Image via Cletus Strap/Instagram
Donald Morrison chooses Key Lime over Pumpkin, and it’s not even close.
LaRussell & P-LO – “GIVE ME A BEAT!”
As a Portland high schooler in the mid-2000s, one of my most played songs was “I Need an Eighth” by Mac Dre. Any song dedicated to weed reigned supreme to me and my dumb friends. But none more so than the funky and demanding ode to cannabis from Thizzelle Washington and his Looie Crew. The song samples Sexual Harrassement’s 1980s hit “I Need a Freak” in a way somehow less debaucherous than the original.
Bay Area mainstays LaRussell and P-LO give their own spin on the timeless classic, complete with thizz-face-inducing production and a music video shot outside of the Vallejo Six Flags. Slowly but surely, LaRussell has cemented himself as one of the Bay artists still pushing the regional scene forward, while simultaneously paying homage to his legendary predecessors.. “Give Me a Beat” is a perfect example of his ability to create something entirely new out of classic source material that could have been butchered in the hands of a less dedicated artist.
Cletus Strap – “Blues Clues”
Cletus Strap makes it seem more effortless than most of his peers in this post-Earl wave of depressive underground abstraction. He arrives at grand statements about life and grief as if he’s stumbled upon them by accident. “My youngin killed his opp, he can’t even go to sleep, every time he closes his eyes he can hear his scream,” Cletus says. The production is airy and seemingly unmastered, adding to the DIY charm, deep pathos, sly humor and endearing lack of self-seriousness.
Baby Kia – “WYG” (feat. LAZER DIM 700)
Baby Kia became somewhat of a meme a few months back over his extremely aggressive, almost screamo-level rapping about the vanquishing of his opps. One song in particular took a certain sector of the internet by storm. That was “OD Crashin,” which I immediately recognized for its undeniable immediacy and vocal greatness, although playback potential was admittedly limited. If there’s such a thing as “scare the hoes music,” than this is “never talk to another woman again” music.
“WYG,” taps LAZER DIM 700, an Atlanta rapper with an extremely online cult following. Lazer’s mid-song verse is a welcome reprieve from the belligerent onslaught Baby Kia begins with, which is mostly just an attempt to make as many gun noises with your mouth as you can. (Impressingly, he succeeds at making at least four.) Lazer sounds crispier than usual, as if he had better studio equipment than normal. It makes for one of my favorite verses of his, where he says “they think me and BK dumb, we on the spectrum.”
ODUMODUBLVCK – “NOT ALL THAT”
ODUMODUBLVCK, the self-proclaimed “King of Nigerian Drill” who Stormzy once called the “coldest brudda in the world,” is becoming one of my favorite international artists. The Nigeria-born rapper’s 2013 mixtape, EZIOKWU, topped his home country’s Top 50 Albums Chart, breaking both the record for most weeks spent at number one, and the longest-charting number one album of all-time by a rapper across Spotify Nigeria. ODUMODUBLVCK’s new video for “Not All That,” features him walking with his crew through what may be his hometown, as he list’s off all the different co-signs he’s received and how little they matter in the long run. “Co-sign from Burna, co-sign from Skepta, co-sign from Wizkid, co-sign from David, but I’m not all that.”
I can imagine there’s numerous artists out there who’ve received a co-sign that they felt would make their career, only to find out it’s worth a lot less than imagined. ODUMODUBLVCK is grateful for the love, but understands he’s nothing special, and that perspective will allow him to continue growing as an artist for years to come.
Chance the Rapper – “Bad Boys 2” (feat. Joey Purp)
Let’s be real: the Chance The Rapper loosies we’ve been getting these past few months on Youtube are about 10X better than any of us imagined they would be. His latest, “Bad Boys 2,” a collaboration with Chicago legend Joey Purp, officially marks a triumphant return of the Chance we all knew, or at least some of us knew, before his marriage and disastrous last full album in 2019. The production is bombastic and proud, complete with trumpets and big bass. It’s a Chance we haven’t seen maybe ever, invigorated, confident, and just the right amount of toxic positivity.
Emptying the Chamber
