Week #44 ('21) Singles
Welcome to my Singles post, where I go over all of the loose songs released over the past week so. These are songs that are not currently attached to projects, and may either be promotional singles for an upcoming project or songs dropped at the random whim of the artist. I’ll show you the single, where to find it out in the wild, and a little blurb about it for my thoughts/further context. Click here to see previous Singles posts.
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GANG51E JUNE (Feat. Kevin Gates) – 4REIGN GANGSTA
One of the best, if not the very best, rappers out of my hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma, has come out with a new single with Kevin Gates, a move that makes sense given that they’ve been on tour together for months now. It’s a surreal feeling seeing someone talk about Tulsa in the way JUNE does in such close proximity to Gates, a well established figure in hip-hop’s mainstream; it gives me a sense of pride knowing the stories of my city are being brought to more people out there. This single is catchy, emotional, well-produced, and accented well by Kevin Gate’s complementary style. Anyone who fucks with guys like YoungBoy or Lil Durk will fuck with this guy, I promise. I can’t wait to hear more from this man. TULSA REPRESENT.
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Fly Anakin – Sean Price
Painfully smooth track, and a great reintroduction after missing out on several of Anakin’s releases this year. My last experience with him was his LP last year with Pink Siifu, a satisfyingly warm album that played to Anakin’s strengths magnificently. To my ears, this this single sounds like it would have fit very well on that album (FlySiifu’s), with the scant drums, piano keys, and buried guitar licks. Watching the video is a great nod to Sean P (and Bernadette, bless her), but I wouldn’t say the track is a *tribute* to him persay. Regardless, Anakin is flowing well over this shit. If you like Ghostface, you’ll fuck with this.
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BlueBucksClan – LEGENDARY
So I literally just heard these dudes for the first time last week on that Kawhi Leonard mixtape compilation thing, and immediately I wanted to hear more. BlueBucksClan are two dudes, DJ and Jeeezy, whose styles are entirely complementary in showing off some different approaches to a Bay-Area type beat. A way I can describe it is if Drakeo and a chill Bfb Da Pacman got together to make music, a mixture of a smooth voice and a gravelly voice that is satisfying to listen to. This single here has a lot of character, some great one-liners, and subdued attitude that will definitely bring some head-nods to you west-coasters out there.
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Lil Fame (Feat. Teflon, Billy Danze, & iFresh) – The Coalition (Murder Boyz)
A bangin’ posse cut from the M.O.P. boys, a track billed as a solo cut from Lil Fame. We got Fame’s insane shouting, Billy’s brash bruiser-talk, Teflon’s… Teflon-ing, and this guy iFresh who I’d never heard before but who ends out the track in that Brownsville style. The beat sounds like some Large Professor junkyard shit, perfectly gutter for the likes of the Mash Out Posse. If you fuck with the Wu or Sean Price, this is the shit for you. This is a single from Fame’s new solo LP, Walk of Fame, which is apparently coming soon.
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M Huncho – Hiatus (Freestyle)
I guess my man Huncho pulled a Soup Dude and ghosted the game for a bit, returning now with a little bit of an off-the-cuff freestyle. Like most things with the “(Freestyle)” label, this doesn’t sound anything like a freestyle, being entirely built out with verses and choruses. I’ve always loved this dude’s accent, the way he uses voice modulation, and I can even appreciate some of his ridiculous lyrics. I don’t know how to compare this guy to anyone in America, maybe like a British Gunna? Travis Scott? I dunno, but anyone who likes smooth melodic trap music will feel right at home here. Huncholini the 1st was a fantastic album that I still come back to today, so I’m looking forward to where this dude goes in the future.
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Aminé – Charmander
I’ll be up front with y’all: I hated this whenever I first heard it. I thought the hook was grating and Amine’s lyrics were drab. But whenever I got through a couple listens and started whispering to myself “ive been living on an island” I knew that I had an earworm on my hands. I eventually saw the fun in this track, a way for Amine to make music that he loves without it having some sort of grand meaning to it. If you like high-energy production (almost Juke-ish for those in the know) and funny bars, give this a shot. Does Amine have another album coming out? It’s been over a year, yet he clearly seems ready for some more music. I’m game.
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Drakeo the Ruler – Stincs Run LA
Now I know that Drakeo has dropped something since I’ve been gone, and I’m definitely on track to getting around to it, but the man still drops at a prolific rate that I got to jump back into at some point. Much like BlueBucksClan above, Drakeo operates in (and arguably leads) the movement in L.A. that is clearly influenced by the sounds of North California. The flow is it attached the beat by the thinnest of threads, the Rulers lyrics balance between unbelievably cold and hilarious, and the instrumental is HARD as hell with those strings. I don’t know what the dude has coming down the pipe, but I’ll keep fuckin with these singles regardless.
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A$AP Ferg (Feat. Pharrell Williams) – Green Juice
This is a strange track. I recommend listening to it for sure, but I have you a feeling you’ll be like me after my first listen: “what did I just listen to”. Whether it’s the beat that sounds like some ambient music from the Tron soundtrack, Pharrell weaving his hook (which is strangely peppy?) in like a ghost, or Ferg rapping over this like a normal kind of beat. It’s all a very odd, but compelling and unique song that I can’t resist coming back to. I’m sure Ferg has something coming soon, although it hasn’t been that long since that last album.
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YG – Sign Language
A great YG track that leans into his lyrical strengths, mostly by filling the track to the brim with gang culture references (sometimes a bit clumsily put together, but I think that’s a part of YG’s charm sometimes). The beat is a banger, West Coast vibes for sure. It’s cool to see three tracks this week from L.A. artists, but with two completely different sounds, with Drakeo and BlueBucksClan coming with the new sounds of Los Angeles (aka the old sounds of Oakland), and YG’s more throwback sound. If you like the whole L.A. hip-hop thing, this will be a track you can add to your playlist. I’ve enjoyed much of YG’s recent output, so if we got an album coming I’ll be excited.
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Cypress Hill & Black Milk – Open Ya Mind
I wasn’t expecting a lyrically pointed track from Sen and B-Real, taking to task the two-faced government regulation of marijuana in California, a state that operates a “legal industry” while existing in a country where that industry is still very much illegal. It’s mostly detailing how unfair the situation is, which is totally understandable. It’s bringing attention to an issue, coming from a group that has been essentially poster children for this issue since the early 90’s. All of that being said, I can’t relate as much as some can given I don’t buy into weed culture, and the reason I come back to this track is this goddamn beat. For years people have talked about a Black Milk/Cypress tape, and while this might be a leftover beat used to speak on a specific issue, it still gets me excited for a possible collaboration. It’s gritty bass and whopping drums are classic Milk, and would be perfect for anyone with that crass style of rapping to spit over. Give this a listen if you like that classic boom bap shit.
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