Just when you thought you had Rio pegged down as just rapping about the streets he shows you he can surprise you with a love song/song for the females too – a love song of a decidedly Rio flavor (“I even got the pistol on me when we in the mall shopping”), but a love song nonetheless.
This Mark Boomin’ production on here sampling Surface’s ‘Closer than Just Friends’ is flawless and I love the whistle form that song that he uses (same guy that produced ‘New Car Smell,’ maybe my favorite Peezy song. I have to learn more about this guy and check out more of his production credits). This guy is a genius and I never would have pictured Rio rapping over an 80s R&B beat like this but it just shows what a mastermind he is too.
I bet this is a Rio song that the Martorialist will like; I want to see what he thinks of it.
I love the ‘Your last nigga was a square, bae I’m a different shape’ pickup line, I don’t think it will work out as well for me as it would for Rio but I’m about to steal it.
I think this Youtube comment sums it up perfectly… you can get in your feelings for a minute with Rio but it won’t be long before you’re back on your bully…
I love the sheer sense of urgency that DZ is rapping with here in ‘Keep it On Me’ from his new tape ‘The Gift 3’ which essentially serves as a surprisingly heartfelt and effective ode to his strap, showing what a vital part it is of his everyday life and how much he needs it, whether he’s on offense or defense. He just comes out swinging over this beat with such an intensity. It’s obviously a well-traveled theme for rappers, but he still somehow makes it sound original…
“I go to sleep with it, I take a shit with it, I brush my teeth with it, I handle beef with it. I go to the store with it, I get low with it. I take out the trash with it, get on your ass with it. Go to the O with it, go to the K with it, go to the A with it, nigga I stay with it. I hit Miami with it. I was in Collins with it. In the drop with it, ONE IN THE TOP WITH IT.”
Between releasing The Gift 3 and Ape Season (thanks to Ray Garraty for re-recommending this one to me) just in the last few months, FMB DZ is at the top of his game right now.
Rio and DZ showing that the grind doesn’t stop just for a quarantine or a stay at home order.
My favorite rapper from late 2017/2018 linking up with my favorite rapper from 2019 (and 2020 so far).
FMB DZ is flowing with such urgency over this beat. “I’m not a rapper I’m a motherfucking street nigga. If you ain’t tryna get no money I can’t eat with ya.”
“I’m out West with it, with my Vatos, me and Chino counting $50,000 eating tacos”
I just started bumping ‘The Gift 3’ and there are a whole bunch of bangers on it so far, definitley FMB DZ’s best work in a while; he’s spitting with high intensity on this.
I love the transition from DZ to Rio with DZ using that wierd effect on his voice and then Rio casually walking into the restaurant (LA Coney Island).
Before we even get to Rio’s verse, let’s take a moment to appreciate the fact that this man just dropped a great album, ‘City on My Back,’ then released a dope track with RMC Mike and Lil E (Still Spice Talkin’) and now still had enough gas left in the tank to release ANOTHER classic verse here as a feature on FMB DZ’s album. This guy is rap’s iron man he literally doesn’t stop.
Now let’s get back to Rio’s verse.
“Drop a nickel on your ass I got cheap killers, everybody got a body if you see them with us.”
Then Rio yet again shows that he’s probably the most inventive, ingenuous mind in rap today with this sequence where he adds bouncers to strippers as the nightclub personnel that he is a clear disdain for, comes up with a creative way of robbing a dealer in Colorado, and flexes on us by saying he doesn’t need to use a mask when he’s robbing because he’s an out of towner.
“I’m in the club with some shit that will drop a bouncer, robbed a bow man in Colorado, made him climb a mountain. I even robbed a coke man for an ounce of powder. I did that shit without a mask, I’m an out of towner.”
Oh, and did I mention that he has kamikaze bombers?
I also like that Rio seems to be amongst the more humble rappers in the game and doesn’t seem to have much use for stunting or flexing for social media etc. he’s just 100% about his money, consistently saying things like this…
“I didn’t act like I was rich, I was humble poor. You ain’t learn nothing when you was broke, what you struggle for?”
I’m always a sucker for rappers talking about the security at their spots…
“HD cameras on my house watching down the street. Your hemi slow as hell I’ll chase you down on feet.”
Rio da Yung OG x RMC Mike x Lil E – Still Spice Talkin
Rio dropped so much heat on City on My Back and now he’s back with even more heat that wasn’t even on the album. Rio links up again with RMC Mike to form their usual dynamic duo and also adds in his other frequent and lesser-known collaborator, Lil E who he did the ‘Professional Shit Talking‘ album with to morph into a triple threat as they rip this beat from Baby on the Track. For all the songs each has done together, I think this is the first time I’ve heard Rio, Mike, and E on the same song. Hotbox Social described Rio and E’s ‘Buy the Block’ as “basically the last regional rap song”. It’s too bad Peezy is still locked up and couldn’t get in on this one – Rio and the boys really are the new Death Row.
It seems almost impossible for Rio to go harder than he already has but he somehow finds a way to keep pushing the envelope –
“I shop on one side of the set, I don’t sky walk, just seen an opp strolling, now that nigga sky walking”
“Don’t even know what dog drive, bro just shoot at every white Charger”
I’ve said before I love when everyone yells along with the line at the end of a verse to add emphasis i.e. here in ‘We’ve got the city hot from all the spice talking, BITCH SHUT THE FUCK UP WHEN ME, E AND MIKE TALKING, or on Big Wan’s ‘Fast Lane Lifestyle‘, or Rio and Big Colin’s ‘Ghetto Boyz‘
Mike comes roaring in as abrasive as ever. “Whole team doing good we worked our ass off. Doc I need an 8 of red I got a bad cough. Chilling in the trap with my fiend drinking Mad Dog.” And they really did work harder than anyone else, these guys have the best work ethic in the rap game right now. Mike is at home in the trap, he’s not just serving the fiends he’ll drink some Mad Dog with them.
And then Lil E comes barging in – don’t act like Lil E isn’t spitting he actually low-key may have the best verse and bring the most energy out of all of them on this one. “Nigga play with me? He might as well buy a coffin. Shot a nigga’s house up everybody in the house crawling.”
Would love to get more songs with all 3 of them on it or even a whole project, but I’m being greedy since ‘City on My Back’ just came out. Even the rest of the guys in Rio’s crew that don’t rap look intense.
P.S. – Is that the American Gothic painting on Rio’s hat??
Rio may be one of the hardest rappers out but don’t for a second think that he’s not groovy.
Every once in a while, I worry and think to myself wow rap has been around so long that I wonder if eventually rappers are going to run out of new things to say that actually rhyme, but then you have a creative maestro like Rio come up with something like this rhyme scheme here and you realize that he’ll never run out –
“Pop a perc drink a deuce of red that’s a perfect high/now I’m finna smoke half an ounce of turtle pie/auntie hide this brick for me, pull up your gurdle high/the green got a shell on my back I’m ninja turtle high”
Let’s hope Rio really makes good on his claim here that he might ‘drop 100 tapes this year I’m Gucci.’ I’ve been saying for a while now that Rio is the new Gucci in his prime.
Rio might be the only thing out there that’s sicker than coronavirus. Regeneron needs to get Rio in the lab and have him cough up a few bars for them to use create the vaccine and save the world.
“30 shots hanging out the glock look like a hockey stick, 3 of Wok in a Chinese pop ain’t no jollies in it. Walk into the club wearing a trench coat with a shotty in it. Thought I seen an opp in here I was probably tripping. Put a nigga in a box I’ll Roddy Rich him. Bought some more black Balenciagas and caught a body in them.”
THE GOAT HAS SPOKEN.
Other rappers are walking into the club wearing tight jeans and effeminate designer shirts; Rio is just fine walking in looking like a suburban teenage Goth that may or may not have brought a strap to school. (Whether it’s Rio or ALLBLACK, I always get a kick out of real street rappers adapting the imagery of school shooters).
“The tips on these .308 bullets look like Jolly Ranchers, pole on me in the strip club damn near shot a dancer”
The imagery of the bullet tips looking like Jolly Ranchers is too good, and when you combine it with Rio’s comically ever-present casual disdain for exotic dancers it makes for a classic Rio line. This guy really is on his own plane of existence right now.
I also love Rio’s self-reflective earnestness when he says ‘Street nigga; when I jump out fresh I still look kind of tacky.”
Rio’s “City on My Back” is out now and after a couple of listens last night/this morning it definitley does not disappoint. And I’m sure I’ll listen to it about a dozen more times this weekend while I’m trying to ride out the coronavirus storm at my crib, so I’m sure there will be more posts about it. I’m going to try to actually buy this one to try to support Rio for all the entertainment he’s given me at this point.
P.S. I hope all you guys are safe/healthy out there with all this craziness going on
This unexpected and very effective Tupac ‘However You Want It’ beat jack was a pleasant surprise on LBM Lil Joe’s excellent ‘Slapp or Die 3’ mixtape that Crimedawg put me onto and after many spins became hands down my favorite song on the tape. This is a fun one to drive around to.
The hook is fire “However you want it, come to your city, I’m busting down in the trap really shipping out packs lil nigga I’m the plug for real,” with the fidelity to the original Tupac hook and LBM Lil Joe’s gruff voice making it even better, and I love the McDonald’s analogy at the beginning. LBM Lil Joe is evaluating his trap with the business acumen of a manager from McDonald’s corporate headquarters; billions and billions served, have it your way.
Rio going the ‘single’ route for presumably the first single off City on My Back. Was wondering what it would sound like if Rio tried to make something a little more poppy, and first results are not bad at all, he still wields that trademark Rio grit and the ridiculously grimey bars but makes it catchy. This reminds me of during Gucci’s rise to the top when Gucci started making stuff that was at home in the streets but that you also would start hearing unexpectedly at a bar/club/party and felt equally at home there.
This beat is fire and the hook is growing on me more each time I play this. We’ve even got Rio breaking out a much-deserved dance move at around 1:11 – when you’ve been torching every track like this for like 6 months now how could you not be feeling yourself?
“Baby you can’t get no money from me don’t make that face. Power-braked the Scat on 8 mile in front of Ace of Spades. Damn, I need another tire. Knocked a nigga’s brains out it look like jambalaya. I threw some water on his shirt he had a fucking wire. Bought a zip of soft for $800 and let my uncle try it.”
I started listening to LBM Lil Joe after Crimedawgbylaw posted ‘Labeled a Dealer’recently (and he’s right, it really is a luscious beat from RichieWitDaHitz) and have been playing the whole album on repeat all week and am really enjoying it. I didn’t look at the tracklist or anything ahead of my time and was listening in the car so it was to my pleasant surprise when ‘BackEnd’ came on and I was like ‘Wait a minute I know that voice, is that BIG WAN?!”
“A nigga diss Big Wan? I ain’t diss him back, grab the axe, bullets rip through wood I’m a lumberjack.”
I love at the end when they trade bars back and forth like a Rio and RMC Mike song.
P.S. Crimedawgbylaw alerted me to the fact that Big Wan is locked up right now let’s all keep our fingers crossed that he’ll be home soon, dude is too talented at 18 to get derailed off the tracks at such a young age
Big Wan ft. Goowap – Breaking All the Rules (Bonus)
Big Wan is breaking all the rules. I kind of love the fact that Big Wan had the audacity to call this a ‘bonus track’ on a 13-minute mixtape that would have been 11 minutes without it.
The big homie Crimedawgbylaw put me onto Big Wan and sent me over the Dog Slayers mixtape that he bought at a streetwear shop in Milwaukee (and in a move Big Wan himself would probably be proud of, they tried to charge him an extra $5 over the top for it), and now it’s also on Spotify and Youtube for the world to enjoy.
Big Wan had me at’Fast Lane Lifestyle‘ but ‘Breaking All the Rules’ further sealed the deal. While Fast Lane Lifestyle was more of a bleak, cold tour de force through the Milwaukee winter, ‘Breaking All the Rules’ is a more laid-back, summery vibe where Melodroppin 30 switches it up from his usual signature sound (at some point someone has to make a Melodroppin 30 compilation with some of his best production, I’m going to take a stab at it soon but others out there will have more knowledge of him than me) and almost gets a little tropical on us with the beat. I’m breaking out my Hawaiian shirt with the coconut buttons and hula dancer print for this one. But don’t let the beachy production fool you; Big Wan is flowing like a demon on this.
PINK CHARDONNAY 