Fake For RealThe English written companion of Fake For Real: since 1997, reviews and articles about rap music2024-03-11T20:40:46+01:00Sylvain Bertoturn:md5:a035ff44a020bb716e18191580d6e9ecDotclearRXK NEPHEW - 'Til I'm Deadurn:md5:e57532a43511b0ac5558bdf888ab468b2023-12-23T22:40:00+01:002024-03-11T21:40:46+01:00codotusylvAlbums2023NewBreedTrapperRecordsRochesterRXK Nephew <p>Rap and electronic music have a long history in common, and it is a complex one. It is both conflictual and incestuous, and it had many episodes. The very last one, though, is special. It is something quite different. For several years, indeed, the incredible prolific RXK Nephew, a rapper from Rochester, delivered at an insanely fast pace a multitude of releases and freestyles. And quite often, to support a flow visibly propelled by the use of alcohol, Kristopher Williams – his real name – leverages house music and techno beats.</p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2023/rxk-nephew-til-i-m-dead.jpg" alt="RXK NEPHEW - 'Til I'm Dead" class="media-center" title="RXK NEPHEW - 'Til I'm Dead"></p>
<p>Released by the beginning of 2023 - a year he dominated with his multiple projects, a year when he's been one of the rare satisfactory rappers – <em>'Til I'm Dead</em> is presented like his first official album. Produced for once by just one beatmaker, Rx Brainstorm, recorded for the first time by a sober RXK Nephew, it is undoubtedly his most accessible work to date. With this umpteenth album that twists Biggie's <em>Ready To Die</em> cover art – it was released on his death anniversary – the rapper confirms what his musical position is.</p>
<p>The fantastic single and hilarious ego-trip "Critical" and the well-named "Dance Song", two of the best songs, have indeed house music beats. There are also adjacent styles: the ethereal synthesizers of ambient music, the frantic beats of drum'n'bass, the sophisticated arpeggios of IDM, or some good old electro music on "I’m High". Neph, however, uses any means necessary. There are also a lot of trap music beats, and at times Auto-Tuned raps, like on "TwoTone".</p>
<p>As far as lyrics are concerned, it's also all over the place. This rapper doesn't care about hooks. He shares his thoughts as they go, very quickly. He practices logorrhea and goes from one subject to another. His main alter ego, that Neph with incomparable dance moves, gives way at times to another one, the enraged and howling Slitherman. Sometimes he changes his tone, or suddenly he imitates OJ da Juiceman, or Mike Jones. He likes it when it is absurd, like with the long rant around the verb "to do" that is "What Im Doin".</p>
<p>RXK Nephew is a street rapper, and as such he talks about drugs, Glocks and money, and he gets high with alcohol and other substances. He is a mad dog who bites with no warning producers such as Mike Will, DJ Mustard and Young Chop, on the epic and conclusive "Love Song" – he also says that Benny the Butcher is not really a butcher… But he can be an introspective rapper like when, on "All I Had Was A Bean" and other tracks, he talks about his childhood, when he was abandoned by his mother and raised by his grandma.</p>
<p>In these boring times, while we wonder where rap music will go next, RXK Nephew found a way : he goes back to the basics, when rapping was all about elucubrating on discotheque music; like Lil B, to whom he was often compared – and whom he mentions on "Frames" – he sets no limits to his fantasies, he gives them all he has. Even if this is inedible, even if this is too much, something great will come out of it.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://soundcloud.com/oblocklieutenant/sets/rxknephew-til-im-dead" hreflang="en">Listen to this album</a></strong></p>
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https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2023/RXK-NEPHEW-Til-I-m-Dead#comment-formhttps://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/feed/atom/comments/3436DIGGA D - Back To Square Oneurn:md5:ef0fe73e533a3f5545b31813634ec1422023-11-29T22:45:00+01:002024-02-23T22:32:06+01:00codotusylvAlbums2023Black Money RecordsDigga DEnglandLondon <p><em>Back To Square One</em>. Such is titled Digga D's fourth album, a release he presents as a mixtape. It is misleading, though, as it doesn't actually go back to basics. Quite the opposite. The boy who, at seventeen and beyond, became a figurehead for UK drill through a series of top-charting singles, is moving away from this style. On that project - his first for his own Black Money label - one song only sounds like his music of choice. And it is called - guess what? - "Fuck Drill".</p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2023/digga-d-back-to-square-one.jpg" alt="DIGGA D - Back To Square One" class="media-center" title="DIGGA D - Back To Square One"></p>
<p>The roots Digga D pretends to unearth are, in reality, those of rap music, a genre much wider and more heterogeneous than the repetitive UK drill formulas. He indeed goes back to its basics - US hip-hop - when he reinvents the Luniz "I Got 5 On It" hit single on "Bine On Em", when he mentions Nicki Minaj on "Façade", when he uses the melodic and catchy loop of "Soft Life", or when he deploys "DTF", a banger that mixes the sound of No Limit Records with UK drill. He targets a larger audience, as evidenced when he uses the sugary sounds of R&B, or when he sings his hooks.</p>
<p>Digga D delivers rap music, not drill music. Nonetheless, he remains a Brit. Tracks such as "Braids" are close to trapwave, the local take on Auto-Tuned depressive trap music, whose pioneer, M Huncho, is one of the guests on the mixtape, and supports one of its best songs, "Baby Mum's Crib".</p>
<p><em>Back To Square One</em> goes back to rap. But it is also, for Digga D, a return to Powis Square, in West London. On melancholic guitars, the rapper talks about his life in the streets on the outstanding "I'm From...", and on "Me & Kinz". He reminisces about raising hell with a friend, who is deceased now. The risks of gang life are treated in "Cherish God More", a track he named after his crew (CMG), and where he talks about other dead ones and personal pains.</p>
<p>Digga D talks about a past that doesn't pass, his own. As soon as with the first track, "Fighting For My Soul", he confesses suicidal tendencies. Sounding like a beaten dog, he confides about religion, fame, prison, drugs, violence, and freedom of speech. And on the last one, “West To North West”, he questions how his lyrics impact the youth. He is bitter toward the music industry on the strong "Kindness For Weakness" song. And even in his angriest moments, there's a bit of vulnerability, like with the "Energy" single.</p>
<p>Digga D managed to evolve. He passes the exam, with this fourth mixtape. He addresses with success a risky challenge: the intimate record, the "maturity album", that awful cliché. In Great Britain, Digga D was already a star. And now, he proves that he can be much more than a formulaic rapper.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://amzn.to/3OQ8vwZ" hreflang="en">Buy this mixtape</a></strong></p>
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https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2023/DIGGA-D-Back-To-Square-One#comment-formhttps://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/feed/atom/comments/3434Your favorite rap albums of 2022urn:md5:65be482c722d0ef35098d3d0421296f02023-07-29T22:53:00+02:002023-07-30T16:59:24+02:00codotusylvPolls2022 <p>Quite recently on Fake For Real, we displayed and updated our favorite <a href="https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/the-best-rap-albums-of-2022">rap albums of 2022</a>. And you, what are yours?</p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/votation.jpg" alt="" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" /></p>
<iframe src="https://form.dragnsurvey.com/survey/r/c8431c7b" style="width:100%; height:1900px;"></iframe>
https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2023/Your-favorite-rap-albums-of-2022#comment-formhttps://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/feed/atom/comments/3376SAMEER AHMAD - Tracy 168urn:md5:093f2a32720b342c657c0d766930c1da2023-07-17T22:41:00+02:002024-01-11T08:06:25+01:00codotusylvAlbums2023Bad Cop Bad CopFranceiHH RecordsMontpellierSameer Ahmad <p>Sahmeer Ahmad follows his route. Since the critical success of his <em>Perdants magnifiques</em> (magnificent losers) album in 2014, he's built quite a remarkable set of works. The last iteration of this is a short five-track EP destined to be the first half of his next album, and it confirms everything positive we already thought about the rapper based in Montpellier.</p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2023/sameer-ahamd-tracy-168.jpg" alt="SAMEER AHMAD - Tracy 168" class="media-center" title="SAMEER AHMAD - Tracy 168" /></p>
<p>Sahmeer Ahmad hits hard, as soon as with "NMJS" (an acronym for "ne mourez jamais seul": never die alone), a song that is typical of his style. On some aerial beats, and with an ethereal hook delivered by LK de l'Hôtel Moscou, the rapper shares some remembrances from his youth. This is some stream-of-consciousness, where words barely stick together, except for their assonances and double-entendres.</p>
<p>Here, reminiscences keep on piling up, while Sameer Ahmad associates pop culture with academical references…</p>
<blockquote><p>Les couv's de Radikal remplaçaient Gallimard</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>Radikal's covers replaced Gallimard</p></blockquote>
<p><em>Radikal used to be a French hip-hop magazine, while Editions Gallimard is a leading publisher in classic literature.</em></p>
<p>… or he mixes idols of his parents' generation with his own.</p>
<blockquote><p>Mum écoutait Dalida, j'écoutais Dany Dan</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>Mum listened to Dalida, I listened to Dany Dan</p></blockquote>
<p><em>Dalida was a chanson singer, Dany Dan is a French rapper.</em></p>
<p>Sameer Ahmad juggles with words. This is obvious, as soon as the "Chibani" song and its first ryhmes. But he does it organically. He doesn't bend the language artificially, as often with those pretending to be poets. And he is a true rapper, his art is all about punchlines, like that one on "Santeria":</p>
<blockquote><p>Premier sur l'indé comme Haïti</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>I am the first indie, like Haiti</p></blockquote>
<p><em>He claims he comes first among the independent rappers, like Haiti, the first French colony to gain its independence.</em></p>
<p>A while ago, Sameer Ahmad identified the core principles that make a record successful: disregard norms set by others; never deliver what you think they expect; just do your thing, just talk about yourself. That way, you can never be wrong.</p>
<p>As a matter of fact, what the EP displays is his own universe and experience. This is a cultural world made of rap music, movies, books, and TV programs. And it is so large that anyone can decrypt his words, especially the rap amateurs.</p>
<blockquote><p>C'est thug, c'est harmonique<br />
Et ça du cerveau jusqu'à l'os</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>It's thuggish, it's harmonic<br />
And the brain is as deep as the bone</p></blockquote>
<p><em>Of course, this refers to Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.</em></p>
<blockquote><p>Je pense que le monde de demain c'est loin</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>I think that tomorrow's world is far away</p></blockquote>
<p><em>That one mixes two famous songs from French rap legends NTM and IAM: "Le monde de demain" ("Tomorrow's world"), and "Demain c'est loin" ("Tomorrow is far away").</em></p>
<p>Some other references can look abstruse. Until, while discovering some of them, the listener will eventually understand, and retrospectively reach a moment of ravishment.</p>
<p>Sameer Ahmad also shares his feelings and his sentiments, like on "Mars", the great melancholic song on the EP. And on "DMX", he testifies about his daily life as a musician:</p>
<blockquote><p>En classe éco, un train de vie d'artiste</p></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>In economy class, with my artist lifestyle</p></blockquote>
<p><em>In French, the word "lifestyle" translates into "train de vie" (train of life), hence Ahmad's allusion to the economy class.</em></p>
<p>The rapper of Iraqi descent also talks about his racialized identity on "Santeria", or about him being middle-aged, on "Chibani" ("old", in Maghrebi Arabic and French slang).</p>
<p>Sameer Ahmad was a teacher, in real life. However, even if he is a wordsmith, he knows that in hip-hop, music matters over lyrics. As a result, he leverages the right beats: ageless ones, with no specific style. His only goal is that they sound good, such as his words, so that they strengthen his erratic evocations. And they are so satisfactory that our only wish, after <em>Tracy 168</em>, is to discover the second half of the album.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://amzn.to/47CRM6Y" hreflang="en">Buy this album</a></strong></p>
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https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2023/SAMEER-AHMAD-Tracy-168#comment-formhttps://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/feed/atom/comments/3424BIGXTHAPLUG - AMARurn:md5:2ac4c29eacd69ad30793b88c0ca55cc12023-05-27T22:26:00+02:002024-01-17T19:20:57+01:00codotusylvAlbums2023BigXthaPlugDallasUnitedMasters LLC <p>BigXthaPlug's journey in rap music is far from unusual. Originally, he expected a career in football, until his university - who didn't appreciate to find him smoking marijuana - decided to expel him. What followed was a time of pain and crime, that eventually led him to prison. By then, though, upset with being incarcerated at the time of his son's birthday, he took things more seriously with rap music. After a few noteworthy songs, he started mixing with the likes of Bun B, Erykah Badu, Shaquille O'Neal, and he joined the label of rap business mogul Steve Stoute, UnitedMasters.</p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2023/bigxthaplug-amar.jpg" alt="BIGXTHAPLUG - AMAR" class="media-center" title="BIGXTHAPLUG - AMAR" /></p>
<p>This story is far from unique. Actually, the only thing noticeable with BigX – "big", because of his size; "X", because it is the initial of his name; "tha plug", because he purveys good music – is that he comes from Texas. His main single is named exactly that, "Texas", and it displays all clichés related to the Lone Star State. The video shows it, with its banjos, horses, cowboy hats, and also a bit of purple drank. Also, several of the local idols are mentioned there, such as Pimp C, Trae, Z-Ro, Devin the Dude, Beyoncé, and Sauce Walka, who contributes to another BigX song, "I Know".</p>
<p>"Don't mess with Texas", says BigXthaPlug, as Lil' Keke before him. He is not from the usual city, though. He is based in the other one, Dallas. But on "Texas" and other songs, he connects it to the hip-hop stronghold of Houston, by adding to its glorious names some others coming from his own metropolis, sportsmen, or musicians like Erkyah Badu.</p>
<p>His first album is titled <em>Amar</em>. It is also the second name of his son, the one who prompted the big change in his life.</p>
<p>Immediatly, as soon as with the swaggering guitar of "Switched Up", this release shows up as a huge ego-trip. It is a long celebration of BigXthaPlug's supposed success, with threats and gun stories, of course. He is from Texas, after all.</p>
<p>It goes through the usual ways, the Texan ones, and the others. It is allegedly biographic, and it glorifies the rapper's origins. Nevertheless, it is impersonal. With old routines such as "Bacc To Tha Basics" and "Safehouse", the quieter tracks in the middle, with the strip club anthem "Thick", supported by female rappers Tay Money and Erica Banks, and with the ladies song "Bad Bitches", where BigXthaPlug confides about his affection for Latto and Megan Thee Stallion, <em>Amar</em> sounds exactly like the release from a major label.</p>
<p>But a solid one. One delivered by a rapper who really raps, without any pause or silence, with a thirst for revenge in each word, a strong production work, and a few gems such as "Primetime" with its saxophone, "Levels" with voices sampled from soul band 21st Century, and eventually the introspective "Dream", where he reminisces about his painful life. BigXthaPlug, at the end of the day, checks many boxes.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://amzn.to/3U1Kh6q" hreflang="en">Buy this album</a></strong></p>
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https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2023/BIGXTHAPLUG-AMAR#comment-formhttps://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/feed/atom/comments/342912 of the best rap albums of 2022urn:md5:2e52af93202776afd3edd1e521d62fd62023-05-13T19:45:00+02:002023-07-21T07:46:28+02:00codotusylvSelections2022 <p>In times when rap music is so prolific and fragmented that it gets challenging to keep track, we will not pretend to be exhaustive. It never was possible to like the whole thing, and it is unrealistic to know everything the genre has to offer. Consequently, the list below was made randomly, based on what we accidently happened to listen to. We'll just make our best to amend and complete it over time, once we have a better perspective on 2022, beyond the blockbusters from Kendrick Lamar and other institutionalized rap favorites.</p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2022/vince-staples-ramona-park-broke-my-heart.jpg" alt="VINCE STAPLES - Ramona Park Broke My Heart" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="VINCE STAPLES - Ramona Park Broke My Heart" /></p>
<p>For the time being, based on what we were led to, we'll make just one observation: Gucci Mane is still relevant. At first glance, his kind of trap music is an old memory. He sufficiently influenced the past decade. Now we should move to something else. And though, who delivered the catchiest projects in the last couple of years? His 1017 protégés BigWalkDog and Cootie - whom we hope won't share Big Scarr's tragic fate. Or some other disciples such as Z Money, or the successors of another devotee, the late Young Dolph.</p>
<p>Paper Route Empire, indeed, survived its boss well. The latest releases from Key Glock, Big Moochie Grape, Kenny Muney, and Jay Fizzle are all solid, at varying extents. They show that Memphis is still a rap stronghold, especially if we also consider their rivals from CMG, or mavericks such as Duke Deuce, Lukah, and GloRilla, the most exciting of the many female rappers we are oversold, in the #MeToo era.</p>
<p>This year, despite the critics' favor, and remarkable releases from Billy Woods and Roc Marciano, we preferred the Memphis scene over the neo-boom bap movement. We preferred it over California, a state that sees its most promising talents shot one after the other, like Young Slo-Be, who just before dying, delivered what might have been his finest album. We even preferred it over Michigan darlings like Babytron, BabyFace Ray, and others, who are getting a bit too close to the industry and who, consequently, released albums that are less visceral and energetic than previously.</p>
<p><em>Originally published on December 31st, 2022, this selection has been revisited since then, and it will be enriched again.</em></p>
<p><br /></p>
<h4><strong>OUR 12 ALBUMS</strong></h4>
<p>If we need to select 12 rap albums, out of the dense production of 2022, let's focus on the following for the time being.</p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/BIG-MOOCHIE-GRAPE-East-Haiti-Baby" hreflang="fr">BIG MOOCHIE GRAPE - East Haiti Baby</a></strong></p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2022/.big-moochie-grape-east-haiti-baby_t.jpg" alt="BIG MOOCHIE GRAPE - East Haiti Baby" style="float:right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em;" title="BIG MOOCHIE GRAPE - East Haiti Baby" /></p>
<p>"Long live Dolph, yeah, I took a big loss, get your real big bruh, just know we gon' handle it". Such were Big Moochie Grape's words on "In Dolph We Trust", a track from the <em>Long Live Young Dolph</em> compilation. The dolphin is dead, but he and the others will hold the fort. He shows it with that robust album. In Memphis, the Paper Route Empire remains firmly in place.</p>
<p><a href="https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/BIG-MOOCHIE-GRAPE-East-Haiti-Baby" hreflang="fr">Read full review</a><br />
<a href="https://amzn.to/41mzlS0" hreflang="en">Buy the album</a></p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/BIGWALKDOG-Trick-City" hreflang="fr">BIGWALKDOG - Trick City</a></strong></p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2022/.bigwalkdog-trick-city_t.jpg" alt="BIGWALKDOG - Trick City" style="float:right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em;" title="BIGWALKDOG - Trick City" /></p>
<p>From Tutwiler, Mississipi, BigWalkDog had everything that is required to join Gucci Mane's crew. His first album shows this. It deploys in a particularly generic way his own mentor's formula, some trap music full of 808s and pianos keys, with lyrics about drugs, violence, jewels, cars, and strippers. It is totally expected, there is no surprise. And though, it is outstandingly good.</p>
<p><a href="https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/BIGWALKDOG-Trick-City">Read full review</a><br />
<a href="https://amzn.to/3NNJkcy">Buy the album</a></p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/COOTIE-Welcome-To-The-Trap" hreflang="en">COOTIE - Welcome To The Trap</a></strong></p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2022/.cootie-welcome-to-the-trap_t.jpg" alt="COOTIE - Welcome to the Trap" style="float:right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em;" title="COOTIE - Welcome to the Trap" /></p>
<p>"I feel like Gucci in '09". "Cootie here to bring the trap back". Here are some words from Gucci Mane's new protégé from Blytheville, Arkansas. And Cootie is perfectly right. This is some good old musical dope that he delivers on his first album. He is the last link in a long tradition that, from Project Pat, and then Guwop and his disciples, keeps on leaving its mark on the South.</p>
<p><a href="https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/COOTIE-Welcome-To-The-Trap" hreflang="en">Read full review</a><br />
<a href="https://amzn.to/41yuXiH" hreflang="en">Buy the album</a></p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/JAY-FIZZLE-Donafizzo" hreflang="fr">JAY FIZZLE - Donafizzo</a></strong></p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2022/.jay-fizzle-donafizzo_t.jpg" alt="JAY FIZZLE – Donafizzo" style="float:right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em;" title="JAY FIZZLE – Donafizzo" /></p>
<p>One after the other, all over 2022, the Paper Route Empire rappers released an album, and most of them have been solid. Everyone got a chance to prove that the death of Young Dolph wouldn't change their ways. The one who did that the best is probably Jay Fizzle, Young Dolph's cousin, with the many highlights on this album, where he impersonates a trap music Donatello.</p>
<p><a href="https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/JAY-FIZZLE-Donafizzo" hreflang="fr">Read full review</a><br />
<a href="https://amzn.to/3T24Ble" hreflang="fr">Buy the album</a></p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/JID-The-Forever-Story" hreflang="en">JID - The Forever Story</a></strong></p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2022/.jid-the-forever-story_t.jpg" alt="JID - The Forever Story" style="float:right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em;" title="JID - The Forever Story" /></p>
<p>A nasal voice that leverages all kinds of flows and adapts to any style, on some unpredictable music with a large spectrum of sounds. Dense lyrics that mix autobiographic stories, hip-hop references and deep thoughts about the black condition. Songs that are overloaded, and nonetheless intense. This might sound reductive, but JID deserves to be called the Atlanta Kendrick.</p>
<p><a href="https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/JID-The-Forever-Story" hreflang="en">Read full review</a><br />
<a href="https://amzn.to/3nQ1p0F" title="en">Buy the album</a></p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/KODAK-BLACK-Back-For-Everything" hreflang="fr">KODAK BLACK - Back For Everything</a></strong></p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2022/.kodak-black-back-for-everything_t.jpg" alt="KODAK BLACK - Back For Everything" style="float:right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em;" title="KODAK BLACK - Back For Everything" /></p>
<p>Recently, Kodak Black was sentenced to prison, and then pardoned by Trump. He was shot at a party, and boycotted for his misbehavior with women. And on this album, he laments about the delinquent life he will never leave, about this thug nature, that estranged him from his lovers and friends. The rapper, however, reminds all about how crucial he is, with this superb release.</p>
<p><a href="https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/KODAK-BLACK-Back-For-Everything" hreflang="en">Read full review</a><br />
<a href="https://amzn.to/3Nwhvnx" hreflang="en">Buy the album</a></p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/KENDRICK-LAMAR-Mr-Morale-The-Big-Steppers" hreflang="en">KENDRICK LAMAR - Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers</a></strong></p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2022/.kendrick-lamar-mr-morale-the-big-steppers_t.jpg" alt="KENDRICK LAMAR - Mr. Morale &amp; The Big Steppers" style="float:right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em;" title="KENDRICK LAMAR - Mr. Morale &amp; The Big Steppers" /></p>
<p>Kendrick is much too large. There are too many intentions and interferences, in anything he does. His albums are too full of sounds, emotions, themes, and ambitions, that haven't much to do with music. That one more particularly, even though it has some great moment to enjoy, for whom is brave enough to eat the entirety of this big fat wedding cake it took him five years to cook.</p>
<p><a href="https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/KENDRICK-LAMAR-Mr-Morale-The-Big-Steppers" hreflang="en">Read full review</a><br />
<a href="https://amzn.to/3WAaoio" hreflang="en">Buy the album</a></p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/PUSHA-T-It-s-Almost-Dry" hreflang="en">PUSHA T - It's Almost Dry</a></strong></p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2022/.pusha-t-it-s-almost-dry_t.jpg" alt="PUSHA-T - It's Almost Dry" style="float:right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em;" title="PUSHA-T - It's Almost Dry" /></p>
<p>Each new Pusha T album is better than its predecessor. The ex-Clipse rapper shows it once again with that one, featuring his brother and old accomplice Malice, and delivered with the help of his historical producers, Pharrell and Kanye, both at their best. <em>It's Almost Dry</em> is a midlife review and a nostalgic album delivered by veterans, but with some passionate cocaine rap in it.</p>
<p><a href="https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/PUSHA-T-It-s-Almost-Dry" hreflang="en">Read full review</a><br />
<a href="https://amzn.to/3MZPrfy" hreflang="en">Buy the album</a></p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/VINCE-STAPLES-Ramona-Park-Broke-My-Heart" hreflang="fr">VINCE STAPLES - Ramona Park Broke My Heart</a></strong></p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2022/.vince-staples-ramona-park-broke-my-heart_t.jpg" alt="VINCE STAPLES - Ramona Park Broke My Heart" style="float:right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em;" title="VINCE STAPLES - Ramona Park Broke My Heart" /></p>
<p>What people like with Vince Staples, is that he is a "conscious" gangsta rapper, like Kendrick Lamar. This is why he is a critic favorite. His approach, though, is distinct. There is nothing oversophisticated on his albums. No self-indulgent display of sounds, influences, or flows. But on the opposite, some numb music mixed with emotionless raps, and songs that are nonetheless powerful.</p>
<p><a href="https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/VINCE-STAPLES-Ramona-Park-Broke-My-Heart" hreflang="fr">Read full review</a><br />
<a href="https://amzn.to/3LwInGd" hreflang="en">Buy the album</a></p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/TRAPLAND-PAT-Trapnificent" hreflang="fr">TRAPLAND PAT - Trapnificent</a></strong></p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2022/.trapland-pat-trapnificent_t.jpg" alt="TRAPLAND PAT - Trapnificent" style="float:right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em;" title="TRAPLAND PAT - Trapnificent" /></p>
<p>Trapland Pat is another Haitian rapper from Florida who delivers generic trap music themes and lyrics. But he has a strong and distinct personality, and he benefits from some great beats delivered by PepperJack Zoe and a few other producers. With Fredo Bang, Big30, Eli Fross, Mozzy or just alone, he shows how accurate his album title is: he is absolutely trapnificent.</p>
<p><a href="https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/TRAPLAND-PAT-Trapnificent" hreflang="en">Read full review</a><br />
<a href="https://amzn.to/44lofhu" hreflang="en">Buy the album</a></p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2023/YOUNG-DOLPH-Paper-Route-Frank" hreflang="en">YOUNG DOLPH - Paper Route Frank</a></strong></p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2022/.young-dolph-paper-route-frank_t.jpg" alt="YOUNG DOLPH - Paper Route Frank" style="float:right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em;" title="YOUNG DOLPH - Paper Route Frank" /></p>
<p>This is Young Dolph at his purest, indefectibly loyal to the streets. The production is rock solid. The sequencing of the songs is perfect, with the proud start and the bitter end. The guests are keen on paying a tribute to the master, especially a few disciples of the defunct king of Memphis. No rapper should ever die like Dolph did, but any posthumous record should look like his.</p>
<p><a href="https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2023/YOUNG-DOLPH-Paper-Route-Frank" hreflang="en">Read full review</a><br />
<a href="https://amzn.to/3Bz2ZaN" title="en">Buy the album</a></p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><strong><a href="https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2023/YOUNG-SLO-BE-Southeast" hreflang="en">YOUNG SLO-BE - Southeast</a></strong></p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2022/.young-slo-be-southeast_t.jpg" alt="YOUNG SLO-BE - Southeast" style="float:right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em;" title="YOUNG SLO-BE - Southeast" /></p>
<p>Another rapper killed while he was at the top of his game. Young Slo-Be, indeed, the figurehead of the Stockton rap scene, was murdered in August 2022. And just before he died, as if this was all planned, he delivered one of his finest albums, dedicated to his district in the southeast of the city - a place he will never escape from - and closed with a prophetic song about his funerals.</p>
<p><a href="https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2023/YOUNG-SLO-BE-Southeast" hreflang="en">Read full review</a><br />
<a href="https://amzn.to/3ONfzeu" hreflang="en">Buy the album</a></p>
<p><br /></p>
<p><br /></p>
<h4><strong>YOUR 5 ALBUMS</strong></h4>
<p>And you, what are your 5 favorite rap albums of 2022?</p>
<p><br /></p>
<iframe src="https://form.dragnsurvey.com/survey/r/c8431c7b" style="width:100%; height:1900px;"></iframe>
https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/the-best-rap-albums-of-2022#comment-formhttps://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/feed/atom/comments/3248YOUNG SLO-BE - Southeasturn:md5:b084a8c140fcf4224b4a9d69c6bd29d32023-03-14T22:26:00+01:002023-06-18T14:29:51+02:00codotusylvAlbums2022StocktonThizzler On The RoofYoung Slo-Be <p>According to some, Young Slo-Be had two major influences. One is Bris, the Sacramento rapper. The other is Drakeo The Ruler, the figurehead of Los Angeles' new rap. When noticing such similarities, though, no-one anticipated that these three guys would share a common fate. Bris, indeed, was shot down in 2020. One year later, Drakeo was stabbed to death. And eventually, in 2022, at 29, Young Slo-Be was murdered as well. Such has started the new decade in California: with the murder of its most promising rappers.</p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2022/young-slo-be-southeast.jpg" alt="YOUNG SLO-BE - Southeast" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="YOUNG SLO-BE - Southeast" /></p>
<p>This is all the most striking, that death stroke Young Slo-Be at the top of his game. Over the prior years, the Stockton man recorded some remarkable albums, like the <em>Slo-Be Bryant</em> series, and <em>Red Mamba</em>. But the ultimate one, he released just a few months before dying, is particularly strong.</p>
<p><em>Southeast</em> is, like the others, a long dive into the wild streets of Stockton, that the rapper both curses and celebrates. This is some suffocating music, with disturbing details such as ethereal samples, distant bells, and the barks of some dogs – rottweilers, according to "HoodStar". And there, people remain among themselves: this is the NorCal family, with neighbors from the Bay Area (Daboii), Sacramento (Mac J, Bris, Freeway Donny…) and a few pals from the EBK click.</p>
<p>But Young Slo-Be is at his very best. He masters his formula made of pauses, silences, muffled sounds, threatening murmurs, and a few layers of synth ("Thugg Konversation"), organ ("Ricky") and guitar ("Trippin On U"). "Muscle", "Push Thru" and "Hectik" for example, each in its own way, leverage feminine voices that are another trick from the rapper.</p>
<p>Young Slo-Be also appropriates a mainstream hit single, Ginuwine's "Pony", as he'd done it in the past with Mariah Carey's "Circles" with his most famous song, "I Love You".</p>
<p>And of course, there's the ultimate track of this ultimate album. With its unexpectedly joyous sample, "Don't Kome 2 My Funeral" is all the most striking, that it is prophetic. That single, the last one Young Slo-Be shot a video for, anticipates his death. It is a farewell letter, where the rapper talks about his regrets, and that is a tribute to those who really mattered in his life, more particularly his pals the thugs.</p>
<p>With such a song, and this album he dedicated to a world he would never escape – the Nightingale Avenue surroundings, in the southeast of Stockton - Young Slo-Be, and that's some cold comfort, delivered a perfect musical testament.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://amzn.to/3ONfzeu" hreflang="en">Buy this album</a></strong><br /></p>
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https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2023/YOUNG-SLO-BE-Southeast#comment-formhttps://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/feed/atom/comments/3361YOUNG DOLPH - Paper Route Frankurn:md5:68ef3b299ef6179b298cf9754f7131fd2023-03-01T22:58:00+01:002023-12-20T08:19:13+01:00codotusylvAlbums2022MemphisPaper Route EmpireYoung Dolph <p>It is logical that the PRE state of the art we started just after Young Dolph died, ends with Young Dolph. As a matter of fact, a posthumous album was released recently, by the end of 2022. And contrary to others, this is more than an opportunistic move, aimed at taking advantage of a tragic event. Despite a few additions and corrections, it's not only about scraping what's left. This is a real album, Dolph was planning to release when he was still alive. And it is quite strong.</p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2022/young-dolph-paper-route-frank.jpg" alt="YOUNG DOLPH - Paper Route Frank" class="media-center" title="YOUNG DOLPH - Paper Route Frank" /></p>
<p>This is, indeed, Young Dolph at his purest. Nothing superfluous was added after his death. This is still the same guy there, with his deadpan humor, and his main subject matter: his indefectible loyalty to the streets and to drug dealing. The Frank this is about, actually, as alluded to on the "Hall Of Fame" single, is the drug kingpin Frank Matthews.</p>
<p>As early as on the first track, "Love For The Streets", the rapper makes a strong impression with his braggadocio, like when he pretends he had his first "bitch" when he was seven. Dolph is dead now. Sure. Nonetheless, he is in good shape.</p>
<p>Truth be told, there's nothing original or sensational with his lyrics. He is not playing with words, there is barely any double-entendre. But he is splendidly classy and insolent.</p>
<p>Dolph just boasts, but he does it with lots of style.</p>
<p>"Blind Fold":</p>
<blockquote><p>Different car for every day of the week<br />
But I don't even got time to drive 'em</p></blockquote>
<p>"Roster":</p>
<blockquote><p>Drinkin' Dom Perignon out the bottle</p></blockquote>
<p>"Smoke My Weed":</p>
<blockquote><p>What the fuck is ten stacks? I spent that on a coat</p></blockquote>
<p>"Infatuated With Drugs":</p>
<blockquote><p>Fucked her one time and she won't stop braggin'</p></blockquote>
<p>And also there's that one on "Uh Uh"...</p>
<blockquote><p>You ain't never seen another nigga like me</p></blockquote>
<p>... which is so true, unfortunately.</p>
<p>That "nigga", also, discloses his intimate face. He does it on "Old Ways", when he says that family life changed his perspective. On "Always", even though he is prouder than ever, he talks about an existence surrounded by cops, rivals, and female profiteers, that doesn't look that fun. On the same track, he anticipates his funerals, wondering why the street lottery preserved him so far. And on "Get Away", he says he wants to let everything go. Crime, rap, celebrity. Everything.</p>
<p>His record remains a family business. The main guests are his protégés from Paper Route Empire. The producers are BandPlay, and like-minded others such as Drumma Boy, and the Memphis legend DJ Squeeky. As for the other contributors, they are all from the same trap music lineage, like 2 Chainz, or Gucci Mane, their model, and their godfather.</p>
<p>These gents, especially his disciples, do their best to honor the rapper. Key Glock delivers a strong performance on "That How". And "Infatuated With Drugs", with Big Moochie Grape and Snupe Bandz, is outstandingly strong.</p>
<p>Moreover, the production work is solid. Both reverent and original, it is well balanced. It has the perfect dose of violins, thrumming synthesizes, ethereal voices to brighten the skeletal trap music. And the songs are well sequenced, from the lively "Love For The Streets", to the bleak "Get Away".</p>
<p>Dolph is six feet under, but on <em>Paper Route Frank</em> he is still with us. He remains insolent, and he stands there, defying his opps, without batting an eye. No rapper should die like him, that's rule number 1. Rule number 2 is that no posthumous album should ever be released, unless it looks like this.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://https://amzn.to/3Bz2ZaN" hreflang="fr">Buy this album</a></strong><br /></p>
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https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2023/YOUNG-DOLPH-Paper-Route-Frank#comment-formhttps://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/feed/atom/comments/3355JAY FIZZLE - Donafizzourn:md5:9e954f8821ed969c57f8b90512e22afb2022-12-29T13:09:00+01:002023-04-21T19:59:33+02:00codotusylvAlbums2022Jay FizzleMemphisPaper Route Empire <p>Let's continue our review of the Paper Route Empire roster, we started earlier in the year. Let's carry on with <em>Donafizzo</em>, Jay Fizzle's latest album. That one is not a rookie. This cousin of Dolph released records for more than five years. And he is the rapper who delivered the most vibrant homage to his mentor, on the <em>Long Live Young Dolph</em> tribute: "the way I talk, the way I walk, the way I act, the way I dress; the way I do my thing up in the booth, I learned it from the best".</p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2022/jay-fizzle-donafizzo.jpg" alt="JAY FIZZLE – Donafizzo" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="JAY FIZZLE – Donafizzo" /></p>
<p>Also, he is the one who honors him the best on his new record. At least in the original version since, as usual, the bonus tracks of the Deluxe edition dilute the record's overall quality. They also delay our pleasure. Because of them, the album no longer starts with one of its best tracks, "Hood Rich", a clichéd braggadocio about the rapper's material success, but also a nice piano-infused piece of trap music.</p>
<p>Seconded by Sosa 808 on the beats, as well as others like Hitkidd, who helped recording a remarkably diverse album, Jay Fizzle provides us with some other highlights. The ode to luxury "Look Like Money", with Jackboy and Joddy Badass is one of them. The martial "Choppas On Choppas" is another, as well as "Murder", with another house artist, Snupe Bandz, and the rags to riches anthem "Nothing Into Something", where his style gets similar to Young Dolph's.</p>
<p>Thanks to such songs, Jay Fizzle stands out. Thanks also to other key attributes: the way he eats words, or his references to childhood heroes: The Lion King, Son Goku, Jackie Chan, and of course the one on the covert art, Donatello of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Also, he is obsessed with girls. He pretends he has full collections of them on "50 Freaky Bitches", one more song based upon the <em>Mission: Impossible</em> theme, and on "Four Hoes". And that's not only bragging. According to rumors, the rapper had something like 14 to 22 children, almost all from different mothers…</p>
<p>What matters to Jay Fizzle, is that PRE stays at the top, according to "Standin On Top Of Shit", with Key Glock. He wishes he continues to represent his city, on "Dust Town Livin", with two other young guys from Memphis, Big Moochie Grape and Big Scarr (RIP). Even though that track is weaker than others, the rapper reaches his goal with his album, quite probably the best released by his label in 2022.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://amzn.to/3T24Ble" hreflang="fr">Buy this album</a></strong><br /></p>
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https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/JAY-FIZZLE-Donafizzo#comment-formhttps://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/feed/atom/comments/3330KENDRICK LAMAR - Mr. Morale & The Big Steppersurn:md5:c997d41420bf5061833a1e0aeff8b1162022-12-18T22:35:00+01:002023-06-27T20:54:02+02:00codotusylvAlbums2022Aftermath EntertainmentInterscope RecordsKendrick LamarLos AngelesPGLangTop Dawg Entertainment <p><em>DAMN.</em> was only an interlude. After he delivered that (relatively) starker album, Kendrick Lamar went back to his old bad habits. His last release, indeed, looks like a big fat wedding cake. One thousand one hundred and fifty days happened between these two works, as the little prince of Compton points out. It took him that much time to build this new blockbuster. He had all opportunities to build this new record with too many guests, too many producers, too many subject matters, and to make it properly indigestible.</p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2022/kendrick-lamar-mr-morale-the-big-steppers.jpg" alt="KENDRICK LAMAR - Mr. Morale &amp; The Big Steppers" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="KENDRICK LAMAR - Mr. Morale &amp; The Big Steppers" /></p>
<p>As a matter of fact, it took us no less than two hundred and nineteen days to write something about it. And still, even after that time, it is hard to decide what to think about this album. Or maybe we were set even before it was released.</p>
<p>By experience, we knew that everything that makes Kendrick likable would still be there, on <em>Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers</em>. There are good reasons, indeed, why he is one of the most revered and commented rappers of his times.</p>
<p>He is still this gifted guy, who can change his flow depending on what he talks about, like with the hook on the "N95" single, where he sounds like Young Thug, or with "Purple Hearts", where he moves seamlessly from rapping to singing. He is haunted, at times. He is possessed on the first half of this work that is, actually, a double album, on pieces like "Die Hard", or intense songs like "Father Time".</p>
<p>We knew, also, that we would find there everything that is irritating with him, starting with this messy intermingling of sounds and influences, whose lack of cohesiveness is all the most accentuated by the constant changes of tempo that Kendrick Lamar, a complacent virtuoso, likes to operate.</p>
<p>The tone is set as soon as with "United in Grief", with its unpredictable assemblage of frantic rhythms, symphonic strings, quiet pianos, and the relentless way the rapper shares his observations. It is wordy, and it is chaotic. And though, it works. And though, it is wordy, and it is chaotic.</p>
<p>With his many sounds, and also the variety of its subject matters – we'll talk about these in a moment – <em>Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers</em> is an excessive album. It is lengthy, too. 73 minutes? Really? Was it necessary, now that the CD era is gone, and none forces you to be that long? Now that, in the times of Deezer and Spotify, albums can be short again?</p>
<p>People complain about Kanye West's delirious megalomania, but why don't they make the same fuss when it comes to Kendrick Lamar's? Doesn't he think he is Jesus as well, when posing with a crown of thorns like on the cover art?</p>
<p>The answer is known: while the former clowns around with Donald Trump, or tells bullshit about Hitler with a stupid ski mask on his head, the latter is careful about what he says. His lyrics are about himself, he talks to his mirror, but he is prone to autocriticism. And his themes, in addition, fit perfectly well the sociopolitical agenda of today's America.</p>
<p>His pose, his opinions, his status in the history of rap and the African American community, are what matter with Kendrick. This is what the press talks about, first and foremost. That's why so much is written about him, more than with any other contemporary rapper. This is what it's all about. Just read most articles or reviews about him: very few talk about his music. These are all thoughts, observations, and comments about Jesus Lamar's place in today's world.</p>
<p>Each Kendrick Lamar album has a main theme. Each of them is, somehow, a concept-album. And that one is no exception. It looks like a psychotherapy, for this guy who's now reached his thirties. After having been a spokesperson for the African Americans on <em>To Pimp A Butterfly</em>, the rapper focuses on his family. The cover art is clear about that, that shows his wife and his kids. Kendrick talks about his relationship to his dad on "Father Time", and to his mum on "Mother I Sober". And on the latter, as well as on "Worldwide Steppers", he mentions a sex addiction that makes him an unfaithful husband. Even when Baby Keem raps, it is still about the same clan and family since he is his cousin.</p>
<p>Such intimate confessions, though, allows him to talk about many, many, more general, social, and political hot topics.</p>
<p>The pandemic? He mentions it on "N95", where he criticizes how the government managed it, on "Count Me Out", and then on "Savior", where he mocks the antivax militants. The African American condition? It is still in the background of his family considerations, especially on "Mother I Sober", where the rape her mother suffered from, leads him to comment about the sexual submission that's been a tradition for black women since the times of slavery. Interracial relationships? They are mentioned on "Wolrdwide Steppers", when the rapper questions his own affairs with white women. Child abuse? He alludes to it when talking about his children on "Mr. Morale". LGBT rights? Here we go, its on "Auntie Diaries", about Kendrick's transgender cousin and uncle. Toxic masculinity? It is a theme on "Father Time". Marital conflicts? It's on "We Cry Together", with the domestic dispute the rapper plays with Taylour Paige.</p>
<p>Other rappers delivered similar songs. Eminem of course, with "Kim", and before him Slug, with "Primer". But while they embodied some violent and frustrated white male that made his wife a victim, Kendrick is more cautious: in his own dispute, the woman has a say. She is as strong and virulent as her partner. They are equally acrimonious, and they have an articulated way to share their grievances. They are pointing out each other's contradictions. And eventually, they reconcile, and they have sex. The devil can't really win.</p>
<p>Kendrick, indeed, remains a good guy. He is plagued by doubt. He questions his own acts, and he admits he is not perfect. And though he presents himself as a new Christ, he also urges people not to revere him as an idol. According to "Savior", he doesn't want to be considered as such, a savior. On "Mirror", he says that his own fate worries him more, than where the world goes. Good old Kendrick is the most celebrated rapper of his times, but he is a such modest man!</p>
<p>He even pretends to be his opposite, Kodak Black, whom he invites all along the album. He allows the Floridian rapper to justify himself on "Rich", and to claim he is only a product of his environment. That's a bold move, sure, to support a man boycotted by many due to his rapist past.</p>
<p>But Kendrick Lamar takes measured risks, while he confronts the cancel culture, a movement not everyone supports, anyway. Essentially, this strengthens his image as a nuanced artist, and his reputation as an independent man. All in all, with such a rapper, we never know what comes from calculations, bravery, conformism, or spontaneity.</p>
<p>Kendrick says it on "Crown": "I can't please everybody". No, he can't please everybody. But the very fact he talks about this, shows that his ambition lingers there, in the back of his mind. That's the matter with him. At the end of the day, he is still a pleaser, a complacent man. But when it comes to music, it is sometimes better to be the one who doesn't give a shit, the one who hurts, the one who throws it all away.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://amzn.to/3WAaoio" hreflang="en">Buy this album</a></strong></p>
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https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/KENDRICK-LAMAR-Mr-Morale-The-Big-Steppers#comment-formhttps://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/feed/atom/comments/3319BIGWALKDOG - Trick Cityurn:md5:dbb93444072e0e714af701e6a81cb5a72022-11-18T22:20:00+01:002023-02-27T13:28:50+01:00codotusylvAlbums1017 Records2022BigWalkDogTutwiler <p>Tutwiler is a small town. It's a village, almost, based upon American standards, with even less than 4,000 inhabitants. This is a family. As a matter of fact, the mayor is Da’Jour Walker's own aunt. Therefore, when the rapper known as BigWalkDog got noticed by Gucci Mane, when he joined his New 1017 label and featured on his "Poppin'" single, the local authorities celebrated him with a triumphant parade.</p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2022/bigwalkdog-trick-city.jpg" alt="BIGWALKDOG - Trick City" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="BIGWALKDOG - Trick City" /></p>
<p>The wonder child of Tutwiler, Mississippi, was welcome back with honors, during a march organized specifically for him. He became a local hero. Even though he isn't living in that town anymore, even though he recorded his first songs in Memphis before settling in Atlanta, closer to his new mentor, people partied for him, in that middle of nowhere.</p>
<p>Yes, Tutwiler is the middle of nowhere. But a very special nowhere. This is, indeed, where John Lee Hooker was born, along with other bluesmen. This is the real deep South, and therefore the beating heart of African American music, this simple and generic art that has nonetheless more depth and more value than any other with higher esthetical ambitions.</p>
<p>Trap music is the new blues. And BigWalkDog, somehow, is the new bluesman. His first album shows this. There's nothing new on <em>Trick City</em>. Its formula was popularized a while ago by Gucci Mane. It is an established tradition. All over the record, except for a few digressions like Helluva's contribution to "I'm the One" – BigWalkDog has connections in Detroit, the city of his father – this is the music of Atlanta. This is made of stereotyped 808s and piano keys.</p>
<p>However, it feels good to be in Trick City, even though it is submerged by drugs and violence. This is an homogenic record, with no real flaw, and the comfort provided by the expected lyrics about the rapper's passion for glittery jewelry, he shares with his mentor, and luxury cars, Percocet, or pole dancers. Nothing is particularly original there; neither the song titles – things such as "So Icy", or "Love of the Money" – nor the ad-libs, that are made of a simple and trivial "hey". But despite all this, there are multiple great moments there.</p>
<p>There are the singles, "Poppin'" of course, but also Whole Lotta Ice" with Pooh Shiesty, another Gucci Mane protégé, and the Atlanta star Lil Baby. And there are other songs: the atmospheric Mary Jane" about guys smoked like marijuana, the two "What You Hear" storytelling moments, the trouble stories of "Nino", the emo gangsta posture of "Son of a Gun", the rags-to-riches anthem "Came from the Bottom", and the nice melodies of "Uncle Tommy", where BigWalkDog mixes his desire for success with family reminiscences.</p>
<p>Even the bonus tracks are strong, like "SIN", with Rylo Rodriguez, or the strip club hymn "Vert", featuring Big Scarr. Because of this, even in its extended version, <em>Trick City</em> is one of the very best (t)rap music artifacts delivered this year.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://amzn.to/3WYZd3J" hreflang="en">Buy this album</a></strong></p>
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https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/BIGWALKDOG-Trick-City#comment-formhttps://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/feed/atom/comments/3310JID - The Forever Storyurn:md5:605c0ee73718b7403020aabb79060e382022-11-01T22:07:00+01:002023-04-20T07:23:59+02:00codotusylvAlbums2022AtlantaDreamville RecordsInterscope RecordsJID <p>Sometimes, JID is called the Kendrick Lamar of Atlanta. Some of his fans might be angered by this comparison. They might find it lazy. But it is not entirely unfounded. At time, the texture of his voice sounds like the Compton rapper's. His rapping technique is close as well. He, too, has a malleable and unpredictable flow, and he is keen on playing with words. He is another virtuoso not scared of excesses.</p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2022/jid-the-forever-story.jpg" alt="JID - The Forever Story" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="JID - The Forever Story" /></p>
<p>The same goes with his musical style, that defies all established frameworks. Like the other, he represents his city. The last JID album, indeed, sounds at times like Atlanta, as with its first real song, the striking "Raydar". But his kind of trap music is severely mistreated. It is battered, and crushed. JID, also, explores new formats. He goes back to the soul or gospel music of the old times. He changes tempo and cuts his songs into pieces, so that he challenges his flow even further.</p>
<p>As Kendrick, to achieve this ambitious album - and like with any rap blockbuster - JID invited an army of collaborators, and he seeks to satisfy all audiences: your mama, the hoes and the trappers, according to "Raydar". Also, he took his time. While the average regional rapper would release one project every two months on the streaming platforms, it took him four years to finalize this official record. In the meanwhile, he only delivered a few collaborative tracks, and he participated to a Spillage Village collective album, exactly like the other had fun with the <em>Black Panther</em> soundtrack.</p>
<p>It is precisely because of this long wait, and because it took him "forever" to put an end to this record, that the Atlanta rapper named it <em>The Forever Story</em> ; as well as to underline the continuity with his first album, <em>The Never Story</em>, he released when he was still a newcomer sponsored by J. Cole.</p>
<p>Like the little prince of Californian rap, JID has lyrics with substance. There are some deep thoughts about the African American condition, there. Per the cover art, that represents the multiple profiles that exist in that community, there is also a bit of social commentary. It is signified at the very start, with a few words from The Last Poets on "Raydar".</p>
<p>On "Money", for example, JID recalls where the rappers' obsession for money originated: from the poverty of their youth, a condition that never really disappear. He also talks about religion, the Christian one, as well as the Rastafarian, like with "Dance Now", about the street sinners. And as Kendrick the media favorite, once again, JID colors his general statements with observations from his own life.</p>
<p>The best example is the great "Crack Sandwiches", where JID talks about some past mishap with his six siblings. While talking about a fight they all joined, he alludes to his family underprivileged existence, in the famous Zone 6 of Atlanta. With two renowned guests, Lil Durk and James Blake, he talks at length about the same family, dedicating "Bruddanem" to his brothers, and "Sistanem" to his sister.</p>
<p>In the same vein, the intimate one, "Kody Blue 31" talks about the death of his grandmother – apparently, the chants heard at the very beginning were sung by her family on her funeral. And on "Better Days", the rapper reminisces about growing up in poverty-stricken surroundings. The album is full of such memories. The only piece missing is "2007", au autobiographic song with a contribution from JID's own father, that was discarded for copyright reasons.</p>
<p><em>The Forever Story</em> is a dense and complex album, with interwoven stories, and where serious and lighter subject matters all resonate with each other. This is a very referenced work, with lots of hypertexts, like with the hook on "Sistanem", inspired from Outkast's "Rosa Parks", or the use of one of Mos Def's most iconic samples – the one from Aretha Franklin he used on "Ms. Fat Booty" – while the very same Mos Def, a.k.a. Yasiin Bey, features on another track, "Stars".</p>
<p>Like Kendrick Lamar, again, JID delivers a sophisticated opus, that bring what they want to the medias: a great opportunity to act as exegetes and to write long reviews. Nevertheless, it is full of inspired moments, especially on its first half, with the prodigious "Raydar", "Dance Now", "Crack Sandwich", "Surround Sound" and "Kody Blu 31". This series gets close to perfection, just before JID loses himself in his own ambition, the softness of R&B sounds, and some boring considerations about the price of success.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://amzn.to/3nQ1p0F" hreflang="en">Buy this album</a></strong></p>
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https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/JID-The-Forever-Story#comment-formhttps://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/feed/atom/comments/3341VINCE STAPLES - Ramona Park Broke My Hearturn:md5:db579e77cf79f2fefc2abf81bb1bde7f2022-10-14T23:40:00+02:002023-02-27T13:28:44+01:00codotusylvAlbums2022Blacksmith Records.Los AngelesMotown RecordsVince Staples <p>The positive press on his latest album shows it once again: nowadays, Vince Staples is an established rapper. Each time, his records are praised by both specialized and generalist medias. And there are good reasons for this. First and foremost, he is on a major label. Also, his music is of the mature and varied kind. This is some post-modern kind of hip-hop, emancipated from any style, and produced by heavyweights from diverse horizons, for example DJ Mustard, DJ Dahi and Kenny Beats. And his lyrics are full of social commentaries, addressing his subject matters in a cold and critical way.</p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2022/vince-staples-ramona-park-broke-my-heart.jpg" alt="VINCE STAPLES - Ramona Park Broke My Heart" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="VINCE STAPLES - Ramona Park Broke My Heart" /></p>
<p>Vince Staples says the exact same thing as the most commonplace gangsta rappers: that he is a product of his environment. Like them, he is anchored into his own 'hood. Ramona Park, as far as he is concerned, in Long Beach. His Californian roots are visible, through DJ Mustard's work on the "Magic" single, and g-funk influences translating into organic and bass-heavy sounds, and a song called "DJ Quik".</p>
<p>Like others, he talks about tough surroundings. He says the street is his mother, on "Mama's Boy". That it anesthetized him, and made him impervious to passion and sentiments.</p>
<blockquote><p>She said she in love, what's that?</p></blockquote>
<p>This is what Staples asks on "Rose Street". He has no feeling, no sentiment. He doesn't sing any romance. He brings flowers to no-one, except for the tombs of his dead buddies. He has no affection, except for his gun on "When Sparks Fly", or the Crips and the Bloods, according to "Magic".</p>
<p>In short, this rapper is like all others. Except that his voice is numb, his music is ghostly, his mood is dark, and pessimism is prominent. Vince Staples faces his problems. Contrary to his peers, he doesn't hide his anguish behind walls of money, or a thuggish arrogance. He is not trying to flee them through an excess of drugs, nihilism, and carnal pleasures.</p>
<p>No. He does state things clearly and shortly, like on Magic":</p>
<blockquote><p>Momma met my daddy<br />
Then they had me in the ghetto<br />
Handed me a .38 and told me I was special</p></blockquote>
<p>Here it is. Done. End of the story.</p>
<p>Staples gets recognition from lyrics that are more intelligible than the collection of punchlines, other rappers tend to prefer. He gets it from his ability to hijack gangsta <em>clichés</em>, and to make their meanings more explicit, like when the tribute to his dead or incarcerated friends on "AYE! (Free The Homies)" turns into a social report, when the district he represents on "Lemonade" is depicted as a prison, when having sex with girls he doesn't love becomes a tragedy on "Player's Ways", when the money anthem "Papercuts" is everything but triumphal, or when DJ Quik's old slogan ("If it don’t make dollars, it don’t make sense" ) loses all meanings.</p>
<p>It is that distant way to approach his subject matters, that protestant kind of austerity he underlines with an apathic flow, this "conscious gangsta rap", that provides him, for better or for worse, with consideration from the medias.</p>
<p>This consideration, however, is well-deserved. Several pieces on the album prove it. Others, before Vince Staples, celebrated their guns, but "When Sparks Fly" is particularly successful at that, with its sample of Lyves's "No Love", its ethereal sounds and its double-entendres. The next track, "East Point Prayer", is as ghostly, and it is a great L.A. / Atlanta combo, as Lil Baby brings his own perspective on Staples' theme: struggling against adversity, winning despite everything. As for "Rose Street", it is the perfect anti-love song.</p>
<p>Vince Staples is at his best when he looks back at the past, like when he reminisced about the summer of 2006 on his first album, now broadly considered as his masterpiece. This new record titled after his childhood 'hood shows it once again: it could well be his best since <em>Summertime ‘06</em>.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://amzn.to/3w9uOUG" hreflang="en">Buy this album</a></strong></p>
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https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/VINCE-STAPLES-Ramona-Park-Broke-My-Heart#comment-formhttps://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/feed/atom/comments/3314TRAPLAND PAT - Trapnificenturn:md5:e10013466890d315110883e468a00dd72022-08-31T23:25:00+02:002023-05-11T11:46:59+02:00codotusylvAlbums2022Alamo RecordsBang Biz Ent.Deerfield BeachFloridaTrapland Pat <p>Some say there are three ways to escape the ghetto: sport, crime, and rap music. Initially, Patterson Menard tried the first one, before losing himself in the second. He got a ticket to the Indiana university through his practice of football, but next he got expelled for drug possession. Back to the Broward County, in Florida, he was then left with one option: in 2018 he started a career as a rapper, as Trapland Pat.</p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2022/trapland-pat-trapnificent.jpg" alt="TRAPLAND PAT - Trapnificent" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="TRAPLAND PAT - Trapnificent" /></p>
<p>His efforts were rewarded: three years later, his song "Big Business" was a success, and he joined Bang Biz Ent, Fredo Bang's label, through a partnership with Todd Moscowitz's Alamo Records. Since then, Trapland Pat performed this song in a video that featured Florida's greatest, Rick Ross.</p>
<p>Trapland Pat is not a star yet, but he looks like one. He is a big dude with grillz, the same haircut as other Haitian-Floridan rappers such as Kodak Black, and he is seen clowning around in weird videos, rolling his eyes like a cartoon character and declaiming his stupid "duh-duh-duh" ad-libs.</p>
<p>Style seems to matter over content, with that guy. At times, he gets confessional, like with the freestyle on "On The Radar", or with "Stranded", and its adequate guitar. He talks about what's behind the scenes of hustling, on "Cappin’", or about his feelings on "Love & Heartbreaks". But most often, with the morgue of those who made it out of nothing, Trapland Pat only brags about girls and money.</p>
<p>This could be just another record, in the well-delineated world of trap music, if the rapper hadn't a versatile and effortless flow, keen on changing tempos as on the song "Free All My Zombies", where he seems to be talking to himself.</p>
<p>Not much would be out of the ordinary, if he wasn't provided with the right beats by his usual partner, PepperJack Zoe, and a bunch of others. <em>Trapnificent</em> owes them some of its best ideas, like with "4 & A Baby", a track produced by Hardbody Heero and Hardbody B-Eazy, and a few bangers such as his other teamwork with Fredo Bang - titled "Astronaut Status" as if it was from Future - or the electro beat on "Hellcat", with Eli Fross, the Brooklyn drill rapper.</p>
<p>Elsewhere, Trapland Pat delivers even better songs, like the outstanding "Losses", a relentless review of the many dangers of street life, the quarrelsome "D.O.A.", where he assaults his opps with some help from Big30, the light and catchy "Motions", the lament on "Stranded", and the soft and sweet conclusion on "Routes". There are so many gems, that more lazy tracks such as "Put That Shit On" don't matter much. They won't make Trapland Pat less <em>Trapnificent</em>.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://amzn.to/44lofhu" hreflang="en">Buy this album</a></strong></p>
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https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/TRAPLAND-PAT-Trapnificent#comment-formhttps://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/feed/atom/comments/3349BIG MOOCHIE GRAPE - East Haiti Babyurn:md5:b0848608d17544d667165d983c9371952022-07-07T22:59:00+02:002023-02-27T13:28:30+01:00codotusylvAlbums2022Big Moochie GrapeMemphisPaper Route Empire <p>The show must go on. Young Dolph stopped being bulletproof. He is dead, now. But his little empire, Paper Route, still stands tall. The dolphin's heir apparent, Key Glock, took control, and other protégés like Kenny Muney and Big Moochie Grape remain quite active. "Long live Dolph, yeah, I took a big loss, get your real big bruh, just know we gon' handle it", the latter said on "In Dolph in Trust", a track from the tribute compilation <em>Long Live Young Dolph</em>. He is going to handle it, indeed. His last album shows it.</p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2022/big-moochie-grape-east-haiti-baby.jpg" alt="BIG MOOCHIE GRAPE - East Haiti Baby" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="BIG MOOCHIE GRAPE - East Haiti Baby" /></p>
<p>This is a familiar story: Young Dolph took under his wing a former juvenile delinquent with a knack for rapping. And with the loyal and frequent support of BandPlay, the house producer, the young ruffian delivers the same music as his boss, inclusive of (posthumous) verses from him on "Fun".</p>
<p><em>East Haiti Baby</em> is a new product from the Paper Route Empire factory, a label that believes in arts and crafts and independence. Once again this is rap music that, with excessive gangsta lyrics, a guy more preoccupied by his standard of living than his sentiments, and a jerky flow, recalls the everlasting influence of another Memphis hero, Project Pat.</p>
<p>Like his partners in crime, Big Moochie Grape always tells the same story, about those who have nothing ("Never Had Shit") but who want everything, asap ("Right Now"). His lyrics don't care about morality, and they take no precaution, the rapper, unbridled, using overtly forbidden words such as "pussy", "faggot" or "bitch", like on the sepulchral and uncivil – and therefore very Memphis – "Big Flair".</p>
<p>Of course, the album is as imperfect as it is generic. But it has many gems. After the introductive and eponymous "East Haiti Baby" – with the same Bill Whiters sample as Blackstreet's "No Diggity" – there's the forenamed and remarkable "Never Had Shit", the indolent "Christopher Wallace" where Big Moochie Grape measures himself to Biggie, this "Breakdance" featuring Key Glock that is delightfully threatening with the minimalistic piano beat delivered by BandPlay, a gothic and brutal "Joe Biden", the ego-trip and relentless piano of "I"m the One", the aggressive and implacable "Acting Up", and then a definitive "Takeover", that would have benefited from being the album final track.</p>
<p>The show will go on. As for the abovementioned Notorious B.I.G., there will be a life after death, for Young Dolph. Big Moochie Grape and the others will guarantee it, no doubt.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://amzn.to/41mzlS0" hreflang="en">Buy this album</a></strong></p>
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https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/BIG-MOOCHIE-GRAPE-East-Haiti-Baby#comment-formhttps://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/feed/atom/comments/3325PUSHA T - It's Almost Dryurn:md5:dad19b159e5cafd463e854a3d22ebbb72022-06-17T22:32:00+02:002023-04-26T11:50:14+02:00codotusylvAlbums2022Def Jam RecordingsGOOD MusicKanye WestPharrell WilliamsPusha TVirginia Beach <p>We've waited for Pusha T's solo masterpiece for a long time. Despite the hopes we had about his albums from a decade ago, or for the <em>Fear Of God</em> and <em>Wrath Of Caine</em> mixtapes, something was always missing with these. Four years ago, we thought we'd come close, with the critic frenzy around <em>Daytona</em>. But even that release was imperfect, despite its tightened format and a couple of bangers. While now, with the short but high caliber object that is <em>It's Almost Dry</em>, we're on fire, from the beginning to the end. Or almost.</p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2022/pusha-t-it-s-almost-dry.jpg" alt="PUSHA-T - It's Almost Dry" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="PUSHA-T - It's Almost Dry" /></p>
<p>The content is unsurprising. This is what Pusha T always delivered: cocaine rap. The title is a drug dealer sentence, and coke is the main subject matter, as well as a pretext to juggle with words, and to play with double (or triple)-entendre. This is an inexhaustible source of metaphors, about a full width of themes: Pusha T's life journey, or his struggles. This time, though, he benefits more than ever from the two star producers who supported him all over his career.</p>
<p>Starting with the one who seconds him since he started as a solo artist, a guy he is so close to, that he presided his label. Here, Kanye is at his best, like on "Just So You Remember", when he uses the same Colonel Bagshot sample as the one brilliantly leveraged by DJ Shadow two decades ago. And there's the other one as well. The decisive one, the guy who was already there when Clipse was The Neptunes' protégés. And he is particularly inspired, like when he plays with impromptu variations on "Let The Smokers Shine The Coupes", or when he goes experimental on "Call My Bluff".</p>
<p><em>It's Almost Dry</em> is as relentless as Pusha T's previous works. He is now in his forties, and the years have not been kind with him. For example, he recently lost his parents. But he remains restless. Nevertheless, there is a bit of nostalgia in that album. Often delivered in the past tense, it looks like a mid-life review. The rapper sets his accounts with his ex-manager, Anthony Gonzales, on "Brambleton", a track named after his origins in Virginia. And on "Neck & Wrist", jointly with Jay-Z, he talks about their rich careers, though it's not clear if this is about rapping, or about selling drugs.</p>
<p>Pusha T says he had an eventful life, like on the dark and superb "Open Air", about his start in the drug business. There's even a track named "Dreaming Of The Past", with a good old soul sample from Donny Hathaway's cover of "Jealous Guy". Whenever he produces such songs, or when he comes back to the chipmunk soul of his beginnings, on "Diet Coke", Kanye looks at the rearview. And Pharrell as well. He goes back to the 90's, even before his own emergence, when he delivers "Let The Smokers Shine The Coupes", a track that looks heavily influenced by Raekwon's immense "Glaciers Of Ice". And he uses an old 88-Keys beat, with some old school scratches, on the "Diet Coke" single.</p>
<p>"It's back to the basics". This is what Pusha T says at the beginning of the very strong "Rock N Roll" song, when he celebrates his long association with Kanye West. And so that he closes the loop entirely, he invites his old accomplice and brother, by the end of the album. The last track, indeed, is "I Pray For You", a great song with an organ, Gregorian chants, and the religious touch of both his producer and his guest, No Malice, who features with his old alias, Malice.</p>
<p>During that short moment, Clipse is back. And this is precisely why this album is so impactful: it sounds familiar. This is exactly why - a long time after a promise was made, a long time after the duo disbanded - <em>It's Almost Dry</em> is eventually turning into the masterpiece of Pusha T's solo career.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://amzn.to/3MZPrfy" hreflang="en">Buy this album</a></strong><br /></p>
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https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/PUSHA-T-It-s-Almost-Dry#comment-formhttps://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/feed/atom/comments/3346COOTIE - Welcome To The Trapurn:md5:254bf4a3bd744b14a4b70c036c6bf9f92022-05-10T22:25:00+02:002023-03-06T13:57:48+01:00codotusylvAlbums2022BlythevilleCootie <p>Rap music changes. New trends come and go. New scenes appear, year after year, in every region, and then a new wave crushes them. The music of Gucci Mane remains, though. It remains in Georgia, of course. And in Tennessee as well, where its roots are. It remains even in Illinois, as recalled a few months ago by Z Money's enticing comeback. And in Arkansas, also, judging by two new protégés of the Atlanta trap god, BiC Fizzle and Cootie, who featured last year on the <em>So Icy Boyz</em> compilation, and are both from that state.</p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2022/cootie-welcome-to-the-trap.jpg" alt="COOTIE - Welcome to the Trap" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="COOTIE - Welcome to the Trap" /></p>
<p>Cootie named his first album <em>Welcome To The Trap</em>, and that title is quite relevant. His short fifteen tracks are exactly that: a series of divagations about drug conception and trafficking, plus a full collection of hoes, dead men, and dirty money. Cootie rants about this on blazing beats, with nursery rhymes so childish, simple, and catchy, that we tend to forget how outrageous the lyrics are. Good examples are the excellent "Flip" and "Brixx". Both, actually, are new versions of iconic songs from Guwop's <em>EA Sportscenter</em> mixtape.</p>
<p>These are the braggadocios of a Pyrex expert with an agile wrist and a badass that women love, on highlights such as "Acting Tough" and the melodic "Extra". The only difference with his model, is that Cootie looks less ludicrous. His voice sounds more serious, or even deep on "Big Dreams".</p>
<blockquote><p>I feel like Gucci in '09</p></blockquote>
<p>That's what the rapper pretends on the last song, with samples from his idol. As a matter of fact, this is trap music in its purest form, the one that Guwop popularized long ago, with a few more recent routines such as flutes sounds or repetitive lyrics <em>à la</em> Migos, on "Trap Out Da Spot". That's the recipe used by other Gucci Mane protégés like Big Scarr and BIG30, who both feature on the album; the one also used by the late Young Dolph and his disciple, Key Glock.</p>
<p>Blytheville, as a matter of fact, Cootie's own base, is only a stone's throw away from the city of Memphis; Young Dolph's, but also Project Pat's, the original genitor of this style, the one who's been Gucci Mane's own model. The filiation is all the most apparent, that Cootie mimics his flow on "On The House", and he copies his "Blunt To My Lips". Cootie goes even further back into the African American long tradition about drug dealing related songs, when he recycles on "Supafly", Curtis Mayfield's own "Pusherman".</p>
<blockquote><p>Cootie here to bring the trap back</p></blockquote>
<p>That's what the rapper claims on the album. As a matter of fact, all along its fifteen tracks, we're back exactly there.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://amzn.to/41yuXiH" hreflang="en">Buy this album</a></strong><br /></p>
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https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/COOTIE-Welcome-To-The-Trap#comment-formhttps://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/feed/atom/comments/3326KODAK BLACK - Back For Everythingurn:md5:21fe71f89f713d3e1ee5878d2ab84f912022-03-30T22:17:00+02:002023-07-22T17:01:18+02:00codotusylvAlbums2022Atlantic RecordsFloridaKodak BlackPompano Beach <p>Few medias will tell you the truth. Not many will say that <em>Back For Everything</em> is one of the best albums released so far in 2022. Not because of their bad taste, or their lack of discernment. No. They just decided not to talk about this personage, infamously known for unqualifiable sexual assaults. Actually, a few critics acknowledged that Kodak Black was important, that he can't be totally ignored. But they remain careful. They aren't praising him too much, or too loud.</p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2022/kodak-black-back-for-everything.jpg" alt="KODAK BLACK - Back For Everything" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="KODAK BLACK - Back For Everything" /></p>
<p>Oh, true, they are praising others, like the older and more established rapper who recently triumphed at the Super Bowl, despite being notoriously known for his past misbehavior with women. "Too big to fail" is a universal principle, it is not only about big companies. But Kodak Black is not such a big fish: so he's been targeted by the cancel culture, even though he is, by far, one of the greatest of today.</p>
<p>Ten years have passed since Kodak Black started, and on this fourth official album, he says he is back. As a matter of fact, he never really left. His stay in prison was shortened by Trump. He delivered a few other projects in the last few years, like <em>Bill Israel</em> and <em>Haitian Boy Kodak</em>. And he was in the headlines just a few weeks ago, when someone shot him at a party organized by Justin Bieber. Nevertheless, with the success of "Super Gremlin", his single from the Sniper Gang compilation, <em>Back For Everything</em> looks like a comeback.</p>
<p>Its title says it clearly: this album is about resilience. It is also about the many wounds of a man, who confesses multiple times killing his pains with drugs, and who admits in the eponymous song that he is vulnerable to the treasons of his friends and mistresses. The rapper is still a figurehead for the gangsta rap blues popularized a while ago by Boosie, that ended up being a marker of rap music in the 2010's.</p>
<p><em>Back For Everything</em> is a melancholic record, and a great album. Built with an impressive set of producers like Boi-1da, London on da Track, Murda Beatz, Zaytoven, BandPlay and Scott Storch - to mention just the notorious ones - it is made of quiet and smooth beats. Some are quite atmospheric. And on those, with only one guest – Lil Durk, another depressed street rapper – Kodak Black confides to us.</p>
<p>With his mutters and the pain in his voice, the Floridian talks about his misfortunes. The man who will remain his entire life the "project baby" that named two of his mixtapes, is both proud and ashamed for being locked in his own universe, a world made of opps and Glocks, like on the heartbreaking "Grinding All Season", or on "He Love the Streets". He sings about the hungry ones who have nothing, on the magnificent piano and flutes of "On Everything".</p>
<p>He shares long confessions on the delicate guitar of "Omega". With another guitar, on "Love Isn’t Enough", he delivers a desperate love song. On "Take Your Back", with Lil Durk, he urges a lover fed-up with his unfaithfulness to come back to him. As for the great "Super Gremlin", it is a lament about the end of his friendship with Jackboy, and the opportunity lost by them both to become superstars.</p>
<p>His blues, his distress, his resentment even, are also about the quasi-boycott he is suffering from. With the introductive "Let Me Know", Kodak Black says that he is too gangsta to be given a Grammy Award, and he complains that he lost to Khalid at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards, but he rejoices about his influence on Cardi B's "Bodak Yellow" hit single. He is the accursed artist, the unsung hero, the one people fail to celebrate as they should, but whose work, posterity and legend are already considerable. And this new well-rounded album, undeniably, will contribute to this.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://amzn.to/3Nwhvnx" hreflang="en">Buy this album</a></strong><br /></p>
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https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/KODAK-BLACK-Back-For-Everything#comment-formhttps://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/feed/atom/comments/3247YOUNG NUDY - DR. EV4Lurn:md5:6698823ad5bb106dbaf8ce2ca0296ce42022-01-29T11:02:00+01:002023-02-18T19:27:44+01:00codotusylvAlbums2021AtlantaRCA RecordsYoung Nudy <p>With its cover art that looked like a photocopy, his disturbing music, and his psychopathic lyrics, <em>Anyways…</em> didn't look like what it was supposed to be: Young Nudy's first official album. His raps weren't welcoming, his rickety trap music wasn't of the shimmering kind... and this didn't improve with the second one, he released in May this year.</p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2021/young-nudy-dr-ev4l.jpg" alt="YOUNG NUDY - DR. EV4L" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="YOUNG NUDY - DR. EV4L" /></p>
<p>The Atlanta rapper, indeed, gets even more extreme with <em>DR. EV4L</em>. Viciously, this album is a suffocating one, with its horror movie atmosphere. This dark and malicious posture was announced by the title, as well as the cover art. It shows Chucky again, the infamous killer doll, like on the <em>SlimeBall</em> mixtape series. In addition, Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees are also referenced on the track "Child's Play".</p>
<p>As always, Young Nudy's themes are the traditional ones in trap music: drugs and girls. But in addition, he displays a strong desire to kill, he has the coldness of a murderer. In a distant way, as if he was anesthetized, he sings about shooting "niggas" ("Yellow Tap") and waiting for others to stop breathing ("Soul Keeper"). He says he got more dead bodies than anyone ("Dr. EV4L") and that the brains of his enemies are spread on the pavement ("Colombian Necktie").</p>
<p>Also, on the conclusive "Walking Dead", Young Nudy asks his listeners if they've already seen a dead body, implying that this is quite a routine for him. And when he doesn't kill his opponents, the rapper fucks their ladies, mockingly, feeding them with money and cocaine ("The Rustlers").</p>
<p>Nudy uses his strangled voice on a trap music cooked with a horrorcore sauce, with slow tempos and ethereal beats, provided almost exclusively by Coupe. And the outcome is homogenous. The tracks with a video, "Mini Me", "Child's Play" with his cousin 21 Savage, and the solid "2Face", with G Herbo, aren't even the best. Others are more notable, like "Roughneck", where Nudy introduces us to the pharmacy of his trap house, or the already mentioned "Colombian Necktie", with quite offensive verses about sex and violence.</p>
<p>This second album is worth the first. And the best part is that, a few months later, another one was released, equally good, <em>Rich Shooter</em>. In 2021, in a city, Atlanta, that lost a bit of its shine, Young Nudy's frozen heart is beating very hard.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://amzn.to/3SL4vOm" hreflang="en">Buy this album</a></strong><br /></p>
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https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/YOUNG-NUDY-DR.-EV4L#comment-formhttps://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/feed/atom/comments/3265CHIEF KEEF - 4NEMurn:md5:ec1632a45b179b6e7a0b318ba4c3c4f42022-01-25T22:16:00+01:002023-07-27T17:31:25+02:00codotusylvAlbums2021ChicagoChief KeefDrill MusicGlory Boyz Entertainment <p>In the last few years, Chief Keef didn't stop being the prolific rapper we know. He collaborated with Zaytoven and he provided follow-ups to the <em>Leek</em> and <em>GloFiles</em> mixtapes. None of these, though, pretended to be an official work. The only one that can be qualified as such is the album he released in 2021, the first since <em>Dedication</em>, four years earlier.</p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2021/chief-keef-4nem.jpg" alt="CHIEF KEEF - 4NEM" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="CHIEF KEEF - 4NEM" /></p>
<p>And damned… it was definitely worth the wait. Here, Chief Keef is euphoric and triumphant. He starts <em>4NEM</em> with a reminder that, in Chicago – he lives in L.A., nowadays – he was a survivor, which his grandmother confirms on the first track, "Bitch Where". And on the rest of the album, Keith Cozart proves it: he is still alive, he is even at his very best.</p>
<p>"Foenem" is some slang from Chicago that designates a clan, friends, close ones. And actually, this album is entirely that: an entrenchment into Chief Keef's old foundations. The only guests are Tadoe and BallOut, two pillars of his Glo Gang collective, and the music looks like he's back to basics.</p>
<p>Incendiary tracks such as "Tuxedo", "Say I Ain’t Pick Yo Weak Ass Up" and "Picking Big Sean Up" remind us about everything the original drill music owes to Lex Luger and Waka Flocka, with their hedonism, violence, and nihilism, and with their defiant and boisterous trap music that likes to play the same simplistic melodies over different octaves.</p>
<p>There are other influences, like Memphis, when Chief Keef uses the old production style of the city on "Shady", when he changes Three 6 Mafia's "Slob On My Knob" into “Like It’s Yo Job”, with the same pornographic approach as the original, or when he hijacks Young Buck's "Stomp", also produced by DJ Paul and Juicy J, on his own “Hadouken”.</p>
<p>Recently, some blamed J. Cole for looting hip-hop in a similar way. However, while the Fayetteville guy tries to mimic his idols, Chief Keef just follows his instinct and desires. He never sacrificed them to his career plans. And when he goes back to the sound that defined him, it's not to tread water.</p>
<p>Chief Keef doesn't make his influences look clean. Quite the opposite: he mistreats them, crudely, like with the amazing drums and brutal admonitions on "See Through", the changes of tone on "The Talk", "Hadouken", and "Picking Big Sean Up", or the peculiar flow he arrogates on "Yes Sir".</p>
<p>Apart from bland moments such as the lazily Auto-Tuned "Ice Cream Man", "Wazzup" and "I Don't Think They Love Me", this is Chief Keef like in the early days, but in 2021.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://amzn.to/3Oo2Tdr" hreflang="en">Buy this album</a></strong><br /></p>
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https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/CHIEF-KEEF-4NEM#comment-formhttps://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/feed/atom/comments/3373BABY KEEM - The Melodic Blueurn:md5:5a1bff6e8105a6744a1b93bf7f04bcbe2022-01-12T22:24:00+01:002023-10-28T16:03:18+02:00codotusylvAlbums2021Baby KeemColumbia RecordsLas VegasPGLang <p>Hykeem Carter doesn't arrive out of nowhere. It was eventually disclosed that the rapper, born close to Los Angeles and raised in Las Vegas, is Kendrick Lamar's cousin. This is why he featured, while still unknown, on the <em>Black Panther</em> soundtrack, and albums from Jay Rock and Schoolboy Q.</p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2021/baby-keem-the-melodic-blue.jpg" alt="BABY KEEM - The Melodic Blue" class="media-center" title="BABY KEEM - The Melodic Blue" /></p>
<p>This is also why he was among the Freshmen 2020 class, while at the time, he had only delivered two mixtapes <em>The Sound Of A Bad Habit</em> and <em>Die For My Bitch</em>, and the "Orange Soda" single. This is why he contributed to Kanye's <em>Donda</em> opus. That is why his first album is full of stars such as Travis Scott, Don Toliver, and of course K.Dot. And this is why his rap style is not too far from his family relative's.</p>
<p>As a matter of fact, the man who goes by the name of Baby Keem is as versatile a rapper as his cousin. He likes to use diverse flows and tones, and even diverse voices, with a favor for his whining one - he calls himself "baby" for a reason.</p>
<p>At times, his raps are raw and direct, like on "Family Ties" - or "family ties", his songs having no capital letter. But he can sing as well, like on the sex and club oriented "pink panties", on the hook of Che Ecru's "Fuck… Instagram". And when both men rap together, like on "family ties" and "range brothers", the youngest one compares favorably with the other, even though, like it is said, Kendrick has big shoes to fill.</p>
<p>Like his cousin, Baby Keem doesn't belong to any genre, or any predefined style of rap. Also, like him, he is a good kid in a m.A.A.d city. His upstart braggadocio and his thug postures are counterbalanced with some pieces of conscious rap. His outrageous lyrics about his thirst for girls are compensated with sensitive and romantic moments. And even though the trap music of today is dominant here, it is frequently maltreated by an almost experimental approach.</p>
<p>The rapper, who happens to be a producer as well, contributes to most of his music. And it is full of surprises, like on the first track, the great "trademark usa", which he blends with background noises and big basses close to dissonance. He splits that song into different parts, and he does it again with "range brothers", "lost souls", and "family ties". Baby Keem, in a nutshell, is as ambiguous and arty as his cousin.</p>
<p>There's a difference, though, and it is highlighted in the title of the album: <em>The Melodic Blue</em>. That peculiar rapper, indeed, likes melodies and songs. And since it is often related, he is full of melancholy. He is gloomy. He has the blues.</p>
<p>This album looks like <em>808s & Heartbreak</em> when, on "issues", Baby Keem turns confessional and fights his demons with an Auto-Tuned voice. Likewise, with "lost souls", when he looks for a soulmate among some lost girls, or with "first order of business", when he establishes the priorities of his life, or the nice "scars", when he questions God about his pains. The influence of Kanye gets even more obvious on the weaker "gorgeous": the superstar had a song with the same title, and Lil Keed alludes to another of his tracks, "Heartless".</p>
<p>At the end of the day, this is a rather satisfying patchwork of hip-hop, with the right number of guests, and a good balance between bangers and introspective moments, a right equilibrium between lightness and gravity. And to compensate for a few misses, like the collaboration with Travis Scott on "durag activity", there are very nice songs such as "cocoa", featuring Don Toliver, and the abovementioned "scars".</p>
<p>As it turns up, nepotism can have good sides, sometimes.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://amzn.to/3F6EGmv" hreflang="en">Buy this album</a></strong><br /></p>
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https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2022/BABY-KEEM-The-Melodic-Blue#comment-formhttps://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/feed/atom/comments/3400MACH-HOMMY - Pray For Haitiurn:md5:770b1cf5bde6695a8add8e19494eb0142021-12-26T16:02:00+01:002023-07-20T07:16:39+02:00codotusylvAlbums2021Griselda RecordsMach-HommyNewark <p>Mach-Hommy has not always chased success. Like some other underground heroes, he has shunned the medias for a while. Not much is known about his identity, and he is always masked, his face hidden behind the Haitian flag on his bandana. Also, his lyrics are cryptic. He mixes creole with English, refuses to write them down and, along with Your Old Droog, asked to remove them from the Genius website.</p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2021/mach-hommy-pray-for-haiti.jpg" alt="MACH-HOMMY - Pray For Haiti" style="display:table; margin:0 auto;" title="MACH-HOMMY - Pray For Haiti" /></p>
<p>Mach-Hommy doesn't want any exegetes. Interpreting his words is to be left to the listeners, according to their sensibilities. Moreover, some of his records are sold at exorbitant prices. And he left Griselda Records just after his cult <em>H.B.O.</em> album, before the Buffalo label got exposed to larger audiences, through new distribution contracts and alliances.</p>
<p>But in 2021, things have changed. Mach-Hommy is back to Griselda Records and he reconciled with Westside Gunn, who supports him on <em>Pray For Haiti</em>. He is the album's executive producer, and he features three times there, adding his squalling rap, onomatopoeias, and brat-like voice to the quiet tone of the other. Such is the case with "Folie A Deux", for example, which is actually a "folie à trois", Keisha Plum supporting the two guys with a bit of spoken word.</p>
<p>With his voice that meanders effortlessly from rumbling to thundering, and that sings at times, Mach-Hommy is self-sufficient. Nonetheless, he is assisted by many. Some guests are expected, like Tha God Fahim, his Dump Gawd acolyte, but others less, like the uncredited Melanie Charles, another singer of Haitian descent. As for the music, supplied among others by Camoflauge Monk and Conductor Williams, <em>Pray For Haiti</em> benefits from the best of the Griselda formula. This is boom bap, but with no "boom" and no "bap", a bit of jazz and soul, and clever drum plays, like on the outstanding Denny LaFlare produced "Ten Boxes - Sin Eater".</p>
<p>Mach-Hommy being back to Griselda, this album is better marketed than the previous ones. It is also – relatively – accessible, and one of the most celebrated in 2021, along with its successor <em>Balès Cho</em>. It is praised like <em>H.B.O</em> should probably have been, five years earlier. It confirms what the Newark rapper says on the first track, "The 26th Letter":</p>
<blockquote><p>Mach-Hommy is an icon, end quote, <br />
this gon' be the year I get my python trenchcoat</p></blockquote>
<p>That being said, the record is not solely about him. It is also, once again - the title says it - about Haiti. A few month after its president was murdered - the last misfortune of a very long series - Mach-Hommy asks us to pray for his martyr country. He wants 20% of its sales benefits to go to a fund that supports IT and coding courses there. Also, on the "Kreyol" skit, he praises the richness of his native language.</p>
<p>On tracks such as "The Stellar Ray Theory", Mach-Hommy talks about the children of Haiti. He plays with weather metaphors to celebrate their resilience, like when he sings "la pluie a tombé, nous pas mouillés": the rain has fallen, but we're not wet. He shares his experience with starvation on "Kriminel". He talks about his people like when, through his mother, he pays tribute to black women on "Marie".</p>
<p>On "Au Revoir", a song supported by DJ Green Lantern, the rapper wants to "make sure that everybody and they mama heard of Mach-Hommy". Judging by his sad tone, though, he is not driven by his appetite for success. Mach-Hommy has other goals, he has other statements to make.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://amzn.to/3vFRdZ7" hreflang="en">Buy this album</a></strong></p>
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https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2021/MACH-HOMMY-Pray-For-Haiti#comment-formhttps://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/feed/atom/comments/3214KA - A Martyr's Rewardurn:md5:2d1a33241d2286bff1ce7962df92e2a12021-12-15T22:54:00+01:002023-09-30T09:24:15+02:00codotusylvAlbums2021Iron Works RecordsKaNew York <p>Looking at the year-end album lists in 2021, judging by the strong presence of people such as the Griselda crew, their pal Mach-Hommy, MIKE, Wiki, Moor Mother, Armand Hammer, and a few others, it looks like the center of gravity of rap music is back to the East Coast. At least from a critics' point of view. Those are returning to their first loves. Once again, they have a crush on this good old bold and arty boom bap they used to celebrate twenty years ago, already.</p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2021/ka-a-martyr-s-reward.jpg" alt="KA - A Martyr's Reward" class="media-center" title="KA - A Martyr's Reward" /></p>
<p>And if one guy among these deserves such praises, now that he reaches his fifties, Ka is that one. Each of the concept-albums he released over the last ten years, with their Japanese, Ancient Greece, or biblical themes, was better than the last.</p>
<p><em>A Martyr's Reward</em> is no exception. That one, however, doesn't need any mythological paraphernalia. This time, Ka approaches frontally the subject matters that, at the end of the day, were always his: his life, his surrounding, and the perpetual damnation of the African American community.</p>
<p>This is some conscious rap again.</p>
<p>On "Sad To Say", Ka talks about his dog's life, and about those – the exploiters of rap music? Its fans? - who love to hear about it. On "Enough Praise / Recovering", he says his existence was a long convalescence. On "Everybody Up", he urges people to make it through, and to overcome the cycle of violence. On "I Need All That", he claims back the many things that were stolen to the Black people: their styles, their culture, their music, their dances, their souls, their lands...</p>
<p>Ka, in the meanwhile, takes a few blows. He endures them. On "Like Me", he boasts about his resilience. On "With All My Heart", he signals to those who criticized him because of borderline lyrics, that as a fireman, he was among those who saved them when the Twin Towers fell on 9/11. On "Having Nothin'", he states that poverty gave him a purpose – "having nothing gave me everything", he keeps on saying. And on "I Notice", the central song on the album, using lyrics from the greatest, Nina Simone, Ka talks about his mission in that tough world. Which is: preaching, testifying, even if it means sacrificing his happiness. In short, being a martyr.</p>
<p>Ka is someone who speaks. His words weight a ton. His dense lyrics need to be heard and analyzed carefully. The are full of hidden meanings and double-entendres, while the music gets reduced to the strict minimum. The rhythm, that is supposedly the core component of hip-hop music, almost disappears. It is replaced by a piano loop on "I Need All That", some depressed brass instrument on "Subtle", or an ethereal atmosphere, barely troubled on "Peace Peace Peace" by the voice of a guest, Joi from the Dungeon Family.</p>
<p>Instead of the familiar pulsation, we have the arpeggios of many guitars, some erratic, like on "Everybody Up", and others supported by a synthesizer, like with the second part of "We Livin’ / Martyr", or an organ, on "PWH". There are others, stormy and electric, like on "Like Me". And when drums finally emerge, on "Be Grateful", another guitar song, this is to add some thunder to the music, and not rhythm.</p>
<p>The production is essentially delivered by Ka himself. He does it alone, to strengthen the intimate aspect of the album. And when he seeks the assistance of others, his goal is not to enlarge or diversify his panel. Quite the opposite: he solicits like-minded people. Some are old-timers from his generation, such as Preservation, and others are younger, like Navy Blue, who features on "We Livin’ / Martyr".</p>
<p>That peculiar track shines a light on the album title. There, it is specified that the martyr's reward is the definitive end of all sufferings. It is death. Ka, actually, is the martyr. He sacrifices himself, so that he can save his people. This is all dark and gloomy. And though, we are glad to be part of his cult.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://brownsvilleka.com/products/a-martyrs-reward-wav-files" hreflang="en">Buy this album</a></strong><br /></p>
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https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2021/KA-A-Martyr-s-Reward#comment-formhttps://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/feed/atom/comments/3392FRENCH MONTANA, JUICY J & PROJECT PAT - Cocaine Mafiaurn:md5:4a2bf805a009f5280e5b748d845361af2021-11-16T22:30:00+01:002023-11-09T08:24:17+01:00codotusylvMixtapes2011Evil EmpireFrench MontanaJuicy JMemphisNew YorkProject Pat <p>I wish I was back in 2011. I would love to live this year again, when rap albums were boring, but we didn't give a damn, since week after week, Datpiff delivered mixtapes that were worth the best of them. I wish I could reexperience this time when, in the wake of Waka Flocka, hip-hop was hot again. When it was spontaneous, and dangerous. When it rejuvenated and sounded like a perfectly imperfect novelty.</p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2011/french-montana-juicy-j-project-pat-cocaine-mafia.jpg" alt="FRENCH MONTANA, JUICY J &amp; PROJECT PAT - Cocaine Mafia" class="media-center" title="FRENCH MONTANA, JUICY J &amp; PROJECT PAT - Cocaine Mafia" /></p>
<p>I would appreciate that, like in these days, old-timers such as the Memphis rap veterans realize that Academy Awards and respectability have no value. That on the opposite, they mummify them. That sometimes it is better to go back to the source, to the first hours of their career, when they really became the legend that they are. I wish that, every day, nice encounters take place between rappers from New-York and the dirtiest South, like the one that happened that year, on this mixtape from Juicy J, Project Pat, and French Montana.</p>
<p>This collaboration between the Coke Boy and the Three 6 Mafia family - logically called <em>Cocaine Mafia</em> - is released by the end of a busy year. In 2011, indeed, Juicy J has proven he was revitalised through his second <em>Rubba Band Business</em> mixtape, and the first <em>Blue Dream & Lean</em>. Around the same time, his big brother has released a new album, <em>Loud Pack</em>. As for French Montana, he is in the middle of his <em>Coke Boys</em> series, and a few days earlier was distributed <em>Lock Out</em>, a collaboration with Waka Flocka. <em>Cocaine Mafia</em> is released after all these materials. And there, despite their high productivity, none of the rappers has lost his energy yet.</p>
<p>The lyrics are about the usual Three 6 Mafia stuff. They are about guns to action, haters to silence, profitable prostitutes, lustful strippers, and venal women who know how to be desired. They talk about bundles of cash as high as the sky, about money that, of course, rules everything around them, and drugs that take them high, or make them rich. This is the horrific music of Memphis, but with the Moroccan's voice, and wild and emphatic sounds <em>à la</em> Waka Flocka, at their heights with bangers like "Catch Ya Later".</p>
<p>The ode to drugs and strip clubs "Weed & Hennessy", the outrageous hedonism of "Money, Weed, Blow", the original version of "Choppa Choppa Down", Akon's hook on "Self Made", the whirling sounds of the well-named "Helicopter", and the death threats on "If It Comes Down To It", are all delectable. We enjoy how our coke mafiosi use a sample of Diana Ross on "Morning Paper", or another one, from Guwop this time, to mark the beat on "I’m Gutta Brah".</p>
<p>We appreciate Lex Luger's intervention on "Is You Kiddin Me?", a track that is so typical of his style, with its octave shifts. We prize the contribution of Harry Fraud, by then an up-and-coming producer, on "Do It" and "Full Of Everything". And also, there is this featuring from DJ Paul, and another from Gucci Mane – in person this time – on "Straight Cash". All of this is so 2011. All of this is so good.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://amzn.to/3QpZCKn" hreflang="en">Buy this mixtape</a></strong><br /></p>
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https://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/post/2021/FRENCH-MONTANA-JUICY-J-PROJECT-PAT-Cocaine-Mafia#comment-formhttps://english.fakeforreal.net/index.php/feed/atom/comments/3405BENNY THE BUTCHER - The Plugs I Met 2urn:md5:6f2dda450b8180e1f0970a24df058ca32021-08-10T22:52:00+02:002023-11-27T20:26:37+01:00codotusylvAlbums2021Benny The ButcherBlack Soprano FamilyBuffaloHarry Fraud <p>Here we are. After his rise over the previous decade - and the decisive support of Jay-Z's Roc Nation – the fruit is ripe for Benny the Butcher, as for the Griselda crew more generally. He is put into orbit. He is coopted by the greatest, as demonstrated on his last album, <em>Burden Of Proof</em>, a release that looked a bit like a blockbuster, with the presence of hip-hop big names such as Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Big Sean, and Freddie Gibbs, and the production work of Hit-Boy.</p>
<p><img src="https://english.fakeforreal.net/public/Pochettes/2021/benny-the-butcher-the_plugs-I-met-2.jpg" alt="BENNY THE BUTCHER - The Plugs I Met 2" class="media-center" title="BENNY THE BUTCHER - The Plugs I Met 2" /></p>
<p>The rapper's most significant work to date, however, is not necessarily that one. It is probably more its predecessor, a denser and more concise <em>The Plugs I Met</em>, Benny the Butcher placed under the egis of Alejandro Sosa and Tony Montana. And it had a second part, a bit earlier this year.</p>
<p>This other installment is as short as the first. However, it has enough space to welcome other notabilities of rap music: Black Thought, Jadakiss and Pusha T are replaced by Fat Joe, 2 Chainz, and also Jim Jones and French Montana, now reconciled. Also, the concept is the same. Once again, the cover features the two iconic drug lords from <em>Scarface</em>.</p>
<p>The idea, though, is refined and systematized.</p>
<p>The analogy with <em>Scarface</em> is even stronger, like with "When Tony Met Sosa", when Benny compares his own success with the pivotal moment of the movie. Also, he says he will persist with what he's been criticized for: representing the ghetto, instead of turning into a poet, or an artist; exploring one unique theme, drug trafficking, and adjacent ones such as guns ("Live By It"), survival ("Longevity"), and the violent death that waits round the corner ("Survivor's Remorse").</p>
<p>In addition, Benny learned a lesson from Hit-Boy's work on <em>Burden Of Proof</em>: it doesn't hurt when only one producer contributes to a record. Here, Harry Fraud is the guy. And through his choice of samples – inclusive of unusual ones, like Sai Yoshiko's on "Plug Talk" - he provides <em>The Plugs I Met 2</em> with the appropriate cinematographic ambiance. His music looks like a soundtrack, like on "Overall", a song that features posthumously Chinx, who was murdered in 2015.</p>
<p>Apart from the "Thanksgiving" single, that was the first collaboration between the two men, and that ends the album with a prouder and spicier note, Harry Fraud delivers some great pieces of melancholy, like with the very nice "No Instructions", or "Longevity", with its guitar and ethereal voice. Such tracks suit perfectly well this kind of gangsta rap, that is more about bitterness and resignation, than glorification.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://amzn.to/47y09Ri" hreflang="en">Buy this album</a></strong><br /></p>
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