Image via Capolow/Instagram
Steven Louis was born a bit too late for this, but fondly remembers Brewers-era Prince Fielder.
Stack Moolah & Mike Shabb – “Lace Ya Boots”
We understand that you came here for new rap drops, but you surely won’t turn down a fun fact about Quebec’s largest metro area, right? Right. Check this out — Montreal was known as “Sin City” several decades before Las Vegas jacked the moniker. Mobsters and desperados bumped shoulders and shared hot dogs at The Montreal Pool Room. Ste-Catherine was flush with neon signs and big pin-up ads of winking women selling whatever men were buying. Today’s Montreal probably doesn’t crack the consensus top 30 rowdiest cities, at least in hip hop’s public imagination, but Mike Shabb’s Halo-sized artillery begs to differ. Laid atop fellow MTLien (that can’t be right…) and producer Stack Moolah’s crinkling soul loop, Shabb double-knots the combat boots. This is music to dodge the skulking undercovers to; train track deal-cutting and Tommy Hilfigger raincoat raps. Cosmo and Wanda rhymes with ba da la bamba. Sinners don’t dance, they lace up.
Malik Elijah – “SPIRIT GUN” (feat. Latrell James)
The beat on “SPIRIT GUN” sounds like a robot letting out a weightless but enormous sigh. It’s got hints of Dillatude, and should swiftly put the ASMR cottage industry out of business. “Go and breathe for a minute” as a hook feels preordained over something this airy. Boston-based Malik Elijah likens his lady to a Venetian painting, flexes his mindfulness game and shuffles his wheelbarrow across the garage. “I know your type, you be screaming by using caps lock / I know your type, you want pyramids as a backdrop” is hilarious. You hear glasses clinking, joints sparking, the light sizzling of scallops and prawns. But you don’t feel connected to the surface, hovering over the proceedings instead. Malik Elijah is not a rapper, he’s an anesthesiologist.
Capolow – “B*TCH PLEASE” (feat. 03 Greedo)
“Are you really going to use this column to cover every loose Greedo appearance this summer?” Dunno who asked that, but it’s a good question, and the answer is a resounding yes, because Feature Greedo continues to ball at 99 OVR. This latest collab with East Oakland’s Capolow is lean and icy, sourced by underrated beatmaker Apollo Jetson. The Wolf of Grape Street posts a high-skill job opening and has a few salaries dangling across his white T. Now, to address the consensus coming from the Thizzler comments section — the internet’s Place de la Concorde, as it’s been said. Does Capolow sound like Fetty Wap on the hook? Yeah, definitely. Does he look like “Evil Wiz Khalifa?” That’s funny, yeah, he totally does. Does the music slap? Irrefutably. Capolow’s punctated timbre matches the thick Bay bass, and his versatile flow merges slurred melodies into arena-sized “AYE AYEs.” His 2023 Feelings on the Shelf tape deserves a revisit. And a Greedo feature remains recession-proof.
Pookie F’n Rude – “Hold Up”
This song owns a cherry red hardtop ‘68 Buick Riviera. This song has a deep appreciation for Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin. This song pisses on a custom urinal cake in the likeness of Chief George T. Hart. It is everything we love about the intergalactic sound that makes Oakland feel both radical and comfortable. “Hold Up” is uncut summertime California rap, with a slithering G-funk bass lead blocking for Pookie F’n Rude’s East Side smack talk. Reporting live from 89th and MacArthur, Pookie is correct when he says “I could make this thang slap off of adlib sounds.” This is strobe light two-step rap from a suspended muscle car. Rudeness is encouraged now.
Abhi the Nomad & Khary – “Contra”
Providence, RI’s Khary draws his pistol, takes ten paces due west, turns and fires at his dueler, inter-disciplinarian global citizen Abhi the Nomad. We’ll leave it up to a fan vote, but first consult the official scorecard on punches landed. Abhi spins the block for Muammar Gaddafi, lands on the blocked list for fervent anticolonialism, says his opponent’s fans are scared of women and finishes his bald collaborator with a multisyllabic Jada Pinkett Smith comparison. Khary fights back — collecting discarded pennies from the fountain of hate, charring the wings off Icarus, accusing Abhi of playing naked Twister with exposed blisters, and swears he heard his enemy say the n-word the other day. This compelling duo will drop a full-length together on August 23. Don’t say they didn’t warn ya.
Boldy James & Harry Fraud – “CECIL FIELDER” (feat. Tee Grizzley)
You’re really not leaving before a second fun fact, this one about the jolliest father-son duo in baseball history. Did you know that Cecil and Prince Fielder both hit exactly 319 career home runs? You did not know that, be honest with us. Did you know that Boldy James is one of the best rappers alive? That one you definitely knew. Harry Fraud paints an impressionist heron-gray overcast sky for the two Detroiters to stretch product on. Tee Grizzley remembers making bets with his friends, last one to sell the work off paying for the Coney dogs with onions. Boldy fashions himself as Michigan’s Magellan. Marked with a scorpion stamp and bundled with loose 100s, “Cecil Fielder” will require a re-up. I already hear Babyface Ray on the part II for Prince.
