Top Songs October 2020

12 Thursday Nov 2020

Posted by pinkchardonnay in Monthly Top 10

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21 Savage, Charlie Wilson, Drake, Grindhard E, Krispy Life Kidd, Lil Durk, Lil Yachty, Louie Ray, Metro Boomin, Morgan Freeman, Rio Da Yung OG, RMC Mike, Veeze, YN Jay

Favorite songs from a month where I went from YN Jay and the Flint boys to Charlie Wilson to 21 Savage and Morgan Freeman and back again. I’m super late posting this for October now because life has been getting brazy but I have a bunch of new songs I want to get to so might as well post this first.

21 Savage x Metro Boomin – Runnin (2020)
Charlie Wilson – One I Got (2020)
21 Savage x Metro Boomin x Morgan Freeman – Intro (2020)
Lil Yachty x Rio da Yung OG x Veeze x RMC Mike x Louie Ray x Grindhard E – Run Down (2020)
YN Jay – Nicki Minaj (2020)
21 Savage x Metro Boomin ft. Drake – Mr. Right Now (2020)
21 Savage x Metro Boomin – Steppin on Niggas (2020)
Drake ft. Lil Durk – Laugh Now Cry Later (2020)
Lil Yachty x Krispy Life Kidd – Krispy Boat (2020)

21 Savage x Metro Boomin – Runnin

I’m hella late on this but you’ll have to forgive me because life has been brazy lately. Better late than never!

Like I said in my last post, this feels like a fucking movie! I’m loving the foreboding beat and the evil laugh in the beginning. As my brother pointed out, Savage’s half-assed ‘running’ dance move also just adds to the overall dark vibe here somehow; if I was doing it it would not look remotely intimidating but he somehow makes it sinister.

“I’M SLAUGHTER GANG P*SSY, YOU KNOW I BOUGHT MY KNIFE” I love Savage’s sporadic but consistent messaging over the years going back to his earlier tapes that you know he has his knife on him/that he brought his knife because he’s Slaughter Gang; all rappers talk about keeping their strap with them but something about always having your knife on you just sounds even grimier. I’m feeling Metro Boomin’s knife dance move when he says it too.

“2016 we was running around beating niggas up in the club”

“I LEAVE ALL MY CARS RUNNIN, RUNNIN, RUNNIN, ALL MY OPPS BE RUNNIN, RUNNIN, RUNNIN”

“I’M IN THE DEN WITH THE THIEVES”

“All that pillow talk I’ma have to send the boogie man come and get you”

I hate the sample that they play at the end of this/beginning of the next track on the album but I’m glad that Morgan Freeman drops plenty of jewels throughout to make up for it. Like I said in my last post, my brother nailed it when he said they got Morgan Freeman going from narrating March of the Penguins and Nat Geo’s “God” to talking about rats and snitches on a trap album; these guys are winning. I don’t listen to a ton of mainstream rap these days as you obviously know if you read this site but I have to give 21 Savage credit, this whole album feels like a movie. This is the first album I’ve listened to in a while that felt like an ‘event’ to me and we could certainly use that in 2020.

This was a dope concept for a video too, to bring the Grammy back to the hood.

Charlie Wilson – One I Got

Ummmmm… HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS UNTIL NOW??????

Legend in the game.

CW is feeling himself here, see the epic head shake move at 2:20, and you know what, why would he not be? The man is a beast.

(Thank God my wife had the DL Hughley show on in the car last night late at night on the way back from a family party (since you know, I can’t always have Rio da Yung OG or YN Jay on in that situation) so I found out that Charlie Wilson blessed us with this new single this summer.)

All of these fits are on POINT too, some of the young bols in the game could take note

The beginning of the hook about Wilson’s relationship with the ‘one he’s got’ could just as easily apply to Wilson himself; after all this time, it just gets better

I’m feeling this one today as a nice Sunday jam

21 Savage x Metro Boomin x Morgan Freeman – Intro

As my brother said, Morgan Freeman was narrating March of the Penguins and National Geographic’s ‘God’ and now 21 Savage and Metro have him narrating a trap album; if that’s not going big I don’t know what is.

I had kind of stopped checking for 21 Savage tbh but he came back and knocked down the buildings – this whole Savage Mode 2 slaps. This feels like a fucking movie.

I wonder if Morgan Freeman wrote this stuff himself, or if they gave him a general idea of what they wanted him to say, or perhaps best of all (what I hope) is that they all sat around at a table together with a bunch of drinks and chopped it up together to come up with what they wanted.

Lil Yachty x Rio da Yung OG x Veeze x RMC Mike x Louie Ray x Grindhard E – Run Down

Man it seems Yachty really took Hotbox Social’s advice about buying a $75k fixer upper in Flint and staying in town for a while to heart. Seriously, how long has Lil Boat been here for?? CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE BUY THIS MAN AN AUTOWORLD SWEATSHIRT

I’m pleased to see Rio has finally joined him on one of these since he was conspicuous in his absence before this. As an added bonus I love seeing Grindhard E aka Lil E on here since not too long ago it would have been hard to imagine him appearing on a track with Lil Yachty but the whole scene is deservedly leveling up. As Mike says, “Spice talking got the Ghetto Boys moving up the ladder” Perhaps my only regret is no YN Jay this time, but hey I guess he can’t be in all of them.

Yacthy is sounding better than ever and is clearly being influenced by his new Flint cohorts, talking home security “I live on the lake leave the crib and forgot to lock it, it’s okay I got cameras there, and my brother’s sleeping upstairs he’s got hammers there.”

The only guy I wasn’t too familiar with here before this was actually Veeze, and he actually has some fire; “I’ve got bitches selling p*ssy that look like Tyra Banks, I’m rocking Carhartt shooting basketballs like I’m Drake”

“I’ve been sipping dirty water with my Flint niggas, hey Cuz I just made a lot of blues with my Crip niggas, hey Blood I could never be bool with no snitch niggas”

Martorialist won’t like this part but “I’ve been dripping since the Trues with the thick stitching”!

Rio is always cold af “The funeral home will probably run out of dirt if you murk me, if the pastor sold dope I’ll walk into church with a turkey” (2 church references in the same Rio verse!)

RMC Mike never disappoints “Walking through the set with seppys on by Palm Angels, lil bitch been chasing me for years she got strong ankles”

I’m kind of feeling the Washington Nationals hat/Heron shirt combination

P.S. even more fire from Enrgy Beats

P.P.S. Yachty is really taking his artist-in-residency seriously as there is now even Yachty/Krispy Life Kidd collab

YN Jay – Nicki Minaj

I’m feeling this quick hitter off YN Jay’s Coochie Land. Is Nicki Minaj really typing back to YN Jay’s DM? We have no way of knowing for sure, but one thing is for sure – if she’s not, it’s her mistake because Jay is the hottest artist in the game right now.

Dude’s ad lib game is a work of art too.

21 Savage x Metro Boomin ft. Drake – Mr. Right Now

I’m not even going to front, I actually really like this one. Metro Boomin came up with some sick production for this. I could obviously have lived without hearing about Drake’s sex life but it’s Drake what else do you expect. It’s some good feel good music to drive around with in nice weather. However, words can’t explain how much I hate the snippet at the end of this song.

21 Savage x Metro Boomin – Steppin on Niggas

Yet another selection from the 21 Savage/Metro Boomin album; this Eazy E beatjack is tough.

Drake ft. Lil Durk – Laugh Now Cry Later

Two Drake songs in one month? I don’t know maybe I’m getting soft but I like this one too. I wasn’t expecting to hear Lil Durk on a megahit in 2020 but good for him; the part where he swoops in with his verse after Drake sounds sick and works really well because of the contrast. I still am more used to seeing bald Lil Durk than Lil Durk with dreads.

Cardo came through with some heat for this production and I’m glad he’s getting paid.

Could this be the first time Cleveland Browns gear has ever made an appearance in a rap video?

Lil Yachty x Krispy Life Kidd – Krispy Boat

I kind of just love the fact that Yachty is so deep in the Flint rap game now that he’s linking up with Krispy Life Kidd, and that Krispy Life Kidd is about to get a million views on this. That Georgia Tech hat is kind of fire.

Top Songs May 2020

26 Tuesday May 2020

Posted by pinkchardonnay in Monthly Top 10

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Blxst, Drake, Fivio Foreign, Mozzy, Sosa Geek, Stove God Cook$

I wasn’t super active this month so figured I’d post this now…

Fivio Foreign – Drive By (2020)
Mozzy – Boyz To Men (2020)
Mozzy ft. Blxst – I Ain’t Perfect (2020)
Stove God Cooks – Rolls Royce Brake Lights (2020)
Drake ft. Fivio Foreign, Sosa Geek – Demons (2020)
Mozzy – Bulletproofly (2020)

Fivio Foreign – Drive By

One of the tres amigos behind last year’s ‘Waka’ is back with a new project, ‘800 BC’, and while the project is not as fun as Waka, and is in fact a very different, MUCH darker vibe, the whole project is fire, highlighted by the opener, ‘Drive By’.

It seems like since ‘Waka‘ (the post on Waka is actually by far the most read post on this website, believe it or not), Fivio Foreign has only gotten bigger and bigger, for example releasing probably the biggest Brooklyn drill song to date (Big Drip), getting a Meek Mill feature on this project, to now going where perhaps no Brooklyn drill rapper has gone before, getting a feature on Drake’s new album. Say what you want about Drake, but he’s the unparalleled expert of latching onto the buzz of new rappers and scenes right as they’re blowing up (i.e. Lil Baby, Blocboy JB), so this certainly solidifies Fivio’s star status and perhaps that of Brooklyn Crip rappers and Brooklyn drill itself. I had actually been bumping the 800 B.C. tape and ‘Drive By’ in particular all week so imagine my surprise when I lazily clicked to see the tracklist of the unexpected new Drake album on Friday morning and saw that Fivio was one of the few features.

If I had to define Fivio’s ‘identity’ or what makes him unique in the rap game, it would be hard to pinpoint an exact feature but I’d point to his heart, grit, aggression/anger, and that he just absolutely HATES opps. ‘Drive By’ is the perfect example of that. It’s a total tour de force by an artist just coming into his own and reflecting on both the triumphs and losses on the road to get here as well as where he’s going next. The beat is sick and almost a calm backdrop to the anger that Fivio punishes the track with; I’d describe the vibe of ‘Drive By’ as almost apocalyptic, it’s Fivio riding around the ruins of the city in a tank after he won a war there and surveying the damage and carnage of his victory.

“The opps tell me we be going too hard, we be shooting too much we be going too far”

“I’ve got wolves I’m still feeding them off. I’ve got money so I’m feeding them all. Stood tall when they needed to ball. Ten toes, two feet on the floor.”

“Fovvy, boss, now I could by me a loft. But I ain’t satisfied at all. Still got Fetty (?) in the fort. Going back and forth to court. Couple of fights that still need to get fought.” On the one hand he’s enjoying newfound success and touting the money and fame that signing a major label deal brings, but on the other hand he’s still focused on vengeance and settling old scores.

“Fovvy, I’m different. Everyone know that I’m gifted. 2 shots for the wicked. Pull up, silence, critics. It’s my crib you evicted.”

Also anyone else reminded of Chief Keef’s ‘Now it’s Over’ by the mansion and specifically the staircase?

I’m also loving the plain blue Balenciaga hat

(P.S. interestingly, Fivio was somehow left off of the ‘Waka’ remix featuring Waka Flocka himself?)

Mozzy – Boys II Men

This ‘Boyz To Men’ off the new Mozzy album absolutely knocks. This beat is hard as fuck and Mozzy’s flow is perfect for it. But after the way Mozzy made magic over that Mario sample in ‘Big Homie from the Hood‘, I can’t be the only one that saw this title on the tracklist and was hoping it was Mozz flowing over a smooth Boyz II Men sample, am I right?

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but before I made this site, Mozzy was probably my favorite rapper of 2015/2016. Then for whatever reason I kind of moved on and wasn’t as into some of his material over the next year or two. But lately Mozzy has been back with an absolute vengeance. Big Homie from the Hood is probably my favorite song of the year so far (yeah I know, December 2019 but still) and this album is really good. I love this one, the aforementioned Big Home, and the surprisingly introspective ‘I Ain’t Perfect’. (Was not expecting to hear the line ‘Compassion for the homeless cause they’ve been through enough’ from anybody I listen to but Mozzy makes it work.) There are a couple of other bangers that I’m sure I’ll add to that list to after a few more listens. I’d go as far as to say that between the quality of the album and his recent songs, the increased mainstream attention/buzz he seems to finally be getting, and his history/track record, as well as the step up in material he’s taking on in this album, Mozzy seems to be making a pretty credible run for the (always up for discussion/unofficial) crown as king of the West Coast. In a lot of ways it seems that Mozzy is taking a Nipsey type turn in terms of subject matter and becoming more concerned about the youth, his community, business etc. and I think he would be proud of this album.

“Suckers on the Gram with blammies they tell them to use them. My brother’s brother just paroled, family reunion. I know 100 niggas broke that ain’t selling the toolage. Pink 50’s is looking crispy the 100s is blue in. My location is the ghetto I’m bomfortably booling. The Crips love me on the beat they fuck with the movement.”

“If they threatened you with life would you crack on your goon? I tend to whisper when I feel there’s a rat in the room.”

“How you put the homies on but let your brother starve? That nigga Bob was taking trips inside his mother’s car. It’s Oak Park 4-5 forever fuck a star. 30 P’s inside a duffel, this 100 large.”

Mozzy ft. Blxst – I Ain’t Perfect

I think Crimedawgbylawsummed up ‘I Ain’t Perfect’ when he said, “Mozzy keeps supplying the music that I need right now.” I never thought I’d hear the line “Compassion for the hopeless and the homeless because they’ve been through enough” from any rapper that I listen to and certainly not from Mozzy, but he seems to really be taking his game to another level and is thinking more about his community, his legacy, etc. He seems to be heading down the Nispey Hussle path and alludes to that himself on the album.

As I said to my man Yohan in the comments for ‘Boyz II Men’…

“I feel like Mozzy’s storytelling and imagery are always on point and you see that on this album, but he also seems to have taken a step up in terms of some of the subject matter/themes he’s approaching. It’s interesting because he hasn’t turned into a full-on conscious rapper obviously or anything like that but he appears to be spending more time thinking about his community, his legacy, the weight that comes with being ‘the big homie’ and your whole hood relying on you etc. This album seems to kind of catch him at a crossroads in life.”

It was nice as well as unexpected to hear Mozzy rap over an acoustic-guitar type beat and the hook from Blxst actually really grew on me over time and I even catch myself singing it to myself here and there.

Some of Mozzy’s bars on this just hit so hard…

“Let me tell you about the absence of a rolling stone. Mama said he want to leave, then let that nigga go.”

“Compassion for the hopeless and the homeless ’cause they’ve been through enough. Right there on the ave with the killers before I knew enough. I just bought a truck for my daughers and bulletproofed it up.”

“There was roaches in the apple jacks we eat at home. Mama manage a McDonald’s she rarely be at home.”

“If I middle man the play then I’m gon tweak the price; on Jesus Chris retaliation helps me sleep at night.”

The video was on point too; just an unvarnished look at Mozzy’s hood.

I feel like Mozzy is taking the mantle as the champion of society’s downtrodden and ‘have nots’ and I can certainly get behind that; I’m intrigued to see where he goes next with this direction.

Stove God Cooks – Rolls Royce Break Lights

I keep going back to the well of this Stove God album. This guy can really paint a picture but he’s not boring like the average ‘lyrical’ rapper and actually makes actual music that you want to come back to. (Case in point, even the god of function music himself, Martorialist, was feeling Money Puddles, calling it a Faux Marciano song with chutzpah, which all in all is a pretty apt description). This is just bar after bar after bar on the album’s opener, Rolls Royce Brake Lights.

I love the reprisal/flip of Drake’s ‘I just want to beee successful’ taking it from someone corporate like Drake and flipping it into the ambitions of a young stove god just trying to cook his way up in the game.

“I’m the truth, I’m the light I’m the way. Niggas broke, niggas fake, they in the way.”

P.S. after quite a few spins of the whole album I’m kind of intrigued by how many space/planetary/religious references there are are here and there sprinkled in amongst the drug raps.

Drake ft. Fivio Foreign, Sosa Geek – Demons

I wrote about Fivio Foreign above so not too much more to say here except that while I’m not necessarily a huge Drake fan, it was cool to see Fivio go from a local/regional artist that I mentioned in passing as being part of a fun song a year ago to blowing up to the point that he had maybe the biggest song in New York over the past year and now hopping on a song with Drake. You can certainly question whether Drake is a ‘vulture’ or a just a well-intentioned fan of these artists and scenes just trying to give them a bigger platform, but in any case, I’m always happy for these guys when they get a huge spotlight like this. (P.S. is it just a coincedence or does Drake love Crips? Between these guys and Blocboy JB…)

“I love the 6, 6, 6, 6, 6,” at the beginning of the song and I actually don’t mind the hook from Drake. “I’m in this bitch with the wooski, ball in the summer like Drew League”

It wouldn’t be a Fivio song if he didn’t come after the opps.

While Fivio Foreign’s rise was unprecedented, Sosa Geek would probably be even more unexpected to be on a song with the Champagne Papi but here he is and he’s making the most of it/enjoying his time in the spotlight. This is the Sosa of ‘Free Sosa he a demon’ fame from Big Drip.

With the unfortunate passing of Pop Smoke, you could really make the case that his confidante Fivio has filled the void and is arguably the king of NYC right now.

Mozzy – Bulletproofly

Another introspective song over a nice beat for that type of song off the Mozzy album. As I mentioned above I always love Mozzy’s imagery and short-form storytelling, painting a picture with sometimes few words…

“The pictures that my father sent me prepared me for jail”

“I gave him packs of cappucino for his pain pills”

“Remember that sweet and sour spread we shared in the cell?”

“We turn on ovens when it’s cold inside the house, they found a qualude but no poles inside the house”

“Bulletholes in the Saturn we just left a trip”

Top Songs January 2020

02 Sunday Feb 2020

Posted by pinkchardonnay in Monthly Top 10, Uncategorized

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Bee Rich, Big Wan, Drake, Mozzy, Rio Da Yung OG, YNW Melly, ZayBang

Happy Super Bowl Sunday…

Mozzy – Big Homie from the Hood (2019)
YNW Melly – Bang Bang (2019)
ZayBang – In That Rain (2019)
YNW Melly – 100K (2019)
Big Wan – Fast Lane Lifestyle (2019)
Bee Rich ft. Rio da Yung OG – Big Pape (2019)
Drake – War (2019)

Mozzy – Big Homie from the Hood

Damn I am feeling this one. This is exactly the type of song I have been wanting to hear from Mozzy. This is OG music. ‘Big Homie from the Hood’ is my favorite song by him since Bladahdah. He’s spitting some real knowledge and hard-earned reflections here about being the big homie and the burdens that come with it. This came out in December and I’m just hearing it now but I’m really thinking about going back and giving it a spot on my best of 2019 list.Video of just the local ballgame in his neighborhood is awesome (I love that the two teams in his hood are rocking Red Sox and Phillies gear) and the beat is perfect for this song; so soulful.

“Mama knew I’m hustling can’t say nothing about it, I’m putting food in his fridge and I ain’t ate nothing out it.”

“How you run me out the hood but I’m the one who run it? I’m the one who make sure auntie ‘n ’em don’t want for nothing. I’m the one that motivate ’em baby, ask the youngins, tell ’em re-up with the 20s, stack the hundreds.”

YNW Melly – Bang Bang

AAAHHHHHHHHH I had to pull my hands off the keyboard quick because my computer is too overheated from playing ‘Bang Bang’ and all these other scorchers off the Melly album.

There are a good four or even five highlights to choose from, but after many listens I’ve decided that in my opinion, Bang Bang is Melly’s magnum opus on Melly vs Melvin.

Melly blesses us with what I would honestly say is an all-time great hook here. Only Melly could pull off using ‘I bang blood Gang’ and then mentioning ‘Stranger Things’ twice in the same hook. (P.S. Melly is talking a lot about being a blood on this album; maybe more so than on any mainstream record label release that I can think of; “Big blood, big blood shout out GD”, “I’m a real blood, G-Shine, ain’t no bitch in me”.) I don’t know much about the producer but according to Wikipedia it’s C-ClipBeatz and he made this the perfect backdrop for Melly’s warbling.

At this point, I think my five favorite Melly songs are Ingredients, Bang Bang, 100K, Waitin’ on You, and then either Robbery or Adam Sandler.

ZayBang – In That Rain

Saw this one on Thizzler and I’m feeling it. I don’t know much about ZayBang but I like what I’m hearing here. I’m loving the flow, the hook is super infectious and it’s a also a really good message of resilience. Hairstyle is on point too with the ponytail, I guess that is a Nor Cal thing as I’ve also seen Llama Llama rocking i? Either way I can get behind it. The beat from DJ Taliband is dope too.

“When I was stuck on (???) I was fishing off the tier, in case you didn’t know, that’s the pen, I’ve been losing tryna find out how to win” damn I felt that part.

“My brother watched his enemies but lost it to his friends”

“They try to say it’s love, I think it’s hate… you supposed to be my brother why you turn this to a race? I do this for my brothers they gonna meet me at the gates. I do this for baby Zay, this your dad, I did that time and we gon leave that in the past.”

I’ve got to check out more of ZayBang’s work

YNW Melly – 100K

This beat is just so celebratory and glorious. THIS is function music! I can’t find any production credits for ‘100K’ anywhere but I would love to know who made it. If not for the lyrics/subject matter (and who knows who would even be listening anyway) I feel like this would not be out of place coming on at a wedding or baptism. If you didn’t know it was Melly you would almost guess that this is some sort of unreleased Young Thug gem from prime Thug.

I’m not sure if I’m feeling the “diarrhea/gonorea” rhyme scheme but the ‘pull up on a nigga, onomatopoeia’ that follows it does sound pretty dope and kind of makes up for it although I’m not quite sure what that would entail.

The more and more I listen to this Melly vs. Melvin album the more I’m feeling it. ‘We All Shine’ was one of mytop albums of 2019 with one of my all-time favorites with ‘Ingredients’, but this might be an even better overall project top to bottom. It’s too bad it came out so late in the year that it missed a lot of the end of year lists and all that. I also feel like I have not heard much about this album and didn’t even know that it was coming out, compared to maybe a year prior when Melly was one of the most talked-about rappers but I guess that is just the nature of the hype and post-hype cycle that music lives in today; I’m paraphrasing Ray Garraty here in that people just treat music as mass consumerism or fast fashion now and gobble up what’s hot one day and then move on to the next trend and never check for the previous artist again. ‘Melly vs. Melvin’ Just filled with bangers on every track. I mentioned Adam Sandler the other day, I’ve been feeling 100K and giving this a ton of plays but my favorite of all might be ‘Bang ‘Bang‘ . And this isn’t even including the Juice WRLD and Glokk9ine features. In an era where albums have kind of become a throwaway or just a bunch of songs thrown together to get streams, this is actually a really well thought-out, carefully put-together, well-crafted album.

Big Wan – Fast Lane Lifestyle

Not only did I forget all about posting this on my top songs of 2019 list, I even gave it the gross oversight of forgetting to even include it in my more recent and extremely belated top songs of December 2019 list. I found this of course thanks to Crimedawgbylaw, who at this point has become a virtual Lonely Planet guide to Milwaukee slaps. This fucking goes. Beat by MeloDroppin30 is so cold. Perfect type of beat for a cold midwestern winter night. (Can’t find his solo mixtape on Spotify anymore SMH it had a dope intro on it I forget who rapped on it too so will never find the song again. He’s also done some nice beats for Lil Chicken).

Like Big Colin, I’m feeling the prefix of ‘Big’ here in the name instead of the more common ‘Lil’, and similar to the Big Colin song I posted a while back, I love when Wan’s crew starts yelling along with the one line as he raps it. I would not mind this becoming a new trend in songs/videos. When Wan switches up his flow after that to the faster flow it almost reminds me Tee Grizzley’s flow change from First Day Out.

Dude at 1:45 is going super hard lol

Bee Rich ft. Rio da Yung OG – Big Pape

I’m not sure what it is but there’s just something about saying ‘big pape’ instead of ‘big paper’ that I went from dislking at first to now kind of loving just the sheer obnoxiousness of it.

Just more absolute nastiness from Rio da Yung OG and one of his many statesmen that he’s been pumping out features for non-stop.

“Alright, now it’s time for me to talk shit, chop take a chunk out of his leg, look like a shark bit it”

“Hit the tar with the fetty wap now it’s dark skin, no NBA but we got 2 K’s at the park with it”

“Ain’t no love in my body bitch I’m heartless, I ain’t worried about the opps them niggas harmless”

In related news of Rio features, Crimedawgbylaw posted another one of the many recent ones, “Ghetto Brothers” this one with Rio and the fantastically-named ‘Talibando’.

Drake – War

The Martorialist recently described this one as Drake’s ‘Silly UK drill song’ and he’s 100% accurate in that description – but in spite of myself, I have to just come clean and admit that I can’t help but liking it, mainly because the beat is cold as fuck. I wonder what Drake’s opinion on Brexit is.

Top 10 Songs May 2018

02 Saturday Jun 2018

Posted by pinkchardonnay in Monthly Top 10, Uncategorized

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03 Greedo, All Star Lee, Birdman, Brodinski, Drake, Joe Blow, Kevin Gates, Lil AJ, Lil Baby, Lil Frost, Lil Reek, Lil Uzi Vert, Mannie Fresh, Playboi Carti, Pusha T, Q Money, Quando Rondo, Rick Ross, Sherwood Marty, Tee Grizzley

Guys sorry I’m late with this May top 10 and posting it in June, and have been MIA for the last week, I’ve been holed up in a cabin in Wyoming, wearing wierd clothes, working on my next album…

Kevin Gates – Change Lanes

Gates is really baring his soul on this one. Right from the opening bar this one hits you…”Been through a lot of pain in my life and I pray the Lord take it all away. I’ve got family doing life that’ll never see the sun shine again and I pray it all away. Gates touches on a lot of heavy, real topics in his life in ‘Change Lane’s, including his time in prison in Illinois, incarcerated family members, wanting to pull back from public life/fame, and, also, McDonald’s salads and rocking Islamic fashion out in Paris. This is off Gate’s 3 song ‘Chained to the City’ EP, his first work after being freed, and I’ve got to say, Gates is back in a big way because that EP was ridiculous. Not to mention the work he’s been putting in and posting the snippets of on Instagram; I almost want to include a couple of those as my top songs of May as well but I feel like that would be cheating a little.

Kevin Gates – Vouch

As much as I love ‘Change Lanes’, ‘Vouch’ might be even better. The singing, warbling Gates might be my favorite type of Kevin Gates. “I do for me I feed myself my crew not willing to help me, we either die or go to jail so what the fuck could you tell me. Fully loaded Mac 11 when this pressure get applied; got a brand new Glock 90 and I keep it by my side. That part starting at around 2:15 just sounds absolutely heavenly; “”I ain’t never change up, let’s get that understood, I’m in that 70805 they don’t show love in my hood.”

Lil Baby ft. Drake – Pikachu

Damn it feels like this came out a year ago instead of a few weeks ago, what with all the sniping back and forth between Drizzy and Pusha T just completely usurping everyone’s collective attention span, not to mention Drake announcing his ‘Scorpion’ album and then of course the new .

From the original article…

While I wouldn’t have gone as far as to call myself a Drake ‘hater’, I think the old, healthier but less enlightened me would have perhaps best been described at the very least as a ‘Drake skeptic’ or a ‘Drake nonbeliever’. I wasn’t that into his early stuff when he first started blowing up and later on I really couldn’t stand most of his hits over the last few years like Controlla and One Dance. More than anything I kind of just considered him to be bland elevator music. But I’ll be the first to admit, and as someone whose been critical, I feel responsibility to give credit where credit is due; I’ll be damned if Drake’s last couple of songs haven’t been absolute bangers. He’s had a good 3-4 songs or more in a row (this one with Lil Baby, his song with Trouble on the ‘Edgewood’ album, ‘Look Alive’ with Blocboy JB, and I’ll admit I was even down with Nice for What even though that was definitely shamelessly pandering to the ladies. I also didn’t mind God’s Plan.) that have forced me to mention them with the same disclaimer every time, ‘I’m not a big Drake fan but…,’ so I don’t know if he’s actually getting better or if I’m just going soft in my old age but I’m slowly…becoming a fan??? That was hard to type!

Whether you love him or have him, (or should I say – whether you’re siding with him or Pusha T in the new World War 3?) the man has a pretty unassailable ear for great beats, and if he retired from rapping he would make a great A&R he has an eye for up and coming talent. He has a penchant for working with hard, down south rappers like Blocboy, Trouble, and now Lil Baby. Drake is like the 2018 version of 2017 Berner to me.

Enough about Drake though, Lil Baby is actually the real headliner here. His verse/flow is crazy. He’s another artist I was kind of tepid on at first, not that I disliked him but just none of his songs really jumped out at me, but I loved this song, and ‘I Remember’ with Quando Rondo, and ‘Day in my Hood’ with Sherwood Marty were pretty solid jams so I’m starting to become more and more of a fan. I’ve also warmed to his hits like ‘A-Town’ and ‘My Dawg’. ‘Trap Star’ while delving into his previous work in preparation for ‘Harder than Ever’.

Drake is doing his best Hoodrich Pablo Juan impression on this one. Side note on the Drake verse – he says ‘my shorty a goodie’; most of my friends have been calling bad bitches baddies have they been doing this all wrong? My favorite part is where Lil Baby sings, ‘Waaah waahhh waaahhh bitch I’m the Baby’.

Another side note – apparently on the album this song is called ‘Yes Indeed’ but when it dropped on Youtube they were calling it Pikachu and I’m still calling it that.

YELLOW FERARRI LIKE PIKACHU, CARTIER LENSES I WON’T EVEN PEEK AT YOU

All Star Lee – Cash Money Flow

Flammable song by All Star Lee out of Detroit. I’m loving the throwback Orlando Magic jerseys and the soulja rags in this Cash Money homage.

Lil AJ, Joe Blow, Lil Frost

Dope song from two workmanlike Bay Area stalwarts who don’t get as much love/hype outside of the Bay as some of the bigger names from out there, but who are pretty much always reliable for solid, real music. I’m starting to like Lil AJ’s stuff more and more over time. “Lash Money burning bridges nigga, see an opp slipping in traffic and them niggas get the business nigga, rest in peace Boss Nuge and the nigga Jack, catch me out in traffic riding with the mini MAC”. I didn’t realize Lil Frost had passed away until I saw this video; and it took me a minute to realize what was going on. His verse being overlaid by old clips of him rapping interspersed with the scenes from his funeral, since he wasn’t here to shoot the video, was straight up heartbreaking and actually hit me pretty hard since I wasn’t expecting it. RIP to Frost man, gone too soon.

Pusha T ft. Rick Ross – Hard Piano

Some people are mad about the album cover, some people love it. Some people feel like Drake bodied Pusha with his diss track, and other people feel like Pusha ended Drake with his response. Regardless of all that, there were some straight up slaps on ‘Daytona’ (I love that name by the way), my favorite amongst them being ‘Hard Piano’. Kanye really did work his magic on the beats on this one, regardless of his recent controversies and what some would call his subpar rapping on ‘Ye’, the guy is in the zone right now on the boards, this album had some of the best beats/production I’ve heard in a while. I like the combo of Pusha and Rozay. If Ross is sounding like this, I can’t wait for his comeback album. It’s funny I didn’t realize how much I missed prime Ross until I heard this. Yeah he’s another artist with plenty of questionable moves/songs over the years but at the end of the day he’s still here, he’s been through a lot, he has a lot of dope songs over the years throughout his catalogue and I’m looking forward to what he has to say on his next album.

“The Warhols on my wall tell a war story.”

“Chilling in a condo full of ready rock”

As much as I like my rappers and their music to be ‘real,’ sometimes some straight up luxury/over the top drug kingpin rap can be dope too, if it’s imaginative and really paints a picture for you, which I feel like Hard Piano does.

Mannie Fresh & Birdman

This was uh… unexpected… and ridiculous. Man I love Mannie Fresh. Such a classic Mannie Fresh type beat! I could have lived without the 3 minutes of vignettes that randomly interspersed throughout the song that kept interrupting it but on the other hand I loved the video itself with the New Orleans mardi gras band in the street with them. Any time you get Mannie actually rapping on a track is always a good thing; he’s just so happy and jovial – “$100,000 in a brief case, orange Lamborghini yours with the dealer plates… Bricks, pounds, scales, weed, went to Hiroshima came back speaking Japanese.” The chorus for this one is super menacing; ‘Note around his neck saying get right with the Lord.” I don’t know if Big Tymers is back but if we could get some more stuff from Mannie or even a full Big Tymers project that would be a pretty nice surprise.

Pusha T – If You Know You Know

Another dope song off of Daytona. The production is so good. ‘If You Know You Know’ is going to be big this summer. I bumped Daytona so many times over Memorial Day weekend.

Quando Rondo – Paradise

I put ‘Paradise’ up in April’s top 10 but I only heard it at the end of the month and I really bumped it much more in May so I’m kind of cheating here. Quando Rondo is dope I’m starting to get into this new wave of Atlanta guys like him, Lil Baby, and Gunna which I wasn’t expecting.

Lil Reek ft. Brodinski – Rock Out

I’m surprised this hasn’t blown up actually. Maybe it’s just because it’s a change of pace but I love this kid’s voice!

And that’s my top 10 for May but here’s a couple of bonus tracks for ya since this month was one of the best in a long time…

03 Greedo – Fortnite

FREE GREEDO!

Q Money – Countin’ Up a Check

Tee Grizzly – Colors

Sherwood Marty ft. Lil Baby – Day in My Hood

Playboi Carti ft. Lil Uzi – Shoota

P.S. I usually follow the Martorialist’s embargo on rappers with septum rings but I’m not going to lie this one with Lil Uzi from Playboi Carti’s new album was just too catchy not to mention here.

Waaahhh Waaah Waahhh, Bitch I’m the Baby

18 Friday May 2018

Posted by pinkchardonnay in South

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Drake, Lil Baby, Pikachu

Drake ft. Lil Baby – Pikachu

The man has a pretty unassailable ear for great beats, and if he retired from rapping he would make a great A&R he has an eye for up and coming talent. He has a penchant for working with hard, down south rappers like Blocboy, Trouble, and now Lil Baby. Drake is like the 2018 version of 2017 Berner to me.

Enough about Drake though, Lil Baby is the real show here. His verse/flow is crazy. He’s another artist I was kind of tepid on at first, not that I disliked him but just none of his songs really jumped out at me, but I loved this song, and ‘I Remember’ with Quando Rondo, and ‘Day in my Hood’ with Sherwood Marty were pretty solid jams so I’m starting to become more and more of a fan; I’ve also warmed to his hits like ‘A-Town’ and ‘My Dawg’. ‘Trap Star’ off of his last project before the one coming out today is a legit slap too. I just checked out all 4 of his previous projects in preparation of checking out his new album ‘Harder than Ever’ which came out today which I’m looking forward to delving into today and over the course of the weekend.

Another side note – apparently on the album this song is called ‘Yes Indeed’ but when it dropped on Youtube they were calling it Pikachu and I’m still calling it that.

YELLOW FERARRI LIKE PIKACHU, CARTIER LENSES I WON’T EVEN PEEK AT YOU

Top 10 Songs April 2018

04 Friday May 2018

Posted by pinkchardonnay in Monthly Top 10

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03 Greedo, Cam'ron, Drake, Drakeo the Ruler, Jim Jones, Kooda B, Mozzy, Quando Rondo

03 Greedo ft. Drakeo the Ruler, Fenix – Wake Me Up in Traffic

I usually like to joke around on this site and keep things light/entertaining (or at least I hope!) but on a very serious note, please pray for Greedo as he is facing some very serious time in prison in Texas. The circumstances are particularly unfortunate as he got hit with this big sentence just as he was starting to blow up and create a huge wave for himself. In the same month that Meek came home, we sadly lost one of the most creative and innovative, truly interesting artists to come out in a long time. I’m glad that apparently he has tons of unreleased music still in the vaults that we can enjoy but sometimes real life and whats at stake for the artist facing all these years just feels bigger/more important than the music itself. Originally it was being reported that it was a life sentence but now it seems like places are saying it’s 20 years… maybe he can appeal or get out early.

‘Wake Me Up in Traffic’ featuring him, Drakeo the Ruler, and Fenix from Shoreline Mafia is my top song for April; from the original article…

Even 03 Greedo’s unreleased loosies are better than 95% of other current artist’s best material that they would choose as the singles for their new album. This guy really is on a different level. Almost reminds me of an in-his-prime Gucci Mane with all the vaults upon vaults of quality material he has laying around. I really hope this one doesn’t get taken down from Youtube! This is going to be a dope summer driving song.

“And I got my mask and my gloves, dead presidents chasing bank do some drugs, every day I repent but I keep fucking up, only my God can judge me, too rich for a judge…Unless I get paid I don’t go to clubs.” This line was so dope and mind-blowing to me because it was so braggadocios but also simultaneously so humble, which you would think would be impossible but Greedo pulled it off.

03’s cohort, Drakeo the Ruler, who if not for Greedo would almost certainly be the most dynamic rapper in L.A. right now, also contributes a dope verse as does, according to Youtube, someone named Fenix of Shoreline Mafia. Let’s keep our fingers crossed/prayers up that Greedo and Drakeo both beat their cases and we can keep getting awesome collaborations from them for years to come.

03 Greedo has easily usurped the Dos Equis guy as ‘The Most Interesting Man in the World’ at this point.

This post was too sad man…

View this post on Instagram

At least I did it big before i left my family

A post shared by 03 Greedo (@03greedo) on Apr 25, 2018 at 8:27pm PDT

Kooda B – Walking Through the Ville

From yesterday’s post…

Man fuck Hot 97 and the current headliners, Kooda B should be on center stage getting the star treatment at Summer Jam this year. KOODA B FOR SUMMER JAM MAIN STAGE!!! Or else I’m boycotting.

The Kooda GOAT is ridiculous. I wasn’t sure if I had ever pondered the concept of whether someone could rework Vanessa Carlton’s ‘A Thousand Miles’ into a foreboding message to potential foes warning them not to run up on them in his neighborhood or risk becoming a victim of gun violence, but Kooda certainly comes about as close to achieving that odd task as humanly possible. But more importantly, his heartfelt ode to gun crime is also undeniably catchy as fuck.

Tekashi’s bodyguard(/wingman/handler/subject of the song ‘Kooda’) has quite a bit of charisma and even some star power of his own. He reminds me a bit of a Sonniebo in that while some of the songs are clearly trolling and made for comic value, they also stand up on their own as songs that whether you want to admit it or not, just straight up slap.

Favorite part: About 0:40 to 0:45 in – ‘I was walking through the Viiiillllllle, fans ask me how I’m doingggggg!” I also love when the beat ‘drops’ at about 1:00 like in the real song and he goes ‘TONIGHT – we gon get you… we wont’ miss you!”

I don’t know how he pulled off driving that piano around through the streets of Brooklyn. Also – he DEFINITELY picked up those two girls at Starbucks and asked them to be in his video, and let’s be honest, how could they have resisted?

Quando Rondo – Paradise

A late entrance to the list, ‘Paradise’ is an amazingly catchy song by rising young artist and apparently aspiring herptologist Quando Rondo out of Savanna, Georgia (the home of Camoflauge! RIP!). There are so many new rappers out of Atlanta and the surrounding areas all the time right now that it’s hard to keep track of them and to be honest a lot of them are kind of generic/blend together but this young bol Quando Rondo is different and has an absolute gift for creating catchy, anthemic songs as well as deep, introspective ones. This is one of my favorite choruses of the year so far. Paradise should definitely have more than a million views!

Jim Jones – Never Did 3 Quarters

These recent posts about Cam, Lil Flip, etc. have got me feeling like it’s the mid-2000s and that’s definitely not a bad thing in my book. Jimmy brought his A-game on his new album Wasted Talent and after multiple listens through it this week ‘Never Did 3 Quarters’ stands out as my favorite track off of it. You really can’t go wrong with the capo, or really any Diplomat, over a soulful Heatmakerz sample like this one. Jim gets introspective and reminisces on this one, creating a narrative that goes perfect with the reflective vibe of the beat.

“Gotta look both ways before you cross the street, you’ve got to watch out for them strays from across the street. In my day I was clapping at all the beef; start beefing now these rappers might call the police. I grew up in a country that rather war than peace, in my hood there’s always war so I wore the piece.”

If it’s possible for an artist who got as popular as Jim did at his height to be ‘underrated’, I’d say that Jim Jones is criminally underrated, especially from a lyrical standpoint and from the perspective of how impactful he was on the rap game and the culture. Between his material with Dipset, his solo work, and things he was working on with Max B and Stack Bundles, Jones has compiled a pretty impressive catalogue and almost 20 years in the game.

Drakeo the Ruler – Big Bank Uchies

I’m a little late on this one but I’ve been bumping a ton of Drakeo over and over again all month, probably more than any other artist. I love his guttural flow and his unique lingo. Him and Greedo have the West Coast rap game on lock right now. Unfortunately like Greedo he’s also in the midst of some questionable at best legal troubles; I’m not sure what the exact status is right now but hopefully he’s home and can get back to living his life and making dope new west coast music; I hope we can still get that Greedo/Drakeo collaboration album one day.

Drakeo the Ruler – Flu Flamming

I’m a Flu Flammer

Jim Jones ft. Mozzy – Bangin’

Another highlight from Wasted Talent. One of my favorite rappers from the mid to late 2000s linking up with arguably my favorite rapper of 2016? I didn’t expect to ever hear them on a song together but sign me up. And the results weren’t disappointing at all as they often can be in these types of collaborations.

Capo really crushes both the chorus and his verse on this one and it’s also nice to get a little bit of a look back at a different time in history from him…

“I loved the gang I even banged when I was famous… I put the city on my back, had my biddy screaming blatt, all the main events with 40 niggas in the back. I was bicking back booling, skipping all the schooling, small .22 in the Timbs to get my tool in…They called me Billy the Kid, Sex Money Murder we was killing as kids, I send a missile and get you killed on your bid.”

“I used to rock a vest cause in my streets no love, I was the first to hit the West and show them East Coast Bloods. Everybody screaming gang but nobody put in work for it, my whole gang was putting bodies in the church for it.”

It looks like there may also be a video coming out for this at some point soon which I certainly wouldn’t be opposed to.

Quando Rondo – My Motivation

Another nice melodic jam from Quando Rondo as he gets his Rich Homie Quan on. This is off of his Life B4 Fame mixtape which I definitley need to finish listening to the rest of. I love introspective songs like this, he really gets a lot off his chest and takes you through some heavy things that he’s been through. “RIP Quafee 3 times, and my niggas they with it we just buried about three 9’s”. I also always love videos where rappers walk you through their hoods that you’ve never seen before, like Savanna here.

Drake – Nice for What

Your humble host must be getting soft in his old age, because I used to be known as a bit of a Drake hater but lately I’ve been oddly at peace and down with pretty much each one of his latest string of singles. Is Nice for What clearly pandering to female fans? Probably, but the song and sample are both fire so I can’t complain.

Cam’ron – Harlem Streets

From my post earlier this month…

With the passing of Steven Boscho earlier this week I kept hearing the ‘Hill Street Blues’ theme song on the news radio that I listen to for traffic info etc. in the car and I kept thinking to myself damn this song is so smooth, where have I heard it before? It’s sampled in one of the all-time great (and dare I say underrated?) Killa Cam songs, ‘Harlem Streets’. I love when the saxophone (or trumpet?) kicks in. We need more rap songs over these type of samples like Cam sampling Hill Street Blues or Peezy (and others) sampling Herb Alpert’s ‘Making Love in the Rain’. I loved the classic Heatmakers sound/beats that the Dips usually rapped over but they sounded so dope over these more jazz/soul-infused samples too. So many Cam quotables here…

“And I get it cheaper, I cop bricks like sneakers, and if the cops come I just hit amnesia, but i give them an earful, it’s tearful, told my mom I hustle and she said be careful.”

Including perhaps, gun to my head, my favorite Cam sequence of all time…

“And when I rap it ain’t no punchlines. I be on the highway, dirty, crunch time. No timeouts homeboy, just one time, if they find that stash box just one time? Shit, they put the dogs in the trunk, side of the road, holding you up, cold as a fuck, they want that button, lunge it and push it, as soon as they lunge it and push it, I run in the bushes. That’s how I play mine, jump over the grapevine, take my chances one on one with the canines, steel and a clip for anyone squealing their lips, fuck y’all if y’all ain’t feeling the Dips.”

Got me feeling all nostalgic right now. KILLA!

Bonus

Not really a song per se but to celebrate Meek being free I’m also throwing in this clip by the Hoodies celebrating the news with this great freestyle snapping over the ‘Monster’ beat

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bh_yE_uAwwh/?hl=en&taken-by=thehoodies_

Top 10 Songs February 2018

01 Thursday Mar 2018

Posted by pinkchardonnay in Monthly Top 10, Uncategorized

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6ix N9ne, Benny the Butcher, BlocBoy JB, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Kodak Black, Moneybagg Yo, Nipsey Hussle, SOB X RBE, Top Dolla 60

It’s been a wild month over here, and this month’s top 10 will reflect that. I went down a lot of different wormholes whether it was a Tupac nostalgia trip brought on by my birthday and feeling old, to randomly bumping a lot of 80s R&B which rarely happens either, to a journey through the new Memphis to exploring a bunch of stuff I missed from the Griselda label and ultimately checking out a bevy of quality new releases from Nipsey Hussle, Kodak, Ralo, 6ix 9ine, and more. Hey any month that you can headbang to 6ix 9ine and slow dance to New Edition in the same month is a month worth living if you ask me. So here’s my February top 10, we’re a day late but let’s do it…

Benny the Butcher – Fat Dom

Benny’s got me feeling like throwing on a Buffalo Sabers jersey (the red and black one with the evil-looking buffalo, of course) with all this fire he’s releasing. I posted about Benny last week after seeing a really nice freestyle from him and this song ‘Fat Dom’ is my favorite song from his ‘Butcher on Steroids’ tape with Green Lantern that came out in November. Between Green Lantern shouting out his name and ‘Invasion’ over the tracks, to the flashy coke raps and the next-level lyricism, this tape (and song) really brought me back to another time and place, like the mid-2000s Dipset golden age and that is a very good thing in my opinion. Benny is like an Upstate NY, modern-day Diplomat. I’m going to feel like an idiot, but a grateful idiot, when one of my loyal readers points out to me what this beat is from since I know I’ve heard it before and it’s probably something obvious but I just can’t remember what it’s from, but in any case Benny kills it. This tape was great, and his project that just came out about a week or so ago entitled ‘Stabbed & Shot’ with his fellow Upstater 38 Spesh was really good as well (and features one track with Benny & 38 trading bars with Styles P and Jadakiss in typical Styles and Kiss fashion)

6ix 9ine ft. Tory Lanez, Young Thug

Much to the chagrin of rainbow-grill haters from coast to coast, the 6ix 9ine debut album (mixtape?) finally came and while it was short, it was economical in that it packed a lot of bangers into just under a half hour. Everyone already knew Kooda, Gummo and Keke which were amongst the best songs on it, but perhaps the best of all of them was a new song called Rondo. Rondo features a trio of collaborators in 6ix9ine, Tory Lanez, and Young Thug that is as unexpected as it is potent. I feel like Young Thug basically was the 6ix 9ine of a few years ago, with people up in arms about him wearing a dress and having a nose ring so it’s perhaps only right that these two kindred but very different spirits came together to bring some serious heat. I’m usually not really down with Tory Lanez but I have to admit his vocals on the chorus here were sick and really brought the whole song together. Like most of 6ix 9ine’s other big hits so far, especially Keke, really the only problem with ‘Rondo’ is that it’s way too short for such a dope song especially when you have 3 different guys of this caliber on it. Whether you love 6ix 9ine or hate him, or fall somewhere in between, I challenge you to bump Rondo at top volume and not get amped up about it.

Nipsey Hussle – Grinding All My Life

I actually posted this song in my top 10 a while back probably in September or October, but after appearing on Nipsey’s highly-anticipated ‘Victory Lap’ it’s back in this month’s 10. Nipsey was talking about Victory Lap for literally about a year and a half and it finally came out for All-Star weekend in Los Angeles. There were a lot of dope tracks on it and I have to say, I don’t think I’ve seen an album get this much love/anticipation both from the internet whether it was blogs, social media, or forums AND people bumping it outside in real life in quite a while, so good for Nip. There were a lot of good songs on it and it’s a nice, cohesive album where he really hammers home his vision of entrepeneurship and empowerment, but Grinding All My Life is still my favorite after all this time. I like his flow and bars better in the first half of the song than in the second, but either way it’s a banger.

“Don’t know a nigga like myself. I say self-made meaning I designed myself. County jail fade you could pull my file yourself. Spot raid, swallowed rocks I’m getting high myself.”

“Damn right I like the life I built, I’m from West side 60s, shit I might got killed, standing so tall they think I might got stilts. Legendary baller like Mike like Wilt, ’96 Impala Thug Life on wheels. Up against the wall, squabble at Fox Hills. Like a motherfucking boss ask me how I feel, successful street niggas touching their first mill.”

“Look I’m married to this game, that’s who I made my wife. She said I’d die alone I told that bitch she probably right. One thing that’s for sure, I’m not a stranger to this life, got a safe that’s full of Franklins and a shoulder full of stripes.

Nipsey Hussle ft. Kendrick Lamar – Dedication

Another highlight from Victory Lap. I’m usually not crazy about Kendrick but this song was incredible and it was cool to see him and Nipsey on a song together. Nice beat, great verses from two of the biggest modern-day LA/West Coast rappers, and furthermore it’s actually a pretty uplifting/positive song. Favorite line… Nipsey – “This ain’t entertainment. This for niggas on the slave ship. These songs are the spirituals that I swam against the waves with; made it to the shore to their amazement.” That line is so real it legitimately sent a chill down this old jaded blogger’s spine.

Moneybagg Yo – Black Heart

Wrote about this one earlier this month during my audio trip through Memphis…

The intro to Moneybagg Yo’s new project ‘2 Heartless’ goes hard as a mother. It’s under a minute and a half long but it packs quite a punch. I wish it was a full-length 3 or so minute song because it ends right as he’s really heating up. The beat is harsh and I’m always down with rappers starting mixtapes with clips about themselves/their crimes/shootings etc. from the radio/news. I’m also down with Moneybagg including a clip of a guy yelling ‘Man, fuck Moneybagg!’ on his own tape. “Niggas turned hippie, they want peace, hit ’em with the iron get ’em creased, hottest nigga moving through these streets, all in my shows with the heat, dealt with more crosses than a priest, I ain’t let it break me with the lease.” The ‘niggas turned hippie they want peace, hit ’em with the iron get em creased’ is one of my favorite rhymes in a while it’s so simple but so effective. The hippie line has me picturing Moneybagg Yo’s opps in Memphis walking around with bell bottoms and tie-dyed shirts and something about hit ’em with the iron get ’em creased just sounds so brutal. I love the way he says ‘iron’ with that Tennessee drawl; ‘eearun‘.

Blocboy JB ft. Drake – Look Alive

From original article…

As I predicted a couple of weeks ago, Drake wasn’t down at the FedEx Forum taking in a Grizzlies game with Blocboy JB because he wanted to take in Mario Chalmers NBA return or to see one half of the Harrison twins. Drake knows exactly what he’s doing – while it may look like he’s trying to help out a less famous up and coming artist, he actually needs Blocboy more than Blocboy needs him – he sees the hype Blocboy JB is getting and the love he’s getting on the streets, so he jumps on a song with him and rides the wave with him. I’m not even hating on it it’s actually a great business strategy and as much as I’m not usually a big fan of Drake as a rapper I will say he does have a great ear/eye for talent in terms of a lot of the guys he’s co-signed over the years and would make a great A&R.

I’m down with the Jordan jumpsuit Drake is rocking in the video; I’d be in full favor of clothes like that making a return instead of the women’s jeans and designer man-purses that a lot of rappers are sporting today. Drake’s dance actually isn’t bad in this video, but it’s no surprise that he’s upstaged by Blocboy, the guy who has all kinds of college and pro teams copying his dance from Shoot. And speaking of the fashion in this video, anyone of you readers out there know what the cargo pants w the orange stripe on the side that Blocboy is sporting are? Those are pretty fresh. P.S. I think he’s also wearing a Green Day ‘American Idiot’ shirt?

The ‘blow you like a flute’ line was kiiiiind of suspect but hey for the guy that made ‘Rover’ and ‘Shoot’ we’ll let it slide, Blocboy has earned himself a few slip-ups. He gets back into more typical excellent Blocboy form shortly after with this dope line – ‘Came a long way from sitting in the nosebleeds. Now a nigga on the floor talking to the ath-letes, man I’m so close to the game that I could steal the stat sheet.”

Drizzy is feeling grapey after his Memphis Vacation and who can blame him?

6ix 9ine – Billy

‘Billy’ is just so, so aggressive. It’s almost more of a hardcore song than a rap song. Apparently the video shoot for this got shut down in NYC today. I had thought there was a clip or version of this with Cuban Doll in it but I guess it didn’t make it to the album? I don’t know who is giving the speech in the beginning but it definitley sets the tone for the rest of the tape. A lot of high school kids are going to get punched in the face at parties with this song on in the background. I kind of want to make a mixtape with this, Kooda, and Knuck if You Buck just on a continuous loop.

Top Dolla – Set Trippin (C Mix)

Wrote about this one the other day…

Even 6ix 9ine’s harshest critics have to indirectly give him credit for at least getting Casanova to make ‘Set Trippin,’ one of the unfriendliest songs out of NYC in a long time, which then indirectly caused a wave of Set Trippin remixes all over the city and beyond, my favorite of which may honestly be this OG ‘Top Dolla’ trying his hand at it. I don’t know much about him and he only has a couple of songs over the last few years but I’ll take him over half the rappers out here these days, the man has charisma and stage presence.

I love the skit at the beginning. To summarize; Top Dolla and his boys are cooling out on the block when an erstwhile Blood is unlucky enough to stumble across their path. Top Dolla disappointedly asks him when/why he turned Blood and chides him for turning Blood in jail when he didn’t even have a long bid. Top Dolla’s henchman also takes his flag out of his pocket for wearing it on the wrong side. But then ultimately in a surprise twist, Top Dolla acts fairly magnanimously and decides to spare him because they grew up on the same block, their moms know each other, and he basically watched him grow up. Knowing he’s no match for him, he lets him cross the street and leaves it to the Damus down the block to deal with him.

The navy blue and gold Pelle Pelle jacket he’s rocking looks sick and goes well with his standard Yankees hat, always a timeless classic. There are a lot of dope clothing choices in this video amongst his crew, whether it’s his boy in the Seattle Mariners pullover from the skit, or the guy with the New York Islanders jersey. Perhaps best of all is the rarely seen Minnesota Wild hoodie.

I like the raw aggression/energy and just sheer gravity Top Dolla brings to his version of the song, you just feel an added weight with some of the lines since you know he’s lived what he’s rapping here in his unique take on the song. He mainly talks about being in the minority as a Crip at Rikers Island and the NY State prison system, and standing tall whereas many other Crips were afraid to claim in jail since they were vastly outnumbered.

I love his spin on the chorus; ‘Throw your hood up, nigga bang, on Rikers Island a lot of niggas they was scared to claim, Neighborhood nigga that’s the gang.’

‘Young top Dolla a known threat; 18 Years, Neighborhood, only been one set. They tuckin from the streets to the jail, nigga I bang mine, the Six is like kids around tax time, I claim mine. What I hate is tuck and tell, knowing well, they get in a spot with some Crips, they claimin’ other jails.’

‘Some niggas pick and choose when they rep, we gotta fix that, if you reppin over there adn not over here, you gettin’ bitch slapped…on Rikers I was making it known, they can’t forget that, and up north, I was keeping it funky like where the Rips at?’

SOB X RBE – God

Amazing song from SOB X RBE. Only caught this at the very end of the month but this is so good. ‘God’ is off their new album Gangin, which is apparently being called a debut album – I thought that last year’s self-titled one was their debut album but I guess that was a mixtape. Last year’s album/mixtape was one of the best projects of the year; I have to really get into the rest of this album and listen to it in full while I have time but so far it sounds great. SOB X RBE is definitley one of the top groups in the game these days and individually these guys all have some great solo stuff too. After being on the Black Panther soundtrack I’m sure they’ll blow up even more and they certainly deserve to. It’s too early to say because this was a last-minute change right before I put this article up but so far I’d go as far as to say ‘God’ is one of my favorite songs from the SOB X RBE camp so far to date.

Kodak Black – Why You Always Gotta Go

The new Kodak Black album was kind of hit or miss to me but when you really try to try some new things and push the envelope some things are going to miss so I can’t fault Kodak for that. I almost feel like this new album HBK was him going avant-garde. I picked ‘Why You Always Gotta Go’ as my top song from it and my 10th song for the month after a couple of listens of the album but really it was a close choice between this and the couple of other songs I liked from HBK, namely Acting Wierd, Laudy, Running Outta Love and When Vultures Cry. I loved the ‘I made my first $100,000 in my Soldiers’ line.

‘Niggas Turned Hippie They Want Peace, Hit ’em with the Iron get ’em Creased’ A Couple of Memphis Quick Hitters

15 Thursday Feb 2018

Posted by pinkchardonnay in South

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BlocBoy JB, Drake, Key Glock, Memphis, Moneybagg Yo

Your humble host has been too dormant for the last week or so but now I’m back out here in the trenches with y’all. I’ve noticed that unintentionally, I’ve been listening to a whole bunch of releases by Memphis artists in a row over the last week or two, in between some Tupac while I was in nostalgia mode after my birthday and randomly New Edition’s ‘Gold’ greatest hits collection (I can feel my street cred instantly plummeting as I type this) so I wanted to put up a post rounding up some of my favorites from some of the new stuff going on down there with some quick-hitting thoughts on each. Between all the love Blocboy JB is getting, the new Moneybagg Yo project that just dropped, and new mixtapes from both Key Glock and Jay Fizzle, Memphis is on fire right now – they’ve got me feeling like a Memphis Grizzly right now. A hibernating Memphis grizzly, but a grizzly nonetheless.

Moneybagg Yo – Black Heart

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I Bang the C, Half a Circle

30 Tuesday Jan 2018

Posted by pinkchardonnay in South

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BlocBoy JB, Drake, Memphis, Rover, South

Blocboy JB – Rover

“Killas in the motherfucking circle… I bang the C, half a circle”. Blocboy JB has got me feeling GRAPEY with this one.

Something tells me that this is one Santa Clause that you don’t want to end up on the naughty list of.

I first heard Blocboy JB on Somanyshrimp’s end of year top 50 list with ‘Shoot’ which was a great song in its own right, and ever since then I seemingly can’t get away from him, with the dance from Shoot blowing up and now his followup Rover which is an absolute monster.

The Memphis rapper goes hard as fuck on Rover and people are already starting to go nuts about it. A recent cosign from Drake will only push this to higher heights even though it didn’t even really need it to grow into a behemoth in its own right. (I’m not a big Drake fan but I have to say, the man knows good music when he hears it and certainly knows which waves to hitch his wagon to. It looks like they also recently caught a Grizzlies game together, and the Grizzlies are absolutely terrible this year so I’m sure Drake was there more for recruitment/getting his A&R on as opposed to that he was dying to see Mario Chalmers’ NBA return tour).

The dope Tay Keith-produced beat (same guy who produced Shoot) and Blocboy’s menacing flow make this the perfect song to blast in the whip. Even if you’re just driving around in a falling apart 2007 Nissan Sentra like me, this song is the perfect cure for driving a lemon because you can still feel like you’ve got a decent amount of sauce when you pull up at the light bumping ‘Rover’.

Between Blocboy JB and Jay Fizzle, it seems like Grape Street Crip rappers from Memphis are having quite the moment in the sun right now. I also love the fact that in true Grape Street fashion JB’s EP on Spotify is called ‘The Purple M&M’ a la the similarly awesomely titled ‘The Blue M&M’ and ‘Blue M&M King Sized’ by Peewee Longway although regrettably there’s no ridiculous cartoonish purple gang-banging M&M posted up on the cover. Maybe for his next tape! The tape was good but it was short, and since this guy already has two absolute bangers in such a short time I’m definitley looking forward to hearing more.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BcgTOFelZxA/?hl=en&taken-by=blocboy_jb

Top 10 Songs June 2017

30 Friday Jun 2017

Posted by pinkchardonnay in Monthly Top 10

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2 Chainz, Adamn Killa, Ball Greezy, Cam'ron, Drake, Lil Chicken, Mari Boyz, MT, Polo Hayes, Rae Sremmurd, Travi$ Scott, YBN Kenny, Yung Dred

Whoa way too late this month since your humble host here didn’t even realize June was already just about over but better late than never, check out our top 10 songs for June 2017 with the added bonus that my tardiness and lack of awareness of time means we had more time to add in a late entrant or two at the very top.

MT ft. Lil Chicken, YBN Kenny, Mari Boyz – All Stars

For the second month in a row (last time was Creek Boys with ‘With My Team’), a previously (to me) unheard of group of youngsters comes out of the woodwork late in the month to take the #1 spot. I have to give a hearty thank you and shout out to the guy at Rap Music Hysteria here, who has emerged as one of my favorite blogs both for the new music he introduces me too but also perhaps even more importantly for writing some of the funniest blog posts I’ve ever read in my life. His recent post serving as a guide to Milwaukee rap a la a Lonely Planet for trap music was what introduced me to ‘All Stars’ and then the rest of the stuff I checked out by Lil Chicken and his cohorts. He makes a great point about the fly athletic gear bringing him back to earlier times, I was thinking the same thing, I could watch the video again and again just for the wide array of gear ranging from NBA warm ups to the requisite Milwaukee Brewers jerseys. I’m all for seeing Lil Uzi Vert walk around with a Goyard bag or traipsing around town in some Fendis or Margeilas but there’s something very refreshing about seeing the guys rocking Cavs and Raptors gear in the video that seems like it brings us back to a simpler time, like when you used to be able to get away with walking around in an oversized white t and still be acceptably stylish. Anyway on to the song itself, a lot of highlights here from the dope chorus to the agile dance moves. I’m not going to lie I’m also a sucker for the clips they splice in here and there of Lebron and other NBA titans posterizing hapless defenders. All the verses are pretty solid and have their own charisma but I’d have to go with YBN Kenny at the most charismatic and entertaining, I like his voice and love his line where he rattles off ‘Last name YBN first name Kenny, don’t want no hugs from you hoes mane I ain’t friendly’ and “Aye baby come and ride with an all star, he ain’t make the cut, cause he don’t ball hard’.

Something about this song surfacing just as NBA free agency begins just seems so right; with all these juicy rumors of all stars like Carmelo, Wade etc. joining forces with Lebron on the Cavs to try to take a shot at the Warriors.

I’m an All Star baby I don’t ride the bench!

Thanks again to Rap Music Hysteria Rap Music Hysteria!

Lil Chicken – Big Chicken P

I’m not sure what it is that I like about this quick sub 1:30 by Lil Chicken from the aforementioned ‘All Stars’ video so much but for whatever reason I’ve found myself listening to it over and over again over the past week. There’s just something nice and menacing about the stark beat and his voice/the lyrics. I have a feeling it somehow takes me back subconsciously to some old mixtape/freestyle songs from the late 2000s/early 2010s where guys would just make threats over really bleak/simple beats so a nice trip down memory lane yet again. I wish it was a little longer but I guess its brevity leaves you wanting more.

Young Thug – Do U Love Me

If it weren’t for Lil Chicken, YBN Kenny and these aforementioned Milwaukeeans Young Thug probably would have taken top spot with ‘Do U Love Me’ from his wild ‘Beautiful Thugger Girls’ album that I’m still trying to get a grip on. I wrote a previous post about ‘Do U Love Me’ here. It makes the list based on its absolutely ridiculous chorus that I couldn’t stop singing to myself for a month. Thug does bring up the important life lesson that no matter how many lustful admirers you have, what’s really important is that you love yourself. London on the Track makes such a crisp summery beat for this one too. As I said in my post on it, I think the subject matter and language precludes this one from radio play BUT in a just world it would be the perfect ‘summer song of 2017’.

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‘Niggas Turned Hippie They Want Peace, Hit ’em with the Iron get ’em Creased’ A Couple of Memphis Quick Hitters

I Bang the C, Half a Circle

Top 10 Songs June 2017