Taking a little break from The Bay and from Suga Free for a minute to post some heat out of Detroit by this newcomer DamJonBoi, but everyone knows that The Bay and Detroit are like cousins anyway. This dude DamJonBoi is a monster, he’s getting some buzz right now and not only does he rap he also makes a lot of these beats too on his own songs and for other artists like Mozzy and FMB DZ. His song ‘Capers‘ is blowing up and he has a lot of other heaters on his new ‘The Number 20’ project like the Barry Sanders intro and RIP Icewood.
Coach Joey aka Jospeh McFashion is doing his thing here as a Motor City version of DJ Khaled except with better taste and putting some dope collaborations together with some of the D’s biggest movers and shakers instead of say Jay-Z and Nas or Beyonce for the umpteenth time and without the Weight Watchers endorsement money or book deal.
“RIP my nigga Woo, niggas lying in their songs but on the stand telling truths, in the D it’s a zoo, raised in the Zone my first words was sowuu”
Lmao @ “Fuck these hoes I just want some lambchops to tell the truth, Red Zone in this bitch Joey pulled up in a coupe, lil blood like Klay Thompson with the chop he can shoot”. I kind of feel where you’re coming from about the lamb chops sometimes Jon Boi.
I love the ‘Red Zone’ name. Clearly DamJonBoi is from 7 Mile and he’s a Blood he’s not making it much of a secret; but I’m unclear on where he stands on the rest of the Detroit rappers that we all love like Peezy, FMB DZ etc. Because on the one hand he’s doing songs with DZ etc. but on the other hand I’ve seen him and Sada Baby throwing shots back and forth at each other online so not sure what the situation is.
A lot of times when producers start rapping the verses aren’t as good as their beats but Jon Boi is killing it in both departments.
The top song of the month finds your host sitting back eating a bag of crab chips, taking a long, relaxed drag from my Black and Mild taking in this Baltimore rap scene feeling like I’m Prop Joe. Caught this one Betchua (apparently aka Bitchuary) by Shordie Shordie on Crimedawbylaw the other day and haven’t stopped playing it since. This is the hardest song I’ve heard in a minute.
Betchua is going to hit millions of views, or at least it should. Shordie Shordie is a star. So far everyone I’ve showed this too in real life basically for the first 30 seconds or so was like ‘I don’t know about this one’ and then shortly after was nodding along and agreeing that it’s pure fire. Shordie Shordie has the requisite charisma and image that give Betchua the star power needed for a smash hit; Betchua has literally got it all – the song, the dance, the beat, the super catchy chorus, and most importantly it pulls off the difficult tightrope act of simultaneously having something for the ladies but still being something that the hard rocks in the trenches will appreciate, for example “When I leave you be going seeing different faces, when I leave I be fucking bitches different places; still in these streets, I’ve got charges that a nigga facing”. It’s basically the perfect slap for 2019. I challenge anyone to listen to it and not have it in their head for at least a week afterward.
“I’m in the club drinking Henny with my black and Mild, got my gun in I can wave it and start acting wild, but I won’t do that ’cause I guess that shit is out of style, that’s why I left the club early.” This line really says it all these days.
YNW Melly ft. Fredo Bang – Ingredients
Basically a 1a and 1b for song of the month because ‘Ingredients’ is up there too.
ure, unadulterated heater off of the YNW Melly album. Another early nominee for song of the year for 2019? Save for a track here and there the entire Melly album is straight heat. I’ve been blasting this all week and I think I played in 9 or 10 times in a row in the car after I first heard it. I’m a total square but I can def see the appeal of bumping this in the car driving away after hitting a lick in Florida. I love the hook here and the beat is nice too. It took me a minute to warm to NBA Youngboy opp extraordinaire Fredo Bang’s part but it’s grown on me more and more and now him stepping up to give his verse is one of my favorite parts of the song. While lyrically it’s pretty run of the mill/mediocre (what exactly does ‘picking that ass apart’ entail anyway? Lol), I’ve grown to appreciate the blunt-instrument quality of his voice/flow that he brings to the track as a foil to Melly.
FREE MELVIN!
YNW Melly – Robbery
Another banger off of the new Melly album. Pure heat. Possibly the most melodic song ever written about robbing? (Although I’m sure readers can come up with a few other candidates). Melly is definitley getting some shine but I’m surprised he isn’t blowing up even more with songs like this and the above.
Shordie Shordie – Pablo
Another heater off of Shordie Shordie’s fantastically-named ‘Captain Hook’ album. Shordie’s flow to kick this one off is sick. He definitley won’t be a one-hit wonder.
Earl Sweatshirt ft. Navy Blue – The Mint
I never really checked out or got into Earl Sweatshirt or any of these guys over the years, but I finally gave in and checked this out after seeing it on a bunch of year end lists and seeing a lot of positive reviews for Some Rap Songs, and I have to admit, this was just as dope as everyone was saying. Earl’s flow on this was sick. I ended up listening to the album probably 8 or 9 times in a row over the course of the long MLK weekend, it was only 24 minutes or so but it was definitley a captivating album. I also really liked ‘Ontheway!’ and ‘The Bends’ on here.
DB Tha General ft. Mistah FAB – Dope Era
Got this one from Rap Music Hysteria’s Best of 2018, just one of many gems on there. Beat is so sick. DB is always reliable and I’m never opposed to some new Mistah FAB. I’m still wondering why DB keeps yelling that he’s Brutha Man, Fifth Floor, like the Martin character but whatever I’m down with it.
JPEGMAFIA – Panic Emoji
As you can probably see by now I’ve been getting into some wierd stuff over the past month. Actually, let me rephrase, I’ve been getting into a lot of Baltimore stuff and a lot of wierd/’artistic’/avant garde type rap which I’m not usually into but for some reason I’ve been feeling in January. I finally checked out JPEGMAFIA for the first time, after seeing him on a lot of people’s Year End lists, and I had no idea what to expect with ‘Peggy’ i.e. I had no idea what to expect him to sound like. He was a bit hit or miss to me but the songs I did like by him were absolute bangers, my favorite of which is ‘Panic Emoji’. This beat is wild, it almost reminds me of some song you’d hear in some dark 80s movie in a scene about a prom or something.
MIKE – NeverKnocked
Another favorite from my out of left field avant garde grind. I love the ‘This year I’m playing Pac for my kids’ line and the lo-fi beat really grew on me after a few listens. This was an interesting album I’m looking forward to see what this guy does next. Side note – this guy is going to be hard to Google.
Kiddo Marv ft. John Wicks, Freese Cola, YBJ & CBE – Visa
I’m always up for some new Florida Haitian rap. I had been listening to a bunch of Marv a couple of years ago and had unfortunately kind of just forgotten about him so it was nice to see he’s still out here grinding. I have to go back and check out the rest of his recent output.
Poppa – R Kelly
I honestly wasn’t sure before I clicked this if it was going to be an R Kelly song called ‘Poppa’ or a Poppa song called ‘R Kelly.’ I’m not 100% clear here on what Poppa is doing wading around in that dirty water which cannot be heatlhy, but this song is low-key fire and really grew on me after a couple of listens. It’s not even particularly recent it looks like it’s from 2017 but I guess people have been re-posting it because of all the recent R Kelly news.
Westside Gunn – Elizabeth
This is a great example of the type of music these Griselda guys are capable of when they are at their best and not trying to be overly lyrical just for the sake of it. This is like ‘classic’ hip hop to me that evokes memories of a bygone age while still being ‘new’. ‘Every color Lambo truck we can make it, OG just came home from being caged in, don’t know what to do been locked up since Reagan, Allah got a better plan for you be patient.’
Pure, unadulterated heater off of the YNW Melly album. Another early nominee for song of the year for 2019? Save for a track here and there the entire Melly album is straight heat. I’ve been blasting this all week and I think I played in 9 or 10 times in a row in the car after I first heard it. I’m a total square but I can def see the appeal of bumping this in the car driving away after hitting a lick in Florida. I love the hook here and the beat is nice too. It took me a minute to warm to NBA Youngboy opp extraordinaire Fredo Bang’s part but it’s grown on me more and more and now him stepping up to give his verse is one of my favorite parts of the song. While lyrically it’s pretty run of the mill/mediocre (what exactly does ‘picking that ass apart’ entail anyway? Lol), I’ve grown to appreciate the blunt-instrument quality of his voice/flow that he brings to the track as a foil to Melly.
There’s a whole bunch of other bangers on this album, my second favorite of which was ‘Robbery‘. People who were into the whole Lil Baby/Gunnna acoustic guitar wave will probably also love ‘My Heart‘ on here. The song with Kanye seemed kind of out of place with the rest of the album and wasn’t really my thing but it was different/worth a shot and should give him exposure to a whole new audience. I feel like he also might as well have thrown ‘Freddy Krueger‘ on here as well since it’s still fairly recent and had been a huge single. I didn’t think I liked that one at first but I can’t get that haunted house-sounding ‘Cooling in the cut with my shooters’ hook out of my head so I guess now I’m a fan.
The new year finds your host sitting back eating a bag of crab chips, taking a long, relaxed drag from my Black and Mild taking in this Baltimore rap scene feeling like I’m Prop Joe. Caught this one Betchua (apparently aka Bitchuary) by Shordie Shordie on Crimedawbylaw the other day and haven’t stopped playing it since. This is the hardest song I’ve heard in a minute.
Betchua is going to hit millions of views, or at least it should. Shordie Shordie is a star. So far everyone I’ve showed this too in real life basically for the first 30 seconds or so was like ‘I don’t know about this one’ and then shortly after was nodding along and agreeing that it’s pure fire. Shordie Shordie has the requisite charisma and image that give Betchua the star power needed for a smash hit; Betchua has literally got it all – the song, the dance, the beat, the super catchy chorus, and most importantly it pulls off the difficult tightrope act of simultaneously having something for the ladies but still being something that the hard rocks in the trenches will appreciate, for example “When I leave you be going seeing different faces, when I leave I be fucking bitches different places; still in these streets, I’ve got charges that a nigga facing”. It’s basically the perfect slap for 2019. I challenge anyone to listen to it and not have it in their head for at least a week afterward.
“I’m in the club drinking Henny with my black and Mild, got my gun in I can wave it and start acting wild, but I won’t do that ’cause I guess that shit is out of style, that’s why I left the club early.” This line really says it all these days.
Not to sound like a trend hopper but I’m feeling this Baltimore scene right now, could Baltimore be the Detroit of 2019?
And if you’re looking for a more serious show instead of just non-stop entertainment it also looks like he could be on HGTV and replace one of those house-flipper shows like Desert Flippers or Fixer Uppers just flipping/rehabbing/renting out houses in Toledo I’d def rather watch that than the Property Brothers in some cushy suburb…
Alright it’s that time of year again where we come together to celebrate the holidays and compile our top 50 songs of the year, as we deck the halls to the sounds of Kodak, Peezy, FMB DZ, ALLBLACK, and maybe even some OT Genasis and T-Pain. This is in order from top to bottom, and the top couple of songs were really hard to decide between for a true #1 but any of them would be a worthy #1 song of the year. There are probably another 10 or so songs that deserved to be on here but I wanted to cut it off at 50 just to have some discipline/organization. Wishing you all happy holidays and many blessings in the New Year
Dip Gods are back. Just in time for Thanksgiving Dipset laced us with this reunion album. This was easily my favorite song off of it. Such a triumphant, prime-era Dipset, all-conquering Heatmakers beat. Apparently it samples a Queen song but I have no idea I just know it’s making me feel invincible right now. I love the over the top ‘Grrrrrrrr’ ad lib at 0:34 after Jim Jones says he was ‘purging for a check’ almost sounding like a rabid grizzly. Jones actually probably had the best verse out of anyone on this and has quietly had a really strong 2018. While Juelz rapping that he ‘gets loose like a tooth’ seems uninspired and isn’t the prime Juelz we all remember, it’s still good to hear from him and he makes up for it with just the sheer self-belief and intensity as he raps ‘From the stoop to the coupe, money stacked from the floor to the roof’ or ‘Cam saw a star and showed the world my light… I put in work they can’t take my stripes’. The song ends on the strangely sad note of Juelz musing that ‘I guess forever means forever til forever’s gone’ until, of course, Dame Dash breaks in with a typically firey Dame Dash half-time speech and starts yelling about that Dipset will live forever. A grandiose effort from the Dips and I would expect nothing less at this point. I wish I got to go to the album release party where, from what I can gather, it looks like everyone went around Harlem in an open-top bus, listened to the album on headphones with some sort of blue LED’s, smoked vape pens and ate chop cheeses.
Poppa da Don x Abillyon – Smoked
1a and 1b this month were Dipset and this one. Staying on this unexpected NYC Crip wave/Poppa da Don wave with Poppa and Abillyon’s ‘Smoked’. Like one of those cartoon angels on your shoulder or a Loc’d out Sunday school teacher, Abillyon implores you to ‘do the right thing or you’ll get smoked’ in that heavenly voice of his. Abillyon is quite the hook-smith and this could be one of the best of the year. I also love the gleeful ‘I’m on the other side with the Locs!,’ willfully declaring themselves as the ‘other side’ or the opps and celebrating it. Abillyon is a name some may recognize from the height of the GS9 era; from looking at his Soundcloud and quickly browsing other streaming sites, it doesn’t look like he has released a ton of music since then but he seems to be making a resurgence now. Poppa is in the middle of a strong run as well between this, ‘Crip Shit‘ and his mixtape ‘Fucc Wit Da Cuz Vol. 2‘.
Dave East – No Pork
East has me lacing up my Timbs and throwing on a big Marmot jacket with this first one. The smooth ‘No Pork’ might be the magnum opus of East’s career thus far. It’s a ‘classic’ sounding NYC rap song done right without sounding dusty or too formulaic. This is that classic wintertime music, and the type of track that you want to play while you’re hunkering down at the crib or out on a rare nice sunny day in the winter. East goes into full-on nostalgia/story-telling mode as he takes us on a trip down memory lane through the ups and downs of his life growing up in Harlem.
“I told Shooter (see below) we gon get rich no matter what, they was happy when we was down now when we see them they made as fuck. We don’t got to live in the projects no more, I dropped out, but it’s funny I’m hitting college on tour. I need ’em fresh, cop em again if I copped em before. Charlotte Hornets top and bottom, colored aqua velour. Ahki used to let me in after the locks on the door. I ain’t speeding, I ain’t smoking, what the fuck you stopping me for? I hid my first .38 behind the socks in my drawer, my mama asked me why you got a gun, you not going to war? If I go get a cigarette there might be opps at the store.”
Envy Caine – Intro
Your host got caught lacking in his car trapped in the big east coast snow storm this month for over 12 hours on the same mile of highway but fuck it it takes more than a few snowflakes to kill the old Pink C. Not only am I alive and well but as you can see I’ve been on a NYC kick lately catching up on some of these young bols. Even though I’m hella late on this one from Brooklyn’s Envy Caine but I’ve been blasting it non-stop. This is the intro to his ‘2 Many Situations’ mixtape from the spring.
“Damn, My whole city AGAINST me, but fuck it cause I got all these killers with me”
I love the raw aggression/malice and the me against the world ethos that Envy delivers that bar with. Almost reminding me a bit of AR-Ab.
This song goes so hard/aggressive it’s the new song I play when I want to get angrier in a situation, like in traffic or in a long line at a store, although that’s actually probably a counterproductive strategy on my part.
I also love the delivery of “Opp niggas throwing salt, tryna bad mouth” line. Salt kills snails but not Top Opposition.
Poppa da Don, Dave East, Tulito, Trap God Mula – Crip Shit
It’s turning into winter fast out here, and you know what that means, it’s that time of year to hunker down, lace up the Timbs, throw on a big Marmot jacket and see what’s going on in the big apple. These NYC Crips have really been coming out with some heat lately. Here, we get two of the best linking up and Brooklyn and Harlem joining forces with Poppa da Don and Dave East, along with Tulito and Trap God Mula/Sha Mula who may have the best verse of all on this one.
I love the pure energy and fervor Mula brings here as he says ‘Sha Mula I’m the Trap God, probably made $100 thou in my backyard,” pounding his fist as he raps it. “Blue flag 100 Locs I’m moving wocky nigga, 2-seater, I8 they couldn’t stop me nigga!” I’m hyped off of the defiance he’s spitting with.
East makes a typically solid contribution here as well, and also just released arguably the best song of his career, in my opinion, with ‘No Pork .’ Poppa da Don put out a total banger ‘Smoked‘ with Abillyon over the summer which I think is going to start blowing up even more because Meek Mill was talking about it recently.
My only very minor gripe with this one is that I wish they grabbed my man Top Dolla and got him on this one this would have been perfect for him!
Peezy – Pressure
Peezy is so consistent, coming out with one if not more song every month that usually cracks and sometimes tops this list. We really need to take a minute to step back and appreciate the run that this guy is on, he’s forced his way into the argument for top rapper of 2018 in my opinion. You’ve got to love the triumphant ‘Got shot a couple times they was hoping I died, popped up buying Rollies out the store with my guys’ especially since everyone really was briefly worried he died last winter.
Blueface – Respect My Crypn
I have to admit I was a bit skeptical at first when I first heard about him but hadn’t listened to him yet, but Blueface is starting to grow on me. The ‘mop the floor and hide the wet sign just to catch him slippin’ line’ is genius; I can’t believe no one came up with that before. And to his credit apparently he really does ‘pull up and bounce out with a briefcase when it’s time to handle business,’ according to recent news reports.
I love his tone on the ‘I’m an alpha male, ain’t no bitch in me. Grown ass man, feed my family” line, like he’s incredulous that someone is even questioning if that’s the case. The ‘Give a fuck if he like it, he gon respect this Crippin’ hook is also strangely infectious. Blueface is almost sounding like a less artsy/creative but more Crip west Coast Young Thug. And while he can be a bit over the top, he actually has the charisma and personality to pull it off.
Juice WRLD – All Girls are the Same/Juice WRLD – Lucid Dreams/Juice WRLD x Future – Fine China/Juice WRLD – Used To etc.
At the risk of getting cyber-bullied by music critics with far better taste than me, I’ll admit that I went back and listened to a ton of Juice WRLD this month. Yeah, it’s some guy whining about girls but some of these songs are actually really dope. Some of these beats are absolute fire as well. I’m cheating here and putting all the Juice WRLD songs as one song. I’m going to ask my mom to drive me back to Hot Topic now. GO AHEAD AND CYBER BULLY ME, DO YOUR WORST!
Kiing Shooter ft. Dave East – 30 Percent
A third Dave East appearance here for this month’s top 10; 30 Percent is the first track from his aggressively-named protege Kiing Shooter’s mixtape ‘Fucc the Doubters’. The interplay here as East and Shooter trade bars back and forth like a Styles and Jada is great. Whereas ‘No Pork’ is the type of song you could kick back and relax at home listening to, ’30 Percent’ is more of an aggressive one you’d blast when you’re in the mood to get rowdy. Shooter has a dope and pretty unique-sounding deep/’blunt’ voice and raps over the top ignorant lines like “I’m creeping through the back window hoping they don’t keep alarms, .40 on me just in case the dog or the grandma home.”
Kodak Black – Take One
So dark and foreboding from Kodak.
Metro Boomin’ x 21 Savage – Don’t Come out the House
This became more of a meme than a song at this point but I had to include it even though we’re at over 10 songs now. This was a risky gamble by 21 Savage that paid off – if done wrong, his whole whisper thing could have backfired and sounded way too intimate and sensual (Pause!) but somehow he pulls it off and makes it sound menacing. I feel like 21 Savage has went on a certain trajectory, when he was first making a name for himself he was releasing a lot of interesting stuff, then he sort of reached peak Savage and got oversaturated as he got super popular, and now that we’ve sort of crossed past that bridge he’s releasing some nice verse here and there again.
Your host got caught lacking in his car trapped in the big east coast snow storm last night for over 12 hours on the same mile of highway but fuck it it takes more than a few snowflakes to kill the old Pink C. And not only am I alive and well I’ve been on a NYC kick lately catching up on some of these young bols. Even though I’m hella late on this one from Brooklyn’s Envy Caine but I’ve been blasting it non-stop. This is the intro to his ‘2 Many Situations’ mixtape from the spring.
“Damn, My whole city AGAINST me, but fuck it cause I got all these killers with me”
I love the raw aggression/malice and the me against the world ethos that Envy delivers that bar with. Almost reminding me a bit of AR-Ab.
This song goes so hard/aggressive it’s the new song I play when I want to get angrier in a situation, like in traffic or in a long line at a store, although that’s actually probably a counterproductive strategy on my part.
I also love the delivery of “Opp niggas throwing salt, tryna bad mouth” line. Salt kills snails but not Top Opposition.
I’m so late yet again bruhs… here’s my top 10 songs for October… I’m cheating here too because I’ve got about a dozen songs again this time
Kodak Black – Zeze
This had to be number one for October. Or basically a tie between this and the Peezy/Cash Kidd song for 1A/1B.
From original article…
Zeze finally came out and it had your host walking into Midwestern travel plazas and Quaker Steak & Lubes going ‘Bum bum bum bum bum’ and pretending to play the steel drums all weekend while I was on a road trip.
The song with the highly-flammable steel drum beat that Kodak has been teasing in snippets where he’s dancing in his sensibly understated lavender church sweater for the last month or so finally came out, and I’m thankful to say that not only did it live to see the light of day unlike other fire snippets that never lived to see the light of day like ones from Kevin Gates or Ya BoyBig Choo, it also lived up to the hype. The D.A. Doman beat could cure a lot of the world’s problems, you get a simple but incredibly catchy hook from Kodak, and solid verses from Kodak and Offset. An all around solid effort on all levels and certainly a song of the year contender for me. Also my favorite Kodak song I’ve heard since probably some time last year.
My only real gripe is Offset’s lazy ‘in the middle of the field like David Bekcham’ line because it just sounds dated at this point and David Beckham wasn’t even really a central midfielder in the first place, he couldn’t have said someone more current/central like N’Golo Kante or Tanguy Ndembele or someone and rhymed soemthing with that? But hey c’est la vie.
Peezy ft. Cash Kidd, Big Rizz – Duckin’ Wreck
Peezy is out here living his best life right now. Seriously this guy is like a fine wine just getting better and better with time (Pause! Pause!). Peezy has emerged from being a consistent, reliable performer in the Detroit scene to now making a strong case for being at the very top of it (although I’m also partial to be FMB DZ but they’re almost a 1a and 1b to me at this point). I saw the homie Ray Garraty post Duckin’ Wreck the other day and couldn’t wait to check it out. I usually post my favorite line or two from every song but in this case the entire verse just went so hard that I couldn’t even pick out one line and wanted to post the whole thing…
“We ain’t ducking wreck we want all the smoke; in a Hellcat fresher than a bar of soap. Sippin’ syrup out the pint like I caught a cold, catch a nigga down bad he thought he saw a ghost. Heard he said he was a shooter and he keep a stick, still livin’ with his mama, drivin’ a piece of shit. Get your head knocked off you ever make the list, you ain’t fuckin’ with my son, boy get off my dick. Bentley trucks and G-Wagons riding down Ocean, rose gold dog tag off the diamond choker. Never played in no Finals but I’m buying trophies, I’m talking chains full of diamonds with the matching Rollies. Balling on these little niggas I was made to flex, you can’t do it like me you better save your checks. Knockin’ niggas off the board like I’m playing chesss, Team East, Ghetto Boys, nigga fuck the rest.”
On a side note, as someone who drives a piece of garbage for a car, I usually don’t feel great when rappers call people out for driving cheap cars, but in this case I can definitley feel where Peezy is coming from when he says “Heard he said he was a shooter and he keep a stick, still livin at his mama’s house driving a piece of shit” as the guy across the street from me still lives with his mom and parks his garbage car in front of my house every day even though there’s a whole plethora of spots outside of his parent’s house. Although in fairness I don’t think he calls himself a shooter like whoever Peezy is talking about.
Young Thug ft. T-Shyne – Real in My Veins
My favorite song off of Jeffrey’s ‘On the Run’ EP. This whole project was great I definitley listened to this a lot more times than Slime Language. Upon first listen the Elton John-assisted ‘High’ was an easy favorite but after a few more listens Real in My Veins emerged as the crown jewel of the tape. I don’t know much about T-Shyne but I really liked his verse here and upon further research it looks like he features Max B on his album so he’s good in my book. I have to listen to that next. I love Thug’s chorus ‘I’ve got real running through my veins’ and the message, and I love the part where T-Shyne says ‘I called my dad and told him that we made it.”
Rod Wave – Way Up
Man I’ve really been sleeping on this guy. Nice song and video from Rod Wave out of Tampa, as if Florida needed more good artists. This was on his Hunger Games 2 album that came out a couple of months ago but the video just came out a few weeks ago. I remember this guy was talking about Rod Wave a year ago.
I slept on Hunger Games 2 for way too long. It’s too early to say but the tape is a borderline classic in my opinion, you can listen to the first 6 tracks over and over again with no skips and it stays flammable the whole time.
Young Thug ft. Elton John – High
So this happened. When I first saw this my initial thought was that this looks like one of those collaborations that sounds like it should be really good but will inevitably end up being bad/disappointing, but it actually did end up being good. It sounds like it would be a wierd combination, but then again, I can picture Sir Elton having a decent amount in common with Thugga.
Kevin Gates – Discussion
The opener off of Gates’ excellent ‘Luca Brasi 3’ project which had a couple of songs featured here last month and keeps producing more and more gems the more times I listen to it. I love the intro of Gates talking about wanting to get back from jail to see his kids and the hook goes super hard.
Kevin Gates – Great Man
LOOK IN THE MIRROR, AND I SEE A GREAT MAN!
I started writing this top 10 before the video for this song came out but it looks like now it has a video which is blowing up. The song is great on its own accord; Gates is really baring his soul here and showing what elevates him above the run of the mill artist but the video adds a nice additional layer of depth to what he’s saying. This is the type of song I would listen to every morning at the gym, if I wasn’t too lazy to go to the gym.
Mozzy – Run to the Mansion
Dope song by Mozzy and my favorite off of Gangland Landlord. People who read this blog might be surprised because for whatever reason I just haven’t really written about him/mentioned him much but gun to my head Mozzy is one of my favorite current rappers and if I had started this blog say 2-3 years ago instead of in the last year and a half there would have been about 50 Mozzy articles in a row on it. For whatever reason I haven’t been bumping him as much lately but Gangland Landlord was good and I have to get back into his recent stuff and check it out again.
“We got the drums for the hammers/they need the drugs in Atlanta/they got my youngin’ in the slammer/he carry guns on the campus/they be on the run for a murder/they just gon’ run to the masion”
The album outro, ‘Tear Me Down’ was really good too.
Rod Wave – Tomorrow /Rod Wave – Praying Grandmothers
Two more Rod Wave bangers I’m hella late on. This guy definitley has a gift. Incredible voice, great charisma/a lot of soul, and dope songs. He should definitley be a bigger star and maybe he will be soon.
Quando Rondo – Kiccin Shit
Always down for some new Quando Rondo. Always melodic AF. I didn’t realize he was a Crip until this song.
More heat from Peezy/Cash Kidd & co. Great group cut. I’ve been meaning to post this one for a while after seeing it on Sislafami a while ago and I’ve been bumping it a whole bunch again this month so I figured this is as good a place as any to mention it.
I’m not sure who’s who in this video besides for Peezy and Cash Kidd obviously but I like the first guy he’s got charisma and some good bars, “I got 100 on this bitch I don’t miss often. Back to back Cats I don’t miss walking” and I love when the third guy says “If they ain’t got no money have them take it out the church offering”
“Got it out the mud I ain’t never did a scam nigga, RIP to all the fallen soldiers, free the fam nigga, shut the fuck up if you ain’t got 100 bands nigga.”
On an interesting side note, at least to me, I’ve noticed a couple of times now, like here in Peezy’s line ‘Got it out the mud I ain’t never did a scam nigga’ line, it seems like there’s a clear hierarchy amongst people engaged in criminal activity, with dealers/robbers etc. clearly being above people doing scams in the pecking order and looking down on them.
