Tag Archives: Mozzy

Top Songs May 2020

26 Tuesday May 2020

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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”

 

My Brother’s Brother Just Paroled, Family Reunion

14 Thursday May 2020

Posted by in Bay Area, Sacramento

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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.”

Top Songs January 2020

02 Sunday Feb 2020

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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.

It Gets Chilly in the Trenches, I Need a Mozzy Hoodie

02 Thursday Jan 2020

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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.”

A Couple of Stray Musings on Lavish D/King Lavish D/CML Lavish D

30 Tuesday Apr 2019

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As a long-ago Lavish D convert I wanted to take the opportunity of the new Lav/Philthy Rich mixtape and this heightening Philthy/Mozzy feud to post a few loose thoughts on King Lav that have been on my mind…

  • If I could get access to a time machine one of my highest priorities would be to go back in time to like 2016-2017 to the height of the ‘One Mob’ vs Lav beef and blow a few Bay Area rap fans’ minds by showing them this Lav/Philthy collaboration album from the future and then hop back in the time machine and leave back for the future without explaining the whole context of what led to it
  • My favorite aspect of the Mozzy/Philthy beef is the fact that Messy Marv is certainly the centerpiece of the beef – Philthy is mad that Mozzy linked up with Messy – so he then linked up Mozzy’s archenemy Lav – who featured Messy himself on the remix for arguably his biggest song (Speak My Mind/What Else remix).
  • Lav may be THE most elusive artist to conveniently find the complete discography of in all of rap, which is saying something  – I had been on a bit of a Lav kick after not listening to him in a while after seeing his cameo in the San Quinn video and I found albums/mixtapes by him on Spotify listed under Lavish D, King Lavish D, CML Lavish D, and even just CML. Given the all-over the place nature of his catalogue I might need to compile a top 10 Lav songs here in the future.
  • I guess Lav is signed to Cash Money or Cash Money West now so congrats to him on that. I wonder if that means we’ll get a Lav/Blueface collaboration some time soon.
  • Sadly I have to admit I was super hyped when I saw that this project was out but unfortunately even though I am a fan of both, I didn’t feel like any specific track really jumped out at me as a highlight and wasn’t really as good as both of their recent solo work. (I just posted the title track for this article since it’s the title track and has a new video).  That being said I’ll give it another listen and maybe that will change over time. But I felt like a lot of tracks on here were just remixes thrown together of their previous songs etc. Maybe we can get a second collaboration from them because I’m definitley still intrigued by the idea even if the execution didn’t live up to it in this case.
  • I wonder where out of town allies like Yung Cat and A-Wax will line up in this whole battle because on the one hand probably the only thing that united them on tracks like Diamonds Dancing was obviously their mutual dislike of Mozzy but on the other hand I would have to imagine none of them were like wildly in favor of Philthy either.

In all seriousness though let’s hope that this Philthy/Mozzy beef stays on wax and no one gets hurt over it

P.S. here’s what I wrote at the time after I first checked out Lav and posted about it as a young blogger still trying to come up in the blog game, not as bad as I thought…

“As a Mozzy fan I almost felt a bit sneaky and slimey deciding to check out Lavish D’s last couple of mixtapes but much like a cheating spouse eventually the curisoity and temptation got the better of me and I decided to delve into it. He has some pretty good songs and my favorite of all of them was last year’s ‘Iraq’…You’ve also got to tip your hat to any video where the actual rapper isn’t in the video because he’s behind bars so everyone is wearing shirts saying ‘Free Cash Money Lavish’ on them. After listening to a couple of mixtapes I would say that Mozzy has a bit more star power than Lavish D but Lavish D certainly isn’t just a neighborhood rapper looking to get famous by dissing Mozzy, he has a bit of star power and quite a few good songs in his own right. My other favorite by him so far is ‘Speak My Mind‘. Now that he is free I’m going to keep an eye out for his new material as it comes out.”

Top Songs October 2018

07 Wednesday Nov 2018

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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 Boy Big 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.

42 Dugg, Peezy, EWM Kdoe, Bagboy Mel, Cash Kidd, EWM Buck – STFU

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.

Top 10 Songs April 2018

04 Friday May 2018

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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…

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At least I did it big before i left my family

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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 September 2017

24 Sunday Sep 2017

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Berner & Young Dolph ft. Ampichino – Win Big

Big Bern stays winning on here as this blog’s unexpected champion of 2017 with my top song for September ‘Win Big.’ Whether it was Berner snubbing Yeezys in the first verse or a Trump reference from Ampichino that was as unexpected as it was edgy, or the heavenly beat, Win Big just stormed its way to the trophy. I wrote previously –

“This song has me feeling like me, Berner, Dolph, and Amp just won a big, hard-fought battle in an enemy city and we’re now realizing it’s over and it was costly, but we gave it our all, we won, and we’re all still here and we’re all good. We’re taking our masks/helmets/visors off and putting our guns down and we’re just triumphantly looking around and surveying the carnage and taking it all in, looking at each other and giving a knowing nod to our brothers in arms. Or we just won a championship and Berner hit the winning 3 at the buzzer against all odds and now we’re all just basking in the glow of knowing we achieved glory.

I was already singing the praises of Berner & Dolph’s collaboration project ‘Tracking Numbers’ because ‘Knuckles’, the first track they leaked from it, was already easily one of my favorite songs of the year. Little did I know that by the time this 8 track mixtape was over that another song from it would be right up there with Knuckles as one of my favorite songs, and beats, of the year. The beat for this one is so triumphant and honest and perfectly captures the ‘Win Big’ mantra. I have to find out who came up with this beat. Berner is like Jameis Winston right now; he’s been around for a couple of seasons but now he’s entering his prime and ready to take the league by storm.”

Lil B – Bad MF

If it wasn’t for Berner hogging the spotlight, Lil B very well could have had the top song for September with not only Bad MF, but Berkley, off his new Black Ken album.

“You can’t see me, even with glasses. West Coast motherf*cker and I’m smashin’. I don’t care if you play this on the radio, ’cause they love me from Oakland to Fillmoe.

Yeah I’m from the ghetto, where motherf*ckers will change your whole schedule. You can meet me at the sideshow, I’m a rap star b*tch I don’t drive slow!”

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Top 10 Songs August 2017

22 Tuesday Aug 2017

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August was probably the best month of new music in a long time for your humble host, with new projects out by everyone from Kodak Black to Peewee Longway to Berner, and probably two of my favorite songs of the year so far, ‘4 Minutes All Me’ by OMB Shawniebo and Berner’s new joint ‘Knuckles’ with Young Dolph and Gucci Mane. Perhaps most importantly of all we got news of what I expect to be the holy grail in a long list of Berner collaboration albums, his project with Young Dolph, which should be out at the end of this month. Here are the top 10 songs for an unexpectedly great month.

OMB Shawniebo – 4 Minutes All Me

OMB Shawniebo comes out with an early contender for song of the year on here. See previous post on 4 Minutes All Me here. You can never go wrong with this type of combination of wolf masks, baby blue Gap sweatshirts, luscious beats, and 4 minutes of just obliterating one of the tastiest beats in recent memory.

Berner ft. Young Dolph, Gucci Mane – Knuckles

Ever the savvy businessman, Berner teased the release of Tracking Numbers with Young Dolph by serving up Knuckles, also featuring Gucci Mane, as a tasty appetizer for it. In almost any other month, when I didn’t first hear ‘4 Minutes All Me’, the unexpected duo of Bern and Dolph would have taken home the crown for top song of August. As In any case, I have a feeling that this will clock in in my top handful of songs for the year and I’m looking forward to Tracking Numbers at the end of the month. As I said at the time… 

“According to Dirty Glove Bastard, the upcoming project with Young Dolph, entitled ‘Tracking Numbers,’ will have features from Gucci Mane, Peewee Longway, OJ Da Juiceman, Juicy J, Philthy Rich, and more. I can’t wait to hear the one with Project Pat. I loved DGB’s tepid/noncommital reaction to news of the Berner/Dolph project – “Berner & Young Dolph were probably the last 2 people you’d expect to collab for an entire project, but here we are.” You’ve got to love the ‘But here we are’ as the way to end your thoughts on something that you’re just not sure what to make of. Also, are the ‘Tracking Numbers’ referred to in the title referring to shipments from the Cookies clothing line that this hard-working fashion entrepeneur is senidng out to his customers, or to ‘cookies’ of a more illicit nature? Only time will tell when the album comes out.

I was excited enough just to see an unexpected collaboration between these 3, but the beat is absolutely delicious and takes this song to a whole different level. I’m curious who made it and what the sample is from. It has me feeling like I’m at a roller rink in the 70s with Berner, Dolph and the crew just casually skating around, smoking some cookie, chatting up the roller girls.

I loved Big Bern’s opening salvo “No handouts, I got here with nothing. The bezel and band on my wrist keep busting. I got birds from the Asians, guns from the Russians, VVVS’s on my chain keep dancing all custom” BUT the part of his verse that put it over the top for me and really spoke to me, as a big introvert, was Berner’s bold declaration “Fuck the club, dog. I’d rather stay in. I’ve got stacks to count, plus this batch just came in.” We definitely need more of that attitude in the rap world I’m all for it. I mean I don’t have many stacks to count when I stay in it’s more likely that I’m just eating takeout and watching Shark Week or Drugs Inc. but I’m feeling what he’s saying.”

Ryan Hemsworth ft. Yakki, E-40 – Hunnid

Definitely one of the happiest and sunniest songs of the year so far, this unlikely group of tres amigos certainly bring the fire on Hunnid. This is another song that in some months could have plausibly took the honor of song of the month if it wasn’t such a stacked lineup already.

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Berner Deep Cuts Vol. 2 – ‘Gone’ aka Berner Links Up with Mozzy; the Jacka

01 Tuesday Aug 2017

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You thought we were done with the Berner exploration journey over here? Nah bruh we stay on this Berner grind all summer long, can’t stop won’t stop. I’m not sure if I should thank or blame The Martorialist for inspiring me to go down this treacherous but also sometimes rewarding path. About 10 Berner albums deep, imagine my surprise and pleasure when I saw that his 2015 album ‘Harvest Season’ featured not one but two separate tracks featuring both The Jacka (RIP) and Mozzy on each, along with two other songs featuring the Jacka and one more with Mozzy. Say what you want about this affable Urban Farmer, but the man has an undeniable talent for getting great rappers to work with him and join his projects, as well as getting great verses out of them.  I didn’t even know who Mozzy was in 2015 showing that as usual, Berner was ahead of his time.

‘Gone’ has the added bonus of not only featuring the Jacka and Mozzy but also one of my favorite Nor Cal artists who I had gotten into for a while and completely forgotten about, Lil Rue, so it was good to hear him again as well. (Push It and Self Made were both in heavy rotation five or six winters ago I remember bumping them on a New Year’s Eve).

Mozzy raps a bit slower on this track and seems like he has a little bit of a different flow, and it sounds great over the triumphant, battle-ready beat. It actually might be one of my favorite two or three Mozzy verses to date, he absolutely bodies this one…

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