Image via DW FLAME/Instagram
Steven Louis didn’t pay for parking.
Rio Da Yung Og – “RIO FREE”
The Flint rap revivalist and First-Team All-World Shit Talker is finally unshackled after a nearly four-year prison sentence for a drug trafficking charge. Rio and his 14 co-defendants were the latest sacrifices to failed American policy, but his iced-out reemergence off the private jet is a momentous win for humanity.
“This what y’all asked for, right?” he snarls before unfurling serrated welcome-home bars. Rio got out last Wednesday, and has already put up three million views on this hookless smash. Rhyming “first day out” with “burpees now” is the equivalent of an NBA superstar driving and dunking in his return from knee surgery. He reworks famous Michiganders Tee Grizzley and Baby Money at the top, then proceeds to flex about drinking 100 pints of lean from a federal cell.
Like his best work, Rio’s latest is gear-shifting and hilarious if not heartbreaking. “I did some bullshit, I know my karma comin’ / My cousin did some bullshit, now he not my cousin / and I’mma keep it real with you, I’ll pop my cousin / I took a plea and did my time, I am not my cousin.” The beat switch from Wayne616 to Blue$trip seemingly shoots our protagonist into overdrive. Still sounding steely and unfuckwittable, it feels like a Rio flooding is imminent.
Roc Marciano & The Alchemist – “Rauf”
Few pairings are as natural yet challenging as this Skeleton Key duo. Marci and Uncle Alc together are blindfolded chess masters, all-time gamers playing at the hardest possible level. The former seems to rhyme complete sentences with other complete sentences, elongating flows to both fit schemes and fill unshapely percussive gaps left from minor-key jazz installations. The latter is sourcing prime Shaolin sounds in increasingly weird time signatures, and is having one of his most prolific years of a Hall-of-Fame career.
Folks remember Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf as “Kaepernick before Kaepernick,” and that’s absolutely true, but it belies how swaggy and unique and Curry-esque his perimeter action was. Perhaps similarly, Marciano and Alchemist are rightly hailed for refashioning dusty loop rap to a new generation and forging the path for the Griseldas of the game. But they’re also just incredibly skilled musicians. They tip caps to their legions of move-watchers, put the cheap suits on pins and needles, punch work until all 10 fingers are midnight navy, and make it home in time to watch Phil Donahue. Their latest full-length, dropped Friday, should be a late entrant to album of the year discussion.
Now, to a few California jams that I didn’t get to write about in my 20-or-so Rap-Ups from this year.
Medusa Tha Gangsta Goddess – “Get Out At It (How The Game Go)”
The High Priestess of the LA freestyle circuit sounds sharp as ever here. Chop Lui gives a Preemo-type backdrop for Medusa to cut up on. She uses the space to evoke Angela Davis, conduct complimentary spirit checks from 52nd Street, and move the crowd in gimmickless fashion. “I like the spots that ain’t been hit / balance the fine line between voyeur and exhibitionist,” she spits. This was my Leimert Park summer song, and it’s still holding me over six months later.
ALLBLACK – “It’s It”
Savers University alum ALLBLACK is one of the funniest writers across any medium right now. George Kaufman would be punching the air if he heard this bopper. “She ain’t say Cash App or Zelle, I gotta go,” the East Oakland ascendent laughs on the hook. “It’s It” is jailbroken arena rap, and DTB’s production is massive despite its Bay sparsity. This is music to leave the texts on read to. The Percocet-induced Rose Royce bridge is so joyous, and the Mr. Get Dough tribute is refreshing in light of recent biters. Cash Kidd moonwalks in to flex feet up — running scams from the in-flight wifi, stealing bags of pretzels from a hapless stewardess.
DW FLAME – “Heavy Steppin”
As a kid, I was damn-near obsessed with Chingy’s “One Call Away” video. The song was a smash, the love interest was lovely to look at, and Chingy impresses ladies watching park pickup by making the game-winning assist (!). Flame, hailing from East Side Long Beach, absolutely does this flip justice, his growling delivery searing those rangy mid-aughts guitar chords. I still catch a lump in my throat the way he says, “on babies, I’m still here” to close the first verse. “I had to understand every hand that He dealt me / keep them n– from around me if they ain’t tryna help me, on dead homies.” His 2024 album, Crippin Every Opportunity (CEO), has a second voice-cracking banger in “No Love” with Saviii 3rd.
GualaGang Eazy – “1 Love”
I know that Eazy has a roller rink music video shot for this song, and if he’s reading this, I hope it inspires him to drop that as soon as possible. “1 Love” is funky, crowded and eminently unmixed — neon-lit pole-lifting music from the fertile basin of Sacramento. The self-appointed “Fresh Prince of Meadowview” has a controlled tenor that lets him sprint through supercharged samples and zig-zag across smooth rap and horrorcore. In the raps, GualaGang comprises vengeful block-splitters and peanut-butter Glock-lifters; Eazy has described the work to me as “emotional gangsta-ass roller coaster rides.” Hopefully, there’s more to come in 2025.
Zoe Osama – “Gas & Dip” (feat. Sleep3rd & P1)
This is “We Can Freak It” for today’s Los Angeles. It’s so groovy and likable. I honestly can’t believe it was released in December. Let’s put this on ice and bring it out next spring.
Cypress Moreno, ASM Bopster & 03 Greedo – “DRUMLINE”
This is one of the best beats of 2024, full stop. It comes together like some fusion of an eternal neighborhood war cry and a Jackson State football halftime march. These two rappers make for a truly thrilling and weird connection. LA’s Bopster goes under the beat, his raps raspy and rounded around the bass thumps. Watts’ Greedo goes over the beat, emotively accelerating to give the track new life on the back half. Cypress successfully mixes a sedative and amphetamine here. 03 manically yells out that “Bop and Greedy need to do a whole tape on Grape,” and we should all hold them to that next year.
Drakeo The Ruler – “Instant Jammer”
My favorite posthumous Drakeo song to date. “All we heard the opps say is help me Jesus / He won’t be doing that” is diabolical. Perhaps The Ruler really doesn’t like the Arkansas Razorbacks for how they did Bobby Petrino — or, you know, it could be something else. Brad and Deebo are summarily posterized. The appropriately-titled “Instant Jammer” is club-ready and engineered to rattle foreign whips. Fizzle and Al B Smoov construct a scoreboard for the late King of Los Angeles to run up. The abridged hook is especially wild and stinging given the state’s case against the Stinc Team. We Know the Truth.
