Weekly Fix #49 ('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 where you can find the music. The bottom section will be devoted to projects that have Bandcamp or online webstore links, to give a greater highlight to those artists who you can support directly. Click here to see a list of previous Fixes.

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It was a little bit of a slow week this time around, giving me a little more time to get into some of these albums (and give me a much-needed breather in the face of a job that is demanding more of my attention).

This week we got albums from guys like Drakeo the Ruler and Rico Nasty, as well as cats like Che Noir and Mooch. But the real gem this week is this album we just got from Your Old Droog, a fascinating dive into Droog as a cultural sponge. This is one of those albums that I am begging y’all to go out there and buy; the shit is only 10 dollars, and you’re supporting an artist that truly deserves it.

Next week we have some big names dropping: both Jack Harlow and Kid Cudi are looking to shake up the mainstream game, 38 Spesh is following up his 1994 tape with a direct sequel called 1995, Boldy James has got another project this year coming up (this time with Real Bad Man on the boards), LNDN DRGS have finally got a new album on the way, and Verbal Kent & Recognize Ali are teaming up again to bring us another Dueling Experts project. Check out everything I see coming over on my Upcoming Heat page, which is a nifty little calendar I created for people to use in their quest to keep up with new music.

Like always, I’d like to thank everyone who checks in regularly here at Tha Soup Dude’s Kitchen. Introducing people to music has been a passion of mine for a while, and getting to do so on a platform as big as this one has been both exciting and humbling. Thank you all are being the best.

Peace

Here’s a link to the Week #49 (’20) Playlists

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Here’s a link to the Week #49 (‘20) Singles

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Here’s a link to the Week #49 (’20) Art Appreciation post

-----STREAMING PROJECTS-----

Che Noir – After 12

Cover Artist: artbyshk.com

On her third project of 2020, Che Noir I think has saved some of her most personal material for last, both in subject matter and the attention that she has given the project with her own hands. It was always going to be difficult to beat … As God Intended, the album that she put out earlier this year with the sterling producer Apollo Brown, an album that showcased her most venerable material to date, but I think that she comes close to matching that same depth on After 12, reminding me much of the EP series that RJ Payne is putting out for us called Beautiful Payne (the sequel to which coincidentally came out this week, listed down below in the Hot Deals section). Her lyrics are always on point, speaking on her life growing up in the conditions she lived and on both the relationships with men and the game, but whenever she gets into those cold-blooded gang-affiliated bars you know you’re getting the grimiest around (you can thank 38 Spesh for mentoring and nurturing this talent, an individual who’s DNA can be found in many of Che’s rhymes and beats). But I think the prouder achievement here on Che’s part is the fact that she produced the entire record herself, a talent that I didn’t even know she had before this tape as I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Che Noir production credit before. And it’s not even like I’ve seen building blocks up to this tape: she just came out and dropped this amazingly produced project seemingly out of the blue, posturing herself as a prime beatmaker with this one project. It’s a short project, but every verse, beat, and hook lines up magically to make it feel so much more substantial, a diversity that’s made even more potent by the inclusion of names such as RJ Payne, The Musalini, Amber Simone, 38 Spesh, and a standout performance by Ransom (this man is a fucking monster). I highly suggest you give this EP a try, a quick introduction to a finely-tuned style for those unaware of Che’s power, and demonstration of growth and unknown talent for those who have been keeping up with her.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Mooch – Da 5th Power

Cover Artist: [Unknown]

Watching Da Cloth’s journey from a deeply-rooted underground Rochester movement to a group of some of the most in-demand rappers in The Abyss today has been heartening to say the least. Mooch hasn’t always been the best out of the group from a technical standpoint, but I think over the past year he has upped his writing game considerably, and now, combined with his unique ear-shredding delivery that draws similarities to dudes like Ghostface Killah and Westside Gunn, his voice cuts through the most, at least for me, as one of the best in Da Cloth right now. His flow can be crazy, his lyrics can be smart flips on the crack-cooking life, and his unmistakable presence on the track often overpowers the beats he’s on, making him the main focus of anything going on; I think in that sense he truly embodies the “emcee”, able to maestro an entire album comfortably. The entire album is done by Fith, a beatmaker who I’ve seen before with placements on albums from Pounds, Flee Lord, and Bub Rock, and I think his spread of instrumentals here work perfectly with Mooch’s style: it can be stripped back boom-bap, vocal-looped grandiosity, or some cinematic shit that sounds straight out of Only Built 4 Cuban Linx. Mooch brings in a few guests on here, like fellow Da Cloth members Rigz and Rob Gates (the former of which comes through with a killer hook on Microwave), as well as a hair-raising performance from fellow New Yorker Rome Streetz. An all around solid release from Mooch, one that has me looking forward to other solo tapes from the group (like Rigz up soon) that aim for the same consistent quality.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Rico Nasty – Nightmare Vacation

Cover Artist: [Unknown]

Historically, Rico Nasty hasn’t been a performer that has clicked with me personally. I wouldn’t go as far to call her voice grating like some people on the internet, but it takes a certain acquired taste to listen to her vocals and make out what it is one would enjoy from listening to her. I think her previous projects sounded a bit too angry, undirected rage that sounded unfocused and scattershot. But this album here, one that you have to bend yourself into believing is a debut album given she has released a ton of tapes before this, really sharpens that aggression, pointing it into specific genre crossovers that feels more finished and purposeful. There are shades of trap, hyper-pop, trap-metal, shit even some industrial tones across this thing that, while all being delivered to you by Rico in yells and screeches, presents a variety that I hadn’t seen from her up until now. She has serviceable singing abilities, gets down into some lower registers at some points, has autotuned parts that go over well, and her yelling and overblown overbearance is utilized in more structured environments that sound less like a woman yelling into a can and more like written songs. The beats on here are just chaotic and abrasive enough that you can recognize a lot of those previous styles, but it’s presented in a way that’s… well that’s more presentable really. The screws are tightened, the hook and song structures are built, and the sequencing with more manic songs sandwiched by traditional rap allows you to digest the craziness easier. The features, weirdly enough, are where some of the real eccentricity is found on Nightmare Vacation: Aminé is a great compliment to Rico’s style (although their track sounds like Rico is the feature over Aminé), but Gucci Mane, Don Toliver, and Trippie Redd are odd combinations, not amounting to anything mind-blowing but still interesting enough in novelty. The last track, a remix to her Smack A Bitch anthem, is… crazy. That’s it. I was very pleased with this album, with Rico gaining a new fan by diversifying her sound, slowing down the explosiveness, and writing actual songs that I can bump in my car. Listen to this if you like your music crispy and weird as hell.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Drakeo the Ruler – We Know the Truth

Cover Artist: Gallery Provence

Drakeo is finally free y’all; we all knew he ain’t do nothin’ wrong the man has been telling us this since day one. His first project since beating his case is arguably his best one yet, bringing together beats that have some meat on their instrumental bones (not that Joog was phoning it in on Thank You For Using GTL mind you, I just feel like these beats have a bit more flair to them), unwavering attention to robotic and earworm hooks, and a return to form in the feature department coming off of his last mixtape that he carried mostly solo. Drakeo is like a lot of other guys you can find on the West-Coast right now: ALLBLACK, Nef the Pharaoh, SOBxRBE and its various members, the difference being is that the Ruler slows the tempo waaaaay down, spitting slowly in a disjointed whisper over smoky L.A. slappers. Also much like his contemporaries, there is West-Coast gangsta rap (and Bay Area looseness) baked into the DNA, but the majority of the influence actually comes from places like Atlanta; I’m not just saying this because of the similar prison stints, but I can hear Gucci Mane’s influence all over this tape. We Know the Truth doesn’t really speak on anything Drakeo has gone through for he most part, sticking to his usual bizarre one-liners and references, straddling the line between hilarious and threateningly dark. I’m glad to see the game coming together to support this guy as well, with predictable features from Ketchy, Ralphy, and Desto, but also bigger names who come in for the assist like Tee Grizzley, $tupid Young, DaBoii, Lil Mosey, and Rich The Kid. A bigger, better oiled, street-level, and cold celebration of a huge event in the history of the West-Coast, Drakeo the Ruler is now in a prime position to make his impression felt; truly an “all eyes on me” moment.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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DJ Scheme – FAMILY

Cover Artist: msudrawings

Scheme burst onto the scene a couple years ago with high profile friendships with the new wave of young rappers, leveraging those connections to start his career as a talented DJ. There’s a strange split in this album that divides the tracks up into two distinct camps of songs: hard and cartoonishly deviant trap from the likes of Ski Mask the Slump God, Danny Towers, and Lil Yachty, and a more processed pop-rap that brings in guys like iann dior, TheHxliday, and Lil Mosey. I wouldn’t say these two styles mesh together in the most mind-blowing of ways, but it all has this youthful, free-form energy to it, feeling like we’re getting DJ Scheme’s personal music playlist in addition to seeing his production chops at work. Being able to work in all these different sounds gives Scheme a lot more skill than a lot of people probably give him credit for, able to tap into both a colorful and punchy trap side, as well as the crisp pop-trap synths. Those artists that I mentioned set the tone for the majority of this project, but you also get some other names like Lil Keed, Fenix Flexin, Cordae, and a slightly out of place but fire feature from Joey Bada$$. There’s a lot to go through on this project, some of it might not hit for some people but it’s worth diving into and making your own album out of.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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Aminé – Limbo (Deluxe)

I think that Limbo was such a tight experience, from the sequencing of the tracks on up to the features chosen, that a deluxe album almost seems… wrong. Don’t get it twisted, tracks like Mrs. Clean and Talk are great tracks that deserve listens, but this new package of songs honestly sounds like they were created in a completely different headspace than the main body of Limbo. I mentioned back then that the original album sounded much like a combination of his mainstream aspirations on ONEPOINTFIVE and the sobering realities of his life on Good for You, but these new tracks lean much more into the former’s pop-trap influences, giving us a more fun, if not more vapid, look into Aminé’s life. However, keeping with the original album, I think these new tracks reinforce that Aminé as a singer and melody-maker should not at all be discounted, coming through with some sickly-good performances that are both adorable and mature. Beyond those sounds, we also get some more collaborations, continuing the tradition of features that both make total sense and those that are completely unexpected. Valee and Toosiie are two that I didn’t see coming, especially the former, but listening to how Aminé approaches the song gives the idea more credence. However, Saba and Unknown Mortal Orchestra leave me wondering how these collabs haven’t happened sooner, because the chemistry is absolutely on-point with these tracks. Anyone who was looking for more of the razor-sharp intelligence of Limbo might be a bit disappointed, but if you’re just looking for more of the artistry of Aminé then you will find something to love about this new deluxe project.

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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-------SOUP’S HOT DEALS-------

Your Old Droog – Dump YOD: Krutoy Edition

Investment: $9.99

Cover Artist: [Unknown]

This is the album I have been waiting for Droog to make since he introduced us to the connections that he has with his Eastern European roots, a fascinating lyrical and sonic dive into the world of a top-tier lyricist growing up in both Jewish and Ukrainian culture. Droog as an emcee is someone with very few peers, a rapper who’s pen game is as sharp as someone like Pharaoh Monche while also maintaining the topicality of Mos Def, and he exercises his abilities on every track here to fantastic effect. Every bar is cleverly written and expressive, every bit of wordplay is air-tight flips of both the English *and* Russian languages (he even has a track on here, Malchishka Krutoy, where he raps almost entirely in the Russian language, a phenomenal feat for any English rapper), and every word is given his treatment of a slightly sarcastic but deadly serious bite dressed in Winston smoke. There is not a track on here, and I mean not a one, where Droog is operating at anything less than a transcendent emcee, giving a voice to this area of American culture in general that has been given life in hip-hop almost exclusively through his efforts. But he’s not fighting this battle alone, as a lot of what gives Dump YOD: Krutoy Edition it’s spark is on it’s production end, the good majority being crafted by Israeli producer Argov, whose ear for mundane Eastern European movie, TV, and interview samples give this album a very homely, lived, and small town feel that draws heavily on a sense of a tight-knit cultural community. You get other beats too: some killers from Messiah Muzik and some production help from Preservation, but Argov is the beating heart of this record, and coupled with the focused brain (Droog) we’ve been given a album that may very well be the best Your Old Droog has come up with so far. Listen to this project for the unique perspective, amazing bars, challenging beats, and a spread of features that consist ONLY of beings of Droog’s caliber on the microphone (the dude got Phonte, billy woods, El-P, and Black Thought on the same fucking album). This is a must-listen folks, and the Dump YOD has been kind enough to make this a major release, bringing this to all major streaming platforms in the process. But go buy this shit too and support some real-deal art.

==> YOD's Personal Website <==

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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RJ Payne – Beautiful Payne 2

Investment: $13.00

Cover Artist: crthebeast

Following up the original Beautiful Payne was going to be a tall order given that initial EP was some of RJ’s most personal and hard-hitting work to date. Talking frankly about his struggles in his life, from his mental health to his family struggles, was a breath of a fresh air from an emcee who is normally talking about taking your body apart with chopper rounds. The shift from hard-nosed street gangster to reflective poet is done through more measured deliveries, emotionally intelligent lyrics, and a dedication on these projects to speak only on things that “matter”; it’s an attitude that I can vibe with, but it’s also one that I have a secret hope he can’t quite keep, given how much I like his previous material and how talented he is at being violent. Each of the tracks here feel substantial in their own ways, attended to personally by Payne to bring you to most distilled and powerful portions of his life to wax, but he still has room to bring along a guest with him: Che Noir makes an appearance on this album, tapping into the vibe RJ is presenting perfectly (in fact, she drops her own version of Beautiful Payne 2 this week as well with her After 12 album, found above). The beats are all done by P.A. Dre, one of RJ Payne’s closest collaborators and someone who knows exactly how to present his style to the world… except for the very first track, Ventilation 2, which is done by none other than Royce Da 5’9”. It’s a shorter album, but still dense with content and passion, so give this a listen if you’re in the mood for some elevated lyrics.

==> Payne's Personal Website <==

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

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