Max Bell is Bishop Fittipaldi.
Muscle Car Chronicles, The Stoned Immaculate, Cigarette Boats. Spitta Andretti has been on his Max Julien in 2012. And now, as Priest Andretti, Curren$y, a.k.a. The Stoned Cinephile (residuals), has cast himself as himself in his second best offering this year.
While Cigarette Boats is Curren$y’s best tape this year and left us all keyed up and coked out on its 80s Miami Scarface aesthetic, Priest Andretti takes its inspiration,and audio clips, from Ron O’neal’s character, Priest, in the seminal Blaxploitation flick Super Fly (1972).
Before we go any further, let me reiterate that this is a Curren$y tape. Redundant? Yes. You already knew that this was a Curren$y joint. But that’s my point—the form mirrors the content. Much of Curren$y’s output is redundant: Weed. Women. Whips. Clothes. Updating videogame rosters. Rozay and a gallon of Chik-fil-A Lemonade— “Jet Life is simple, we got it.” It’s the “same old shit [he’s] been talking.” The simplicity hasn’t changed. But what has changed is Curren$y’s willingness to acknowledge his limitations. With Priest Andretti, the ever-confessional Andretti has finally let his guard all the way down, or at least as far he’ll ever let it go. His self-awareness is on full display. He knows that we know that he knows he’s been talking the same old shit. And so it’s nice that he finally let’s us know. I think.
Anyway, as with all of Spitta’s audio dope, the beats are of the utmost importance. He knows this and picks his beats accordingly. Nearly all fourteen tracks hit the mark with respect to finding a solid sonic counterpoint to Curren$y’s lackadaisical and telegraphic bars. A tracklist with producer credits has yet to surface, but as far as standouts go, “Contacts,” “Payroll” “Cleopatra Zones,” “Talk My Shit,” and “Stainless” are worth checking out first.
The features on the tape (Trademark, Cornerboy P, Fiend, King Chip, Noreaga, Styles P, and Young Roddy), like most Curren$y features, are either hit or miss. The ones that work provide a nice change of pace and the ones that don’t detract from Spitta’s carefully crafted aesthetic. Lyrically, it’s hard to say which track is the standout. I often don’t hear Curren$y’s best bars until the fifth or sixth listen. I’m on my fourth, so forgive me. The tape just dropped a few days ago.
But I will say that “Stainless” is a mother and “Cleopatra Zones” ain’t weak either. Unfortunately, one of my favorite tracks, “Light Snax,” which is sure to be one of my new ‘guilty pleasure’ jams, suffers from poor audio quality. But even poor audio doesn’t hurt Spitta going in over the Shaq and Biggie classic—Shaq has a few jams worth the space on your hard drive—“Can’t Stop the Reign,” all that much.
You take what you want from a Spitta tape. They’re always a smooth ride offering good wholesome advice for living. The guy always knows how to play his roll get his credit at the end of the movie.
