You can find Harley Geffner at your holiday party spiking the egg nog.
Lil Baby ft. 2Chainz & Gucci Mane – “Anyway”
A few months ago, a friend of mine compared Lil Baby’s raps to a Le’Veon Bell run. He said he liked how they both slow down the tempo looking for an opening to burst through. Now every time I hear a Baby song, I see him patiently surveying the D Line, using subtle pauses and hesitations to find his jumping off point. With some bars, he sees daylight early and uses the tiniest dip in the beat to jump in, and at other times, he hangs back to let another piece of instrumentation open up before changing octaves. He watches plays unfold in slo-mo, measuring each opportunity in milliseconds.
The more a running back sees a specific defensive set at the line, the slower the action moves and the easier it becomes for him to pick his spots. The grooves in signature producer, Global Quay’s beats have become such a comfortable playground for Baby as they’ve grown together, they must be at a damn near standstill for him.
All throughout Baby’s newest album, “Street Gossip,” you can hear him experimenting with new Quay pockets to bounce off. On “Anyway,” Baby recruits Atlanta Godfathers 2Chainz and Gucci Mane to chip in stellar verses to go with his jerky run. Gucci actually brought Baby and Quay together, so it’s only right he has a strong showing.
Rob Stone x P-Lo – “Too Faded”
San Diego’s Rob Stone and the Bay area’s P-Lo drive the distance to join forces for a new video dedicated to solo cups and pretending to like Hennessy. Produced by The Martianz, Too Faded has all the markings of a UC frat party anthem. It’s a nice song with some West Coast bounce, but it’s sanitized of the elaborate street dealings of the guys leading the Renaissance. Rob’s plug isn’t a gypsy – it’s Phi Delt.
Rich Baby – “Scoot Anthem”
With Maxo Kream having carved out a steady lane in the larger industry and Sauce Walka permanently on the verge of stardom, the door is wide open for Houston’s regional scene. Rich Baby looks like a 12-year old, but raps like a vet (I have no idea how old he actually is). He comes from Galveston, about 30 miles south of Houston, and affiliates with GMC and Scoot Up gang.
Produced by NotYourFriend Beatz, “Scoot Anthem” is full of the youthful energy and quick wit of Lil Mouse, but centers around a beezy flute instead of drill choirs. The opening overture of “Imma scoot on your block and get rid of you, finna go get a bag, what I’m finna do” has been stuck in my head for the last week. And his drip, driiiiip, splash ad-libs are so engaging, it’s easy to get lost in them and miss a fun bar like “Bitch my drip it was made in a sewaa, yung’n scoot to your shit with bazookas.”
Nolan Be Rollin – “Beanday II”
Virginian Nolan Be Rollin’s songs are made of jagged edges grinding up against each other. Scattered, deviant thoughts cut into one another as he navigates the organs, bongos, soft synths and Kirby yells of his Glo Gang style production. On “Beanday II,” three songs impatiently splice together in over 4 minutes as the “Beanman” lets loose incessant hiccups and venomous slurs about losing his pills, being geeked off an Addy, and coke residue. The first two are more aggressive and then a bubblegum beat that would sound at home on Yachty’s Lil Boat tape interrupts as Nolan chants “dat my bean girl uhh dat my bean girl” for 15 seconds preceding a “hold the fuck up bro. You not supposed to be playing that yet man.”
‘LGado – “Gadoshoot”
Gadoshoot comes courtesy of the famed Harold Bingo’s Twitter page. The song is Chicago rapper ‘LGado’s extrapolation of Gucci Mane’s classic “Photoshoot.” From the deep bumps in Drumma Boy’s production down to Gucci’s searing flow, it’s all replicated here. But where Gucci is relaxed on the set, ‘LGado’s rapping with brute force. You’d be forgiven if you didn’t catch a single lyric though because the video is a little, umm, distracting.
