Harley Geffner even hustles on holidays.
Cam and China – “Keep It Pushin”
Wasn’t that 5-month stretch in 2015 when –redacted– had everyone cooing that they don’t fuck with you awful? Well, now we have a new fuck you anthem to right the wrongs of our collective idiocy in crowning that the one. The twins from Inglewood Cam & China have been bringing that attitude for the better part of the decade as members of a popular LA jerk crew in the late 2000’s before splintering into their own killer duo. The chemistry is telepathic by now, refined by years of helixing in, out, and around each other’s vitriolic verses with sweet hooks like a good cop, bad cop routine where they’re trading roles so fast, you can’t keep up.
“Keep it Pushin” is a jam for throwing on the flyest fit and keeping a short fuse. Broke dudes best not approach. The fiery hook is designed to be twerked to and snapchatted with stink faces all over Cali. The soundtrack for stealing men with little to no effort.
Quin NFN – “Stay Down”
This melodic cut from Austin’s Quin NFN looks just as victorious as it sounds. Sunlight flashes in and out of shots of his boys shooting on a double rim and dancing around a ball court, while a light guitar riff and angelic subtle backup vocals that kick in lift weight from your frame. Quin details his rise from “no destination, crawling and walking the path with Satan,” to giving his mom the life she deserves. It’s really about working lowkey and patiently, knowing that the time will come to reap the rewards. A beautiful ode to the grind.
Money Meech – “Letter 2 Al Woo”
“Popped another E just to numb my pain, I almost lost my life don’t look at shit the same / every day I wake up this shit a replay / me and bro was chilling then we heard them bullets rain / we hit the floor so fast that shit felt like a movie (Get Out!) / so many shots I swore I thought that n**** had an Uzi / Blacked out all you hear is bullets ripping, just tryna crawl gotta make it to this fuckin kitchen (we gotta make it)
So I was hidden then my leg locked up, then I looked over at you and saw that you was fucked up (Fuck!) / saw your face and seen the pain in your eyes, right there on the floor, a n**** thinking bout his whole life (I damn near cried) / ‘I love my momma and my kid, what they gon do without me?’ / thinking why we leave them glocks, how we gon shoot without him?
Every other day I’m thinking bout the what-ifs / I just laugh and reminisce, wish you was here bitch (Gah Damn!) / it’s non-stop, I’m always hearing bout some new shit, all these rumors ‘bout who did that, who did this / stories bout my mans to a set-up bitch, mind keep racing and I can’t really tell who did shit (I can’t tell)
Every time I see your son I’m seeing more of you (I see you), lil Woo and your OG you know I got em too (you know I got em) / Ace and Rondae called laughing yeah they good n****, any day they gon be right back in the hood n**** (they gon be good!) / the Tay-Ks in your family’s ear dawg that shit six, got ‘em thinking I’m a hoe because I won’t snitch (I ain’t worried) / but imma grind until we all fuckin’ rich / Rest in Peace a fucking legend, bro you ain’t missing shit.”
Flee – “B2K”
Plug beats have become so ubiquitous that any rapper can get their hands on one now. The beats are always nice and light-headed but there’s just a deluge of awful and similar sounding monotone rapping over them. But Queens rapper Flee is doing them as they’re meant to be done, twisting his vocals Thug-style, bobbing and weaving, playing his ad-libs into full wistful asides and sometimes letting those asides suck up the rest of a song or fleshing out the idea for a bit. Flee scatting right into a baby-voiced hook on “B2K” is something else. It comes off his new collab tape with one of the leaders of the plug universe StupidXool. It takes a really talented artist to keep me interested in 40 minutes straight of plug beats.
Baby Sosa – “ENEMIES”
Baby Sosa is so hypnotic. Listening to her music feels like absorbing the sensory cool of chilling in a room with lavender wallpaper.
Miere Baby & Nutty & Los – “Heard of Me”
“You ain’t heard of me? Bitch you fin’ to” is a hard ass opening to the second hard ass Detroit cut of the week.
