Deen wrote this on Donnie’s roof.
This is a bit uncomfortable. For me at least. Why you ask? Well, this is the first Rawse single in a looooooooong time that I’ve liked. I mean that and note that I said “single,” not song – I’m not as delusional as he is. I can honestly state that every Rawse single I’ve heard since “9 Piece” has struck me as thoroughly unimpressive. I don’t mean to re-hash stale slander, but for context’s sake, I’ll write up a quick list of his last few efforts and state my issue(s) with said songs:
“9 Piece” – I liked this shit and its adorably [ll] dumb hook
“You The Boss (feat Nicki Minaj)” – Remember this damb squib? What a waste of a single. If he’s being honest, Rawse would admit to being kinda pleased he had an excuse to abandon promo for this mess.
“I Love My Bitches”- Folks seemed to like the Just Blaze production on this. I didn’t even like that. I likes the bitches though.
“Stay Schemin (feat Drake & French Montana)” – Okay. This kinda worked. BUT, it was off Rich Forever and struck me as an accidental single off a mixtape. Besides, the best two things about it were Drake’s verse and French inventing “fanute.”
“So Sophisticated (feat Meek Mill” – No one cared, Meek Mill yelled. #Bars.
“Touch N You (feat Usher) “- Gross.
“Diced Pineapples” – Thanks for the “health” advice bro, but I don’t take any advice from fat people. Especially when it’s preceded by dirty African psuedo-poetry. Oh and gross.
“Hold Me Back” – This shit managed the twin feats of ripping off two songs at the same damn time (“BMF”/’Actin Up”) and you idiots still gave it country. SMH.
And that’s just off the top. I know I’m forgetting a bunch of forgettable ass “BMF” knock offs and rightly so. If he couldn’t bother to make some new sounding shit, then I should bother wasting the memory.
I’d basically resigned myself to the fact that I’d never dig a Rawse single again. That’s no big tragedy for me (or anyone else – I’ve noticed that most of you are idiots that way – more some other day), since I don’t consider myself a fan, but Rawse is still kinda unavoidable these days so I still pay him attention. For lack of a better explanation, paying attention to these things is my “job” – whether I like the shit or not.
So it’s with great pleasure that I listen to “Box Chevy.” To be fair, it isn’t spectacular by any measure. Rawse ain’t saying nuthin new and he’s had better vocal performances. He’s still inserting major whoppers into his verses and this is easily one of his weaker hooks (if you can even call it that) in ages.
Nevertheless, “Box Chevy” works for those same reasons and more. For the first time in a minute, he doesn’t sound as if he’s trying to force out another BMF facsimile (THANK YOU JESUS and GANGSTA DISCIPLES? I guess those threats worked in more ways than one) and while the D-Rich production still falls within the (forgive me) trap-rap oeuvre, it just feels structurally different to this listener. Trust me, this is important. Between the offset/almost random triple-snares and alternating whiny synths, I’d tenuously suggest that this shit almost has more in common with a G-Funk song (obviously much less melodic) than any of the fifty-leven thousand BMF knockoffs Rawse has reheated for the masses over the last 2 years in lieu of a dope “street single.”
Even the Lean on Me dialogue is a nice, if unnecessary touch. Like you, I could listen to Morgan Freeman (or is it Bill Russell – white people, SMH) talk about crack forever. I suppose Rawse is banking on us feeling the same way about his music. I can’t promise him that since he hasn’t even come close to earning it, but I appreciate this quite a bit…
Download:
