Image via Bfb Da Packman/Instagram
Donald Morrison believes in going to people’s birthdays.
Chavo – “System”
Chavo is the son of Benzino, a former co-owner of legendary hip-hop rag The Source, and now perhaps best known as a recurring cast member on VH1’s Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta. Chavo is also a brother to burgeoning rap star Coi Leray – with Benzino once bragging on Instagram Live that he has “two kids who got major deals by these nuts.” While less well-known than his sister, Chavo has managed to carve out an exceedingly-wide lane for himself with the help of Pierre Bourne and his SossHouse imprint. The third installation of their Chavo’s World series is another striking example of Chavo’s ability to turn a full album of otherworldly Pi’erre Bourne beats into a 45-minute odyssey through Atlanta.
With a well-trained ear for production that constantly pushes him outside of his boundaries,Chavo’s World 3 is an engrossing front-to-back listen and will doubtlessly trigger producers to begin sending him their knock-off Pi’erre beats. The approach to Pi’erre’s production is less experimental than Playboi Carti’s. Yet his nonchalant witty one-liners evoke a world of their own. It’s testament to Pi’erre’s production and Chavo’s rapping ability when I say that nothing else sounds like this. Pi’erre’s soundscape is simultaneously dark and playful. Chavo matches this energy by embodying the mind of a hedonistic hustler, steeped in obligatory selfishness and always one second away from a lacerating quip or needlessly cruel observation.
FLEE – “BUBBLE GREEN”
We received the first FLEE song in over a year last night in the form of “BUBBLE GREEN.” It’s as irreverent and multi-faceted as I’ve come to expect from the FLEE Ghost, who’s known for easily mixing and matching contemporary flows over hypnotic, sample-heavy production usually provided by Cash Cobain. Natt Carlos’ beat for “BUBBLE GREEN” could have easily come from Cash and that’s definitely a compliment. It’s bright, yet muddy, setting the scene for FLEE to pay homage to classic Bay Area slang, saying he calls his ecstasy pills “yadadameans,” a parlance lifted from the legendary Mac Dre himself. “BUBBLE GREEN” is the promising return of one of New York’s most exciting artists in a post-Drill world.
Breez Bezel – “Stepped On”
I discovered “Stepped On” by Breez Bezel the old fashioned way: in a Sunset Park barber shop while getting my haircut before a busy weekend. You never know quite what to expect when the man cutting your hair hands you his phone to watch a YouTube video while he finishes lining you up, but I was pleasantly surprised. Breez Bezel has a commanding presence over a somewhat run-of-the-mill Drill beat, claiming that his opps must have been high on heroin if they thought challenging him was a sound idea. The video shows Breez and his crew looking right at home while loitering in front of subway stops and bodegas. I won’t be surprised if this isn’t the last time I hear Breez Bezel booming out of random speakers while traveling through New York.
Bfb Da Packman – “The Count”
Whoever thought of the idea to put Bfb Da Packman rapping next to a bunch of jubilant, dancing children in his most recent video is a genius. Raunchy lyrics aside, Bfb’s silly nature and lightheartedness are almost childlike in the first place, so it’s no wonder that the kids featured in “The Count,” clearly love him so much. Bfb is for the kids!
It’s the first video we’ve received from Bfb in quite some time and it’s just as referential and absurd as you’d expect it to be. “Getting tips on losing weight on a text with Kevin Gates,” he says halfway through the song. Bfb is one of my favorites from the recent pack of Flint, Michigan punchline kings, precisely because his writing is so outrageous and clever. “Every bitch that I loved, they was lying to my face, every bitch that you fucked, she was drunk, that shit is rape,” he says, while sitting on a forklift surrounded by small children. “The Count” proves that Bfb is still the best shit-talker in the game, still capable of the kind of unpredictability seen on 2020’s “Free Joe Exotic,” which this blog called the fifth best song of that year.
Veeze x Lil Uzi Vert – “GOMD (Remix)”
The beat for “GOMD” by Veeze reminds me of something you’d hear Jeezy rap on in 2010. It also reminds me of a song from this year, “Ron Artest,” by fellow Detroit rappers Babyface Ray and 42 Dugg, either of which would have sounded right at home on the “GOMD (Remix).”
Instead, Lil Uzi Vert hops on to open the record with a stop-start flow that has him sounding inspired for the first time in recent memory. You can tell he dug the original and wanted to be a part of the Veeze wave and who can blame him? Veeze is one of this column’s most discussed rappers over the past few years due to his penchant for dropping YouTube loosies and street singles that beg to be covered. The Lil Uzi Vert collab has been a long time coming, with Veeze having played a snippet of a yet unreleased collaboration between the two on Instagram Live more than a year ago. It now exists as a testament to how far Veeze has come in the past few years.
Emptying the Chamber
