Weekly Fix #6 ('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.

Lots of unexpected fire this week, especially in the singles department. Lots of stuff that I definitely loved, but that gets me excited for things to come even more. Projects were a bit slower this week, but the big surprise drop of the week from Kenny Beats and Denzel threw me for a loop; it’s pretty much all I’ve been listening to. I’d also like to say that it got me curious if I’d missed something on Curry’s last little YouTube mix 13LOOD 1N + 13LOOD OUT: the answer is yes, this tape is absolute fire, especially if you’re listening all the way through. Go back and listen to it if you skipped it.

Small thing, but my Playlists posts on Mondays will now also double as an album art appreciation, with the cover chosen for that post being my favorite piece to come out that week. It may not be necessarily be for my favorite album that week, but giving these artists props is just as important as the musicians in my book.

Next week we’re looking at Valentine’s Day, a day that has hella projects reportedly coming out. $UICIDEBOY$, Vinnie Paz, a Termanology produced project for Mia Jae, Daniel Son and Imported Goodz, and the long-awaited album Juno from Che Noir. Looking forward to all of this undoubtedly great material; come check for yourself for the shit coming up over on my Upcoming Heat page.

Here’s a link to the Week #6 Playlist (’20) for y’all

-----PROJECTS-----

Denzel Curry & Kenny Beats – UNLOCKED

WOW. I mean really, Denzel Curry is showing himself to be one of the most versatile and dynamic emcees in hip-hop today. Everything he does has an element of chaos to it, but from the simple trap leanings of Imperial to, now, basically a demented *boom-bap* album from Kenny Beats? This is some next level shit right here, and Kenny with all of his weird quirks and samples creates a short listening experience that feels so much more substantial than it had any right being. Absolutely essential listening; just look at this album art!

Recommended if you like: elements of both trap and boom-bap, Madlib, old school flows, Three Six Mafia, colorful lyricism, Ronny J, amazingly consistent flows, Ski Mask the Slump God, aggressive and throaty delivery, JPEGMAFIA, lots of yelling, El-P, short albums, DMX, Busta Rhymes

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

————————————————

Boldy James & The Alchemist – The Price of Tea In China

While I don’t think I’m feeling this as much as I was the Boldface EP, this full length offering from Boldy is at least a great album to listen to when you’ve run My 1st Chemistry Set through again for the 100th time. The Alchemist seems to be very hands off on this project, instead of injecting samples upon samples he’s letting silence and still ambiance speak much of the time. With Boldy’s incredibly laid back style, I can see this being a turnoff for those expecting more engaging material, but the lyrics and many different flows will keep me coming back.

Recommended if you like: Conway the Machine, sleepy and monotone emcees, Vince Staples, sparse sampled production, Earl Sweatshirt, a wide spread of flows and deliveries, MF DOOM, good features, Daringer

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

————————————————

V Don – Black Mass

Very consistent for a producer album, with an underrunning darkness that takes form in many beats from trap to traditional raw boom-bap. The low-fi qualities mixed with some fuzzy mixing on some verses (and abnormal clarity on others) creates an experience that, while hard as nails, can be a little off-putting. That doesn’t stop the various emcees from killing it, with Dark Lo (historically a person I haven’t gotten into normally), Dave East, and Eto being standout contributors. Loving this and it’s whole aesthetic.

Recommended if you like: DJ Muggs, dark and murky hip-hop, Daringer, lots of great guest features, 38 Spesh, short tracks, Griselda, good spread of 90’s and more modern beats

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

————————————————

Pop Smoke – Meet The Woo 2

I’ve been hearing this guys’ name everywhere, and decided to take the plunge with this mixtape here. I can hear a ton of potential in this sound, being a natural extension of the Drill scene going on in London right now (by way of Chicago). The biggest difference between this and an artist like Headie One for instance (because the beats are virtually identical), is definitely the delivery here, with Pop Smoke heavily reminding me of the rasp of someone like 50 Cent or Max B. While this album is definitely one note, there is something futuristic about it, that this is a fresh sound here in America that will be very big before too long.

Recommended if you like: London Drill music, 50 Cent, trap drums in irregular tempos, Headie One, coarse and smoky voices, Sheck Wes, short tracks with prominent hooks

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

————————————————

Hus Kingpin – King Of The Underworld

Damn, Hus just gave us a whole project of loosies like a week ago; we eatin’. 5 tracks, some big-name producers on here, some quality slime from the ancient one himself. Really there’s not much else to say about it, it’s just more of the same good stuff. Couple of these beats are some enlightened material for sure. It’s pay what you want on Bandcamp right now, so get on over there and support my guy Hus Kingpin for everything he’s done in the game.

Recommended if you like: SmooVth, different sounds thrown together, Roc Marciano, big name producers, Willie The Kid, short projects, Westside Gunn, nasally and grimy deliveries, fashion and gangster talk

YouTube/Bandcamp

————————————————

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

CJ Fly & Statik Selektah – Show You

CJ Fly decided to go ALL the way back to 2010 with this one and channel that feel-good Pro Era energy on this track, and god damn does it feel good. I’ve never thought of CJ as one of the premier members of PE, but the flow and storytelling he channels on this single reminds me of all of the amazing things the collective achieved a decade ago now. Very unexpected that CJ Fly would be the one keeping that spirit alive out of people like Joey Bada$$ and Kirk Knight, but here we are. Statik kills this instrumental, I especially love the riotous drum kit that’s playing it’s ass off, and the horns that he’s become so well known for. I’m looking forward to Rudebwoy, CJ and Statik’s collab album, coming up in a few more weeks.

Recommended if you like: fast golden-age flows, A Tribe Called Quest, great sunny storytelling, Joey Bada$$, lush sampled production, Q-Tip, fully-formed tracks, Will Smith, Nas

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

————————————————

Uce Lee & T.F. (Feat. Vince Staples & Maxo Kream) – Too Cold

If you’ll excuse the silliness, this shit is cold as hell. Vince is great on the hook, T.F. and Maxo Kream drop quality (if a little short) verses, and the beat is awesome with the slow synth grind and hard pianos play well to the gang-affiliated vibe they’re going for. There’s a lot of blue being shown here, and these guys coming together is a great showing of how west-coast gangsta rap is doing here in 2020. I’m not sure who Uce Lee is and whether he’s even on the track or a producer, but shoutout to him for contributing to this track somehow.

Recommended if you like: the color blue, Nef The Pharaoh, high-pitched and nasally emcees, The West Coast, low-pitched and aggressive emcees, TeeCee4800, trap/bay-area music, YG

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

————————————————

6ix9ine – Scum

So this track is old as hell, but his team, I guess, put this out to try and maintain relevancy? In any case, this track is actually great, reminding me of the Tekashi we got before that first mixtape, that GUMMO aggression with this layer of distortion and haziness muting the insanity. I love the synthesizers on the beat being so piercing, it makes a great compliment to 6ix9ine’s yelling. Yeah, not saying I’m clamoring for this guy to come back and make more music, but if he’s releasing oldies like that, I’m here for it.

Recommended if you like: scuuuuuumummgaaaaannngg, being STOOPID, synthesizers, City Morgue, Denzel Curry, fuzzy and staticky vocals, lots of unchecked aggression, yelling into a dark void

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

————————————————

G-Eazy (Feat. Tory Lanez & Tyga) – Still Be Friends

The beat reminds me a lot of both West-Coast and New Orleans music, with the slap/clap and bass-groove obviously going for a strip-club anthem. It also reminds of that Post Malone song Wow with the bass being clear as day. Gerald and Tory float over this beat, with Eazy having unmatched swagger that has hints of the Bay Area ratchetness, and Tory (in addition to killing the hook) coming through with a great flow on his melodic verse. These are the kind of verses I want from Tory, and I wish it reflected more in his solo material as much as it does in his featured material. Tyga just kind of does what he always does, which I don’t think is terrible anymore for the record but I still wish he’d switch up the lyrics a bit.

Recommended if you like: west-coast slaps, the Bay, Nef Tha Pharaoh, catchy hooks, SOB x RBE, smooth rappers, Shoreline Mafia, melodic rapping

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

————————————————

Jay Critch – Spooky

I can’t rightly tell if this is a remix to Drake’s War single he put out a few weeks ago, or if the beats are so indistinguishable to my ears because I’m an old man now. Regardless, I like what’s happening here just like I liked what was happening on War, with Jay fitting the flow of the track well enough. People with that broken flow sound (like Rich The Kid) would probably do well over this kind of a beat, so I imagine people like him are going to flourish in this new wave of Drill music going on in New York right now.

Recommended if you like: Headie One, London Drill, Drake, disjointed and piecemeal flows, Stormzy, violent lyrics, Krept & Konan, young energy, D-Block Europe

YouTube/Apple Music

————————————————

Trippie Redd (Feat. Young Thug) – YELL OH

Much harder than a lot of Trippie’s more melodic tracks off of his last album. Pi’erre Bourne is the star here, with a quirky, hard-as-nails trap beat that Trippie and Young Thug use to let off their rapid-fire flows. Young Thug has a short but worthwhile feature, with some hilarious bars. Trippie himself is technically impressive, with some of the fastest rapping I’ve heard from him in a minute, but man some of these bars are terrible. The man has GOT to stop with the poop/shitting on/smelling like bars; with someone who can rap as well as he can he’s gotta hire some ghostwriters or some shit.

Recommended if you like: Young Nudy, melodic trap rapping, XXXTENTACION, animalistic yelps, Lil Baby, animated sing-song deliveries, Ski Mask the Slump God, emo-trap, Playboi Carti

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

————————————————

Royce Da 5’9” (Feat. Benny the Butcher & Ashley Sorrell) – Upside Down

What an incredibly odd track. Royce’s flow is as cryptic as ever, and his lyrics span a wide range of topics from what I guess can be considered gay politics, women getting injections that make them look like cartoon characters, the implications of white celebrities like Bill Maher and Louis C.K. saying certain unsayables. Benny adapts slightly to the slower change in pace, but it’s more of the same of his gritty brand of drug raps, which isn’t a complaint at all: I love this man. (In fact, shoutout to the Butcher for having three different music videos for three different songs drop on Friday, the man is unstoppable.) But the beat is the thing that’s getting to me; a brooding but spastic attack of vocal samples, drawn out over the four minutes like a slow-motion chamber. There’s a level of detail here that I wouldn’t guess Royce would be capable of, especially coming off of Overcomer, but I’m glad there’s going to be a nice spread of sound on his new album The Allegory (releasing here very soon)

Recommended if you like: unorthodox instrumentals, KXNG Crooked, dense and technical rapping, Griselda, slower BPM beats, Emimen, topical and political lyrics, Elzhi, drug-slinging lyrics, Black Thought, punchlines, sung hooks

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

————————————————

Justin Bieber (Feat. Quavo) – Intentions

This beat sound like some shit you’d find in a chill rhythm game or some shit. Besides the bass being rattling and having oomph, the rest of the instrumental is blingy and cute with the digitized synthesizers and the scaling 808’s. But I think Justin’s melodies and especially that hook need some love, because this shit is catchy as hell. “Picture perfect you don’t need no filter” sounds like some classic 2012 Bieber, and now he’s gotten older there some Timberlake maturity behind the things he’s saying. Quavo on the feature honestly feels pointless, feeling like it should have been a solo track but I ain’t mad at what we got. Being 2 for 3 on singles right now, I’m ready to see what this new album is going to be like.

Recommended if you like: sunny pop music, Chris Brown, standout melodies, Lil Yachty, very catchy hook, Justin Timberlake, radio friendly song structures, Post Malone

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

————————————————

Joyner Lucas – Revenge

There’s definitely something to be said about Joyner rapping very fast and proficiently; it makes for an entertaining listen that’s for sure. There’s even an attempt at radio friendly song structure, with a dramatic intro, solid hook/verse blueprint, and lyrics about haters and the come-up. I liked Isis more than this, but this track still has enough going for it that I’ll be checking out his album (which has been “on the way” for over a year now if not more). I still wish he would have a bit more fun with this rap shit though; not everything has to be this serious bro.

Recommended if you like: feeling the angst, Logic, very fast flows, Eminem, trap instrumentals, Meek Mill, Denzel Curry, melodramatic hip-hop, J.I.D., intricate rhyme schemes

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

————————————————

Lute – GED (Getting Every Dolla)

I like how this guy’s flow is pretty relentless, but it can be a bit tiring just hearing tons of words strung together like this. Lots of bars about being the underdog, now blowing up yet, and listening to J. Cole while they were poor (of course you gotta butter up the boss a bit). The beat is on some smooth vibes though, with great basswork, keys, and flutes in the background. I’m liking how the track is short and straightforward, and the hook is catchy enough as a sort of chant to be able to get behind. I’m still looking for something a bit more unique from this guy, but he can rap his ass off for sure.

Recommended if you like: smooth soul-influenced hip-hop, Saba, stories of growing up poor, Mick Jenkins, fast but understandable flows, Isaiah Rashad, great hooks, Reason, short tracks, J. Cole, reflective lyrics, K.A.A.N.,

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

————————————————

joji – Run

joji’s voice has always been cool to me for its brittle qualities, singing very softly over these nondescript and honestly boring instrumentals. But this song is completely different from the things I’ve heard from him in the past, being so much more high stakes and dramatic, with the soaring guitar solos and pop star hook he has going on. This is a joji I would much rather hear over the silent and brooding joji. While this new single isn’t without its fair share of camp, it’s a much more confident and bold statement from a singer that I think has found his mojo.

Recommended if you like: fiery and higher register singing, Mayer Hawthorne, electronic tinged R&B, John Legend, Rich Brian, guitar solos, Josh Groban, dramatic and belting singing

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

————————————————

Blueface (Feat. DaBaby) – Obama

This is almost comedy rap territory. First off, Blueface’s vocals amazingly still sound like he’s recording on the sock mic in his closet, sounding so distant and flat that I just can’t believe this was a conscious decision. DaBaby doesn’t even sound like he wants to be here, leading to one of his most phoned-in verses in recent memory. HOWEVER, I’m still digging this track because I genuinely enjoy Blueface’s dumbass lyrics, and the hook is endearing for how asinine it is. Also, the instrumental is cheap as hell but damn if that saxophone doesn’t hit. Will his album, Find The Beat, ever see the light of day? Is his label holding it hostage? Are people respecting his crippin’ enough? Find out next week.

Recommended if you like: Eazy-E, low-fi west-coast hip-hop, Lil Pump, terrible microphones, Trinidad James, hilariously bad punchlines, Short Bus Shorty, great features, Lil B, tacky beats, letting your pants sag till the meat show

Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music

————————————————