you tripping over yourselves to listen to this record, then maybe Future, Lil Uzi Vert, and *another* Young Thug feature will get you to check it out. Modern trap lovers need to assemble on this one.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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??? – “THEHIDDENCHARACTER”

When I tell you I was confused about who the fuck this guy was…. I’ve seen his name on a few Estee Nack projects that have come out within the past year or so, and I always assume that it was literally a hidden feature from a guy who didn’t want to divulge his name. He always came with the fire in his verses, so I was kind of like “yeah the mysterious guy killed it again, wish I knew who he was tho”. Well whenever I saw this project I felt like a total dumbass, but by end of it, I was so excited that I had discovered this amazing talent. ??? (which, for the record, is pronounced “Hidden Character. The ?’s are silent.) is one grimy motherfucker, being a combination of the spit-flinging of al.divino, the esoterica of Estee Nack, and the impish and slimy explosiveness of guys like ANKHLEJOHN. He’s closely associated with the divino and Nack camps, playing into a lot of similar themes and motif’s in making an album (namely, the similar track titling and feature lists), but still makes his own mark and inhabits his own unique space in the collective. In comparison to other emcees out of Lynn, Massachusetts right now, he is arguably the most gutter and dicey of them all, being able to change up his flow on a dime to fit both the hazy uncertainty of divino beats and more hard-hitting and technical beats from Vinyl Villain. The project is short, has a ton of character (no pun intended), and features a great spread of guests that link ??? into the wider Nack/divino-verse. If you like cats like Fly Anakin (or basically anyone out of Richmond right now), Griselda, Pounds, or Rome Streetz, you have got to give this album a listen (I’ll remind y’all when it’s on streaming, but consider dropping some dough for the culture).

Bandcamp

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Sha Hef – Numb

This guy has been around in the game for a long minute, having connections with both Benny the Butcher’s Black Soprano Family and 38 Spesh’s Trust Gang, and anyone familiar with the brand of dark mafioso rap those two individuals specialize in will be able to envision what this album is like. It’s violent, gritty, raw, and no-bullshit hip-hop, with the emphasis being on the life of an organized crime boss. The beats here score the vignettes well enough (though I think the consistency in volume across this project is a bit wonky), and there are a couple of standout moments where the lead sample will hit you like a ton of bricks, like Time Zones, not unlike the production styles that a group like Griselda would often use. Sha Hef himself is a competent emcee: his voice is a mixture of older New York (the guy is a Bronx native) like Lloyd Banks and newer cats like BSF’s own Ricky Hyde. Throw in some of the aggression and vocal tone of guys like Verbal Kent and Rock from Heltah Skeltah and you have a rapper that makes threats and sounds unhinged enough to follow through with them… but with class. It’s short, dark, and has a ton of great features from the aforementioned Benny and Spesh (Spesh in particular destroys his verse), as well as Harlem legend Jim Jones. Give this a spin if you like G-Unit, Che Noir, and Rome Streetz.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Slim Thug & Killa Kyleon – Down In Texas

Houston emcees have been have been having a great time of things for the past year or so, and I think a lot of that push is being brought by those famous Texas emcees being risker and more accepting of ideas from outside of their city, specifically the Northeast. Don’t get me wrong, I love those old UGK hits that slap like a motherfucker, but I think what makes Down In Texas such an entertaining and exciting project is that Thugga and Killa are willing to hop in instrumentation that isn’t a 100% true-to-spirit representation of typical Houston production. Much like Paul Wall and Bun B did last year, there are a lot of sounds on here that sound like boom-bap throwback cuts, sounding more like something I’d hear Joey Bada$$ hop on than two Houston greats. There is a happy, indulgent feel to many of the tracks here, and with the commonplace sampling (that utilizes the great Pimp C very often) you’ll find you’d be hard-pressed to find a more easy-going H-Town record this year. One of the only things that gives me the feel of Houston are the drums on some of these beats, being a bit more detailed and clean. Slim Thug and Kyleon don’t really take the new vibes in stride rather than just do what they do best over these beats, which isn’t a bad thing, and in fact makes for a dual chilling/hype-inducing listening experience, especially when listening to these slick-ass Kyleon punchlines over the tranquil instrumentals. Candy paint, riding slab, smoking swisher sweets; all of the Houston flair is here, just with a shining veneer of East Coast sensibilities. Check this out if you like producers like Statik Selektah, especially if you liked that Bun B tape from last year.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Jamal Gasol – The World is Piff 2

The most complete project from Gasol so far, hitting a lot of the stylistic notes that need to be there for a compelling underground record. There are slower, grindier hip-hop, soulful or funky sampling choices, and the variety of moods and tones makes this listen engaging form front to back. Jamal himself speaks on many different subjects that diversifies him in ways many of his peers don’t, esoterically speaking on society while also detailing his time in the streets as a hustler, making some time to speak on current events too. I’m not saying the man is a lyrical miracle, but his slower and more labored rapping style gives heft to every line, with everything he says containing some sort of purpose. A lot of these styles you’ll find amongst other characters that are dominating Western New York right now like 38 Spesh and Eto, but instead of representing those higher-profile cites like Rochester and Buffalo Gasol is one of the only rappers I know hailing from Niagara Falls. I think another clear strength of the record are the feature spots here, breaking the action apart beautifully with great talent like Vic Spencer, Planet Asia, Lord Jah-Monte, and a killer appearance from Philly-native Dark Lo. Any fans of any of those guys a mentioned will love this project, and anyone out there looking for a more elevated form of underground hip-hop will too.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Wais P – T.A.P.A.S.

Short, sweet, to the point, disrespectful as a motherfucker, and features a great spread of beats. Hell, there’s even some great hooks on this thing. Wais is one of my favorite rappers out right now that go for straight pimp music, operating within that wheelhouse with ruthless efficiency and with hilariously violent results. He just sounds so angry all the time; angry at his enemies for the GALL to question his street cred, angry at the man for keeping him down, shit he’s a pimp but he’s even mad at these hoes sometimes. No one is spared his wrath on this project, and any chance he has to double down on the ridiculous shit he says, he makes sure to take it. I’m glad that his career has taken a great turn these past few years, because I think his energy and skill have gone underrated for too damn long. Despite being a short 5 tracks, the beats he chooses here are a great mix of more hard-hitting boom-bap and some more cerebral synthy cuts like the Vanderslice-provided Bath Salts. Wais even makes room for a couple features from the explosive Jon Connor and none-other than one of the fathers of modern New York Hip-Hop, Kool G Rap. Everything about the EP is quality, so tap in if you like you’re hip-hop macho and brutal; think guys like Ice Cube, Dark Lo, and DMX.

Bandcamp

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Calboy – Long Live The Kings (Deluxe)

One of the many deluxes out this week, I think Calboy’s updated project is one of the better ones. Doubling the size of a project that I already thought was outstanding, this deluxe adds 6 new tracks and four new features from King Von, Polo G, Yo Gotti, and Fivio Foreign. Much like the original EP, these new tracks are solidly written with great hooks, don’t skimp on beats that are clean and punchy trap music (with the exception of Rounds which is a great foray into Brooklyn Drill), and, in an improvement over the original, utilize more featured talent to build out the tracklist and make the material that much more engaging. Calboy is most definitely up next out of Chicago right now, and seems willing to embrace many different sounds and scenes in hip-hop to show his versatility; he’ll almost always come with the super-autotuned rapping (the kid sounds a lot like Lil Durk to be 100%), but his speed and energetic singing sets him apart from those in his city that operate out of a similar playbook. Watch this kid, because I think he’s going to blow up here very soon. Listen if you like any autotuned rapper out there like Gunna, Lil Baby, Lil Tjay, T-Pain.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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All Hail Y.T. & Yosonova – V-12 Soul

There’s something about Y.T. and smooth music that just seems to go together flawlessly. Easygoing riding music that you can bump while strolling the city streets at sunset type shit. He can flow over these beats without being too technical, retaining this confidence that isn’t cocky, a suaveness that few rappers out there can tap into. He can also bring some lyrical fire; a lot of his lyricism can go over your head while you’re entranced with the smoothness, but I encourage y’all to give a closer listen to what the man is saying. He’s both indulgent in vice and conscious of the world around him, and some of the gems he drops on us here are quality both in their poignance and by a lot of them being tied into the whole “motorsport” motif he has going on here. Yosonova seems like a perfect fit for Y.T.’s style, fitting the coolness of Y.T.’s character perfectly. Love the beats that take the focus off of tough drums and put the spotlight and solid synth leads and fantastic keyboard work. The copious amount of car engine samples and racing clips is a great touch to give the project and even more unique sound to it. It should also be said that, despite the EP being a mere 6 tracks, the two have sought to get a gang of features on this bitch to really hit home how ambitious they were with this one: great melodic work from Ladyy, and appearances from lyrical heavy hitters Chris Skillz and Left Lane Didon. In conclusion, I think this short project feels more complete than a lot if people’s full-lengths, and deserves a listen (and a purchase to be honest) from anyone who likes their hip-hop chiiiiillll as fuck.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music/Bandcamp

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The Musalini – Return Of The Oro

There are some fantastic highlights on here, especially on the production front. This guy named Clypto absolutely demolished tracks like Blood Diamonds and Halo, looping killer vocal samples to create beats that I will not forget any time soon; Blood Diamonds in particular is something I’ve never heard in hip-hop before, sounding like some Michael Bolton-type beat shit. The whole project contains beats that make the listen worthwhile, and it’s made even better by so many features that make themselves felt: Rasheed Chappell, Emilio Craig, G4 JAG, and a outstanding verse from Ransom on Halo. I think that, although the album is a bit lengthy, The Musalini indulges in the uniqueness of his sound enough to appreciate what he has going on here. There isn’t a rapper out right now quite like him, with the unique grimy and creaky quality to his voice being something immediately identifiable; he’s no master of flow or technical rhyme scheme, but the confidence and swagger in his voice makes him a particularly entertaining rapper to listen to. I think lovers of the Griselda scene right now, Willie The Kid, and Roc Marciano, should give this guy a shot.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music/Bandcamp

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Blueface – Famous Cryp (Reloaded)

I can’t be the only one that find this move to be weird as fuck. Much like Earl’s FEET OF CLAY deluxe, it seems entirely unnecessary to re-release this project in this fashion, especially whenever everything added to the project could have been easily separated into it’s own unique album. Where this differs from deluxes like Uzi’s and Pop Smoke’s is that we’re adding a spread of new material (doubling the run time) to older songs that, at this point in Blueface’s career, sound entirely dated. He had a sound, a style, and a lack of fidelity that was intriguing whenever he first popped on the scene, but now that he’s making more defined and polished West-Coast music, his old stuff quite literally just sounds dirty. There’s a remix to his famous Respect My Cryppin featuring Snoop Dogg, but besides that there is nothing on the original project that I would want to go back and listen to. Moving on from that, the new material is still pretty good, even though we’ve heard most of it already through single after single from the past 6 months or so. Tour still slaps, Finesse the Beat still slaps, Hocus Pocus is good (although it already placed on DJ Kay Slay’s last album soooooo), and the new track Pinocchio, which sees Blueface over a Drill beat, is surprisingly catchy. Overall, I’m slightly disappointed with what this projected ended up becoming, but cut out the old tracks and you’re left with something that is a listenable Blueface experience.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Earl Sweatshirt – FEET OF CLAY (Deluxe)

I don’t have much to say about this one because this is a “deluxe” edition that literally just has one new track. I mean, sure, we’re getting WHOLE WORLD with Maxo on a project, and it’s definitely a great track, but was this really worth a whole deluxe release for? It all seems like a scheme to get more plays, which is *supremely* odd to see from Earl Sweatshirt of all people. Still, despite rubbing me the wrong way in presentation, I think the new tracks are great. I’ve been listening to that WHOLE WORLD track for a minute, and I still love the beat and the performances as much as I did back then, so we’re still solid I that regard. GHOST features a scuzzy soul-loop, a bit more bite and punch in the drums, and a more grounded and tangible approach to songmaking from Earl and Navy Blue (who’s verse on here is great and prominent in the mix). Is it worth re-releasing this project to include these tracks? I’ll leave it up to y’all to decide, but all of you MIKE and Mach-Hommy fans out there (for those of you who for some reason haven’t heard this EP) need to give this a listen regardless.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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

J. Cole – Lewis Street

Lewis Street is actually a pack of singles consisting of two songs: The Climb Back and Lion King On Ice. J. Cole had a long and winding career to get to where he is now, and there are a lot of sounds and vibes that he’s tapping into over the years. The more combative and aggressive Born Sinner days, his first major taste of success and pop-writing of 2014 Forest Hill Drive, the highly underrated and reflective 4 Your Eyez Only, the odd and experimental KOD, and then his massive Dreamville label compilation that showed an embrace of modern hip-hop tendencies and characters. The two tracks are different in the ways Cole approaches them, but I think the beats and the vibes are very similar to those found on Forest Hills Drive, sounding like they could have easily placed on that album as singles. Both tracks feature amazing rapping, great flows that hit many different cadences both speedy and detailed, and even some good singing that doesn’t try to hard nor overstay it’s welcome. I think where these tracks show the most evolutions in Cole’s character are on the lyrics, showing a lot more maturity and poignancy than a lot of his past material has (a huge amount of metaphors and other wordplay, not unusual for J. Cole but it feels more constant and the focus here). Personally, I like the catchiness of Lion King on Ice more than The Climb Back’s detail, but both tracks are solid as fuck and deserve listens.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Headie One & Drake – Only You Freestyle

UK Drill is alive and well in this track, that much is to be said. Drake has always been fond of this style of rapping from overseas, but I don’t think I have ever heard him embrace this sound so whole-heartedly before. From the nomenclature, the heavily accented delivery, the flow that rides an odd pocket, and on down to the adlibs, Drake sounds like he’s following along with (with great results, don’t get me wrong) Headie One entirely. It’s fucking crazy how technical and aggressive he gets with this track, with a flow he hits on the backend of the verse (while being slightly off-beat) being some of the most well-written stuff I’ve heard from Drake in a hot-ass-minute.  Crazy wordplay on this thing, from both emcees in fact, because Headie One steps up to this challenge admirably. Maybe he wasn’t as standout with his understated delivery and voice (which is half to do with the fact that Drake is mixed way too loud on the track), but I think that, since this is his sound and his culture, his authenticity and the chilliness factor plays well for him in the face of the rabid-dog Drake presents himself as on this track. This don’t even touch the beat, which is an absolute banger of a drill beat; I fucking love the crisp percussion and the modular bass notes and that ghostly choir sample in the background is so cold it sound like this was recorded at the Arctic Circle. If you like new flows, new beats, and don’t mind some exotic accents amongst the global hip-hop sphere, then you’ve got to listen to this thing.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Chase B & Don Toliver (Feat. Gunna) – Cafeteria

There is a phenomenal melody at the core of this track, something that both Toliver and Gunna exploit to make a killer pop-trap track. I would have liked a bit more from Toliver’s verse, but his hook is fantastically catchy, and the way Gunna rides the beat is nothing less than expected from him at this point. The man just cannot miss on a feature, and this one continues his streak. Chase B, one of the in-house producers over at Cactus Jack Records, is looking to put out a project of his own it seems, because this new track, paired with his semi-recent collab with Sheck Wes and Young Thug, promise an album full of creatively zany trap beats. This one here for Cafeteria is like some sort of 80’s romp, like if Back to the Future took place in 2025 instead of 1955. Anyone who fucks with Travis Scott, Kid Cudi, Lil Uzi Vert, and Roddy Ricch will love this track.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Ski Mask the Slump God – Burn the Hoods

Ski Mask is one of the most unique emcees in the game today, and, while it’s been a while since we’ve heard anything from the disgustingly talented and pop-culture-woke rapper, I think this track is a sign of a great return to the game. For starters, we’re getting something here that I don’t think Ski has ever tackled before: politics sort of? He says fuck Donald Trump (a given), America sucks, and the name of the track is in reference to the KKK, but beyond that what we’re getting is standard Ski flair, with completely unrelated references to old children’s TV shows and gross-out bars about licking things and being crazy. The one-liners are here, the hilarity is here, the beat is a kooky off-kilter banger with those discordant piano keys, and the flow is out of this fucking world crazy. I wish I had more to say, but the track is SO DAMN SHORT that there isn’t much material to work with here (I wish he would build out the songs a bit more, maybe a feature would have fit on this track). If Ski Mask is back, I’m a happy man. If you like any of those Florida guys like Smokepurpp and Lil Pump, but on a much more elevated level lyrically and flow wise (think Young Thug), then you have got to give this a listen.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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NLE Choppa – Ruff Rydas

I might actually have to go out there and watch this fuckin’ Fast and Furious movie for real; or at least CashApp the homie who put together these fantastic songs to score that terrible-ass movie (of course I’ve never seen the movie, but I can only imagine that it’s full of car chases, weird villains, and Vin Diesel staring into the camera meaning to be hard and macho but instead coming across like he really needs to take a shit). This new track from NLE Choppa is a great showcase of his skills as a memorable and likeable emcee; he’s ultraviolent, autotuned at times, and accented to all hell, three things that could be used to describe a lot of different emcees in the game today, but the way he mixes the three together make him a uniquely potent voice in today’s youth. His flow is very haphazard and wild, sometimes not even hitting the pocket in any recognizable way, but somehow it all comes together in the end and you think “he really killed that shit” when in reality he just went barbarian with words. The man is definitely helped by the fact that this beat is fire; I love the quickness, busyness of the chimes, flutes and horns, and the way the beat will wind down for the hook only to start up again like a Tesla on the verses. Short, catchy, and energetic, standing shoulder to shoulder with a wall of great singles for the F9 Mixtape. Listen if you like dudes like YoungBoy NBA and Kodak Black, albeit with a lot more energy and aggression than the latter.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Jacquees & Chris Brown – Put in Work

I’ve never put together in my mind how similar Chris Brown and Jacquees are in vocal tone and flow; both of the dudes have an angelic set of pipes, with the melodies coming out of them being some of the best in the R&B scene right now. There’s a softness to their melodies, but a totally unexpected dexterity to their rap flows that make them like a jack of all trades in hip-hop. And that’s not favoring one or the other whenever I say this: both of these dudes are masters of melody and rapping (maybe Chris Brown is a bit more mature), and their ear for crafting catchy melodies and infectious flows cannot be overstated. Breezy seems to take up a bit more of the track than Jacquees does, which isn’t as much of a complaint as it is an observation. The beat is a fun and bassy trap banger, quick-witted and leaving a lot of open spaces for those fast rap flows to take hold. If you like R&B and hip-hop combined into a twist of words of sexual themes (guys like Usher and Trey Songz come to mind), then you’ll love this track as much as I do.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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