A Quick Squizz At Recent Rap and R&B
Just when I was starting to think 'gee it was all happening earlier this year in the rap, ratchet, trap and R&B zones, but what's happened?' I was going back to hardcore, jungle and speed garage etc. (Reynolds has more on
breakbeat garage here, loving that
Ruff Da Menace track
2 F In Ruff (So What)). Then a bunch of new releases appear! Mostly free mixtapes but some albums too.
Now this is something to get excited about. Houston's
Beatking, creator of 2014's best mixtape
Gangsta Stripper Music 2, teams up with
Three Six Mafia's
Gangsta Boo for
Underground Cassette Tape Music. Who would have expected this collaboration?
Gangsta Boo &
Skinny Pimp did feature on
Gangsta Stripper Music 2 though.
Gangsta Boo along with
The Scarecrow aka
Lord Infamous were my favourite
666 Mafia rappers. Female rapping really suited that 90s Memphis style. It's funny because
Beatking is one of the few rappers who sonically doesn't owe an obvious debt to
Triple Six Mafia like so many current artists do. This is like
Beatking goes on a 90s Memphis ghostride with
Boo as his guide ie. this is some creepin shit. It's more
Boo's game this one. Beatking's rave-esque Club Godzilla side is toned down slightly here but it shows he's versatile and willing to experiment.
Gangsta Boo is in fine form here and hey I'm a sucker for anything reminiscent of the Memphis rap underground from the mid 90s.
Next is
Ain't Nothin Bigger Than The B. King Kev turns up with
Bread Winner Kane on this collaborative effort.
Kevin Gates plays the sidekick to Kane on this mixtape which is weird and a bit wrong as he's the King. It's a bit like
Elvis playing sidekick to
Barry Mannilow. I don't think Kane is Kev's heir but there's plenty of kicks here although this tape is long and I mean bloody long like a
Swans album. I was thinkin gee this tune
MYB is great and a little familiar and it turns out it's from Kev's very own classic
Stranger Than Fiction from last year. I don't really understand how mixtapes work, like how do they get paid, why are old songs reused? Who are these hood rich people? etc. Perhaps we could all edit this one down by about half.
Tinashe's album proper has dropped (what I'm sayin that now?!) after last year's mixtape
Black Water.
Aquarius contains the choice hit single
2 On. The thing is there aren't any other
DJ Mustard productions here which was initially disappointing but I'm gettin used to it now. We've got some luscious tunes on this album and some that stray a little too close to the overtly but slightly bland pop side. She's at her best when it's post-millennial R&B, better than
Beyonce and almost up there with
Cassie. Tinashe's still at street level and is givin us the real edge that we want on
All Hands On Deck which is v Mustardy ratchet. On one tune it sounds like
Dave Gilmore shows up doing an absurd guitar solo(?).
Rome Fortune's back. He has the best album/mixtape covers in the game and this cover is probably his best so far. I'm totally lovin that beard too. For this mixtape he takes an opposite approach to his previous tape Beautiful Pimp 2 where he used only one producer, Cito, for it's entire 11 trax. On Small World he's got every man and his dog on production duties including Fout Tet(?). It's a testament to Rome's vision that this all hangs together so well and might even be as good as Beautiful Pimp II. A metal riff shows up on one tune and strangely doesn't seem that out of place. The pace has picked up a notch or two on this tape. There's even a song, ie. with singing not just rapping, Friends Maybe, which is a collaborative jam with I Love Makonnen. Rome Fortune is Atlanta's most intergalactically smooth dude, still doin his own thing, you know, haunted, intimate and whispered raps combined with trippy future hip hop.
*Haven't checked out the new ones for Gunplay, Lil B(?), Rich Gang, Key! & FKI, Que & Mike Fresh, The Church or Billy Idol yet. They all came at once! Well maybe I wasn't paying attention.
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