Jim Mora has Torii MacAdams on speed dial
Mos Def & Ski Beatz – “Sensei On The Block”
Yasiin Bey is allowed to be disinterested in rap. Yasiin Bey is allowed to make as many dissonant, unlistenable songs as he wants to, no matter how remarkably trite it is to be 41 years-old and rapping about Basquiat. Yasiin Bey is allowed to do painfully below average standup comedy in dark Dalston basements. Yasiin Bey is allowed to disown his previous work, recede into the azure-framed verdant landscape of Cape Town, and never return to Brooklyn. Yasiin Bey is allowed to do all these things. But, when songs like “Sensei On The Block” are released (without his permission, naturally), or when Mannie Fresh plays a cut from their collaborative record OMFGOD, there’s an irrepressible desire to hear more. We’re fine with Yasiin Bey, but we want Mos Def.
Gucci Mane ft. Rich Homie Quan & Peewee Longway – “No Problems”
“No Problems” is the lead single from the soundtrack for The Spot, a forthcoming film starring Gucci Mane, Rocko, OJ Da Juiceman, Young Scooter, and the ATL Twins. You read that correctly. Judging by the mostly nonsensical trailer for The Spot, the film revolves around Gucci Mane and Rocko’s low-level criminal enterprise, “The Spot,” and an aborted high-stakes drug deal. What noted method actor and Oscar-nominee OJ Da Juiceman is doing in such theatrically limited company is a mystery.
Of more intrigue than Rocko’s stilted line delivery is Nahala “Mr. Boomtown” Johnson, the director of The Spot. Johnson, as an eighth-grader in Port Arthur, Texas, recorded a song called “Let Me Cum Inside” with a bespectacled band geek then known only as Chad Butler. Their crew, DMI Posse (“Dangerous Music Incorporated”), which also included DJ DMD, recorded a 22-track demo called Rap In It’s Rawest Form [sic]. Had Johnson pursued music instead of football, he could’ve been a member of UGK.
Lil Herb – “Shine”
I’m not as unreservedly a Lil Herb fan as Passion of the Weiss’ Abe Beame, who compared the teenaged Chicagoan to a young Nas. There’s a lot to like about the recently rebranded “G Herbo” (a notable downgrade in moniker); he’s one of drill’s strongest rappers alongside Ty Money and Montana of 300, and Welcome to Fazoland was deservedly included in our Top 50 albums from 2014. I crave more than brutal efficiency and bleak setting, though. Like Herb, I’m a dead-eyed rap automaton, but I need my music’s timbre to extend beyond a matte blue-grey, and he’s yet to offer that.
Troy Ave – “Bronx Tale”
“Bronx Tale” wasn’t technically released this week. No matter!, it’s important to remind readers that Troy Ave sucks, and the pinpoint precision with which he does said sucking. Given the title, one would naturally assume that “Bronx Tale” takes place in the Bronx. It doesn’t. Troy Ave only mentions the Bronx because it’s the home of Gloria, who Troy Ave met in Astoria. Gloria herself is only mentioned by name once, and must face the ignominy of being named something solely because it rhymes with a neighborhood in Queens.
EFFEN Vodka, 50 Cent’s brand of distilled potatoes, is prominently featured in the video for “Bronx Tale.” Perhaps what’s missing from my evaluation of Troy Ave is the lowering of inhibitions associated with alcohol consumption. Or Troy Ave just sucks. Probably the latter.
Jeezy – “God”
Jeezy’s sustained popularity is one of rap’s latently strange phenomena. He’s mostly devoid of charisma, entirely devoid of original subject matter, and his defining characteristic–his rasp–barely stands out amongst husky-voiced Atlanta rappers. In spite of his interchangeability, last year’s Seen It All: The Autobiography, sold 246,000 copies in its first two months; those sales mark him as something less than a superstar, but a significantly bigger commercial draw than Lil Boosie, Young Thug, or Migos. It appears rap fans have thrown up their hands (and dollars) and said “Fuck it, I guess I’m buying whatever Jeezy puts out.”
Scotty ATL ft. Jose Guapo – “Real One”
Scotty ATL and Jose Guapo (Real name: Joseph Money. Maybe.) rap about being real, oftentimes the Pyrrhic victory of personality traits. More importantly, “Real One” was produced by one of Atlanta’s realest ones, and Friend of the Weiss, DJ Burn One.
N.O.R.E. ft. feat. Rick Ross, Ty Dolla $ign, & City Boy Dee – “We Don’t”
Saying that “We Don’t” is a N.O.R.E. song is a stretch. It’s a DJ Mustard and Ty Dolla $ign song that N.O.R.E. wandered into. N.O.R.E. rapping “East Coast nigga, rep the N.Y./West Coast niggas done taught me how to drive-by” is undignified–the video for Capone-N-Noreaga’s “L.A., L.A.” implied they’d stuffed Tha Dogg Pound in the trunk of their Infiniti and thrown them off a bridge.
