It’s only right that ALLBLACK and E-40 would finally link up; two off-kilter flowing Bay Area P’s from overlapping but different eras with their own eccentric senses of humor. Even better that these kindred spirits are spitting over this monstrous Bay beat from Sho Nuff. This beat is nasty I can’t wait to put this on full blast in the whip. Add in a verse from the always-reliable Chippass and you’ve got a perfect Tres Amigos track. ALLBLACK is one of the best out right now. You’ve got to love the fact that he’s one of the hottest names in the game but he’s still grateful on every song still humbly thanking everyone for fucking with him. For every E-40 line nowadays that makes you say, “come on E-40” he has a simple but dope line like “If I go broke I’m selling the car that I’m driving” or “If you jump ship there ain’t no getting back on my boat.” ALLBLACK’s whole verse is filthy as you’d come to expect at this point.
Vallejo youngster ShooterGang Kony has all the makings of a star – He’s got a great flow, some nice lines, he’s charismatic on camera and he’s in good company with Mozzy and Nef the Pharaoh rocking with him, but perhaps most of all, what I’m most impressed by is ShooterGang Kony’s Club America tracksuit. In fact, I’m in awe of his entire crew’s impressive collection of Liga MX Sportswear, from the aforementioned title star’s Club America ensemble (which, I may add, I couldn’t even find online to buy so he definitley went to a real tienda to grab it), to his friend’s Cruz Azul jersey, to the guy’s coat at 0:15 (not sure what team that is or even if it’s a team at all from the logo). Even Nef himself is getting in on the footy-inspired sportswear with his Kappa hoodie although unfortunately he didn’t commit to a specific Mexican top flight team like his more worldly Vallejo brethren.
On a side note, I love the setting for this video, some sort of haunted/abandoned ranch or alfalfa farm outside of Vallejo? Not to mention the slick dance moves and the cameos from Nef as well as the Mozzy chain.
“I ain’t go to college I’m a blood like a Treetop, went to one class in my bag was a knee Glock”
“You Mysterio my pockets on Bautista”
“Bitch I’m King Tut, switch lanes tell em beast up”
“Nigga, fight who? I’ma give you hella heat rocks, weed stop, always in the hood like a street knock”
The chorus is of course him stunting but it’s also a message of self-reliance and individuality. “I’m the number 1 stunna I don’t need nobody’s help, you wake up every day trying to be somebody else.” This almost sounds like it could be a Nef-style brag.
You can also never go wrong with a Chif-Fil-A mention.
I’ve been bumping Kony’s new Kony Ginobli mixtape all Labor Day weekend and since he’s fairly new to me I’ve also been going back and listening to his previous tapes March Madness and Still Kony. This is my favorite song by him so far but he has plenty of other slaps, like the Rap Music Hysteria-highlighted My City, as well and I’m sure there are plenty more to come.
On a side note, is any region having a better summer output-wise than the Bay Area/general Northern California area as a whole? Between ShooterGang Kony, Nef the Pharaoh’s new album, ALLBLACK, and even a new E-40 album, (and even though he’s from LA I almost want to throw Greedo into this mix because of the other project with Nef and all his collaborations with ALLBLACK).
Willie Joe, Benny, YL Next Up – Mo Guap Mo Problems
You wouldn’t think that attempting a remake of ‘Mo Money Mo Problems’ in late 2017 with a bunch of youngins from Cali and adding in a whole lot of auto tune would be a good idea… but it’s actually kind of fire?!?! Yhung T.O -nemesis Benny and his merry gang of DripSquad cohorts fucking kill it here (The DripSquad logo of the anthromorphic water droplet is actually pretty dope). I’ve always been a sucker for this beat and remember the original Biggie version being one of the first songs that ever caught my attention/that I liked as an earnest young elementary schooler.
I can’t lie, I’m definitely a little jelly of the guy at 0:27 that’s rocking that super clean long-sleeve Samoa rugby 7’s pullover.
Benny brings the heat on the melodic hook which goes surprisingly well with the Mo Money Mo Problems beat; “Blue paint on the new drop, too hot Gucci’d down to the tube socks, 19 young nigga with a bank roll, mo money ain’t a problem with a draco”. Props to Benny for making the motion of fanning himself off when he says ‘too hot’.
I like how Willie Joe changes the ‘no info for the DEA’ from the OG version to just ‘no info for the DA.’ “N-O, S-O nigga, D-A, H20 no info for the DA, Yanni got the draco got you running like a relay, bruh locked up his BM had us on 3-way. It’s Joey though, started from the bottom like we OVO, somebody sleeping in the bed it ain’t Nokio, rappers doing all this lying like Pinocchio, I’m a fly nigga rocking Bape straight from Tokyo.” (Side note – first time I heard Willie Joe was on ‘Top Ramen‘ this time last year which had a great hook from Lazy Boy). I’ like how DripSquad henchman YL Next Up just keeps snapping harder and harder as his short verse goes on. (Side side note – most of these same guys Willie Joe, YL Next Up etc. are in another dope song ‘Cruisin’ that Corolla Club highlighted in his monthly top 10, which also features another pretty sick Samoa rugby jersey).
The white dude with the dreads and the gnarly beard isn’t even named in the title of the video but through EXTENSIVE research (me lazily clicking around on Youtube while I’m supposed to be working) I believe his name is ‘Stony Bobby’ and he seems to be a DripSquad affiliate. (Is Stony Bobby the Bay Area’s answer to Kid Rock?) (Edit/Update: After more Youtubing, it’s also possible that the white dude with dreads and the black dude with dreads are called YL Next Up as a group, and Stony Bobby is someone else entirely?! Very mysterious). What he lacks in shaving skills he certainly more than makes up for in the sheer energy he brings to the track and his general over the top theatrics he uses to act out what he’s saying. Come on, look at the look on his face at 2:47 or the exaggerated running motion at 2:56; how could you not love this guy? And like he says, he’s just trying to push that Porsche Panamera with the leather, and who can begrudge him of that?
There are few greater pleasures in life than two of your favorite up and coming rappers unexpectedly coming together to link up for a new track (OK, I can think of a few, but you know what I mean). OMB Peezy has quietly become arguably the king of the blogosphere this year and Yhung T.O has been making plenty of noise of his own both as a part of SOB X RBE and increasingly as a solo artist. His solo debut On My Momma from May was a pretty dope project. Sometimes when two artists you like link up for a track the end result doesn’t live up to the sum of its parts, but ‘Try Sumthin’ is an exception as it’s definitely a slap.
A couple of notes and thoughts on this one…
The ‘Sick Wid It Records’ chain with the pig greedily eating money out of a trough is one of the coldest chains in the rap game (also as a side note, how much momentum does Sick Wid It have right now, with OMB Peezy AND Nef the Pharaoh? They’re like the rap game Golden State Warriors with E40 in the background as like a wizened player-coach.)
The abandoned gas station setting for the video looks so dystopian and sick
The bouncy, melodic beat for this one slaps so hard
Alright Peezy I see you in those Jordan 13’s
I love the red and gold box Chevy (Wow we’re only 19 seconds into the video and already 5 things that I liked)
I have no idea what that sweatshirt with the cat on it that Yhung T.O is wearing is but I’m kind of feeling it (This site is really starting to inadvertently feel like a rap fashion blog these days!)
OMB Peezy – “F*ck all of that typing/twitter beefing b*tch I’m pulling up, playa sh*t, eating steak and shrimp it got me full as f*ck” hell yeah
I like the way Yhung T.O’s voice/flow kind of changes the vibe a bit, his voice goes well with the beat
Yhung T.O – “Ain’t no sympathy for no opps nigga, glock .23 with air holes for a hot nigga” this song is hard af
Cameo from Da Boii from SOB X RBE!
These guys just keep getting better and better and are already two of the best artists out right now
Is it just me or is this one of the nicest beats ever? Maybe it’s just the hot weather and the fact that it’s been a long work week but it has me lulled into such a peaceful and tranquil haze. No idea what the sample is from, almost has like an 80s radio vibe to it but it sounds oddly familiar but still new.
Yhung T.O is part of Vallejo, California’s SOB X RBE, which has broken out over the past year with songs like ‘Lane Changing’ and ‘Calvin Cambridge’. There are so many guys in SOB X RBE that I almost can’t keep track of them all but I love the fact that after their successful debut album they’re now also all going out on their own now and branching out/multiplying, releasing their own solo material and featuring on other people’s songs solo etc. For example, Slimmy B’s verse on fellow Vallejo rapper Nef the Pharaoh’s bombastic ‘Bling Blaow’ or DaBoii’s ‘Humble’ (Props to The Martorialist for introducing me to both those songs). I also really liked Lul G’s ‘Shots Yo Way’. ‘Love the Way’ appears on Yhung T.O’s debut mixtape ‘On My Momma’ which came out 2 weeks ago. On My Momma is a really strong mixtape especially as a debut from such a young artist doing his first solo project, emerging from a group which is still fairly new in and of itself. You can check out the whole mixtape here on Datpiff
PINK CHARDONNAY 