“I Spy,” D2G; JLR drops more lifestyle rap on a Saturday night

 

Without reservation, I believe D2G is one of the dopest lyricists in the city of Chicago and I’m sure you could expand that claim to include the entire Midwest. I’ve written before on this blog how I am a fan of not only his work, but his ethic and approach. Seemingly hungry on every track, D2G almost attacks his listeners, even when a track doesn’t sound entirely cohesive or a bar feels out of place.

“I Spy,” produced by GoILLian beatsmith DC, will be the first single from D2G’s upcoming album, Short Summers, Long Winters. There’s a reggae tinge to the song (sort of a DC trademark, if you’re unaware) and the bassline is hard, but smooth and not overpowering. A release date for the album is unknown at the moment, but you can be assured that it won’t disappoint, as D2G understands that as he continues to churn out good music, fans, old and new, appreciate his efforts. Enjoy.

 I’ve long been a fan of New Orleans rapper Curren$y aka “Spitta Andretti,” since his days as a member of Lil Wayne’s “Sqad Up” collective. Although he didn’t have the large profile he currently has, I still made sure to catch every one of his verses, even on the songs that I knew were straight and complete trash. Since, Curren$y has departed the group and left Weezy’s rap clutches, beginning a solo career and basically, perfecting the “Lifestyle Rap” genre. He’s even put together a roster of sorts of like-minded artists and branded “Jet Life” as a way of, well, life.

This past Saturday, the team dropped World Wide Hustlers, a project that does a bit more than past releases to showcase Jet Life members besides front-liners Curren$y and Young Roddy. Unfortunately, my rap booski Mary Gold does not make an appearance on this release, but we do get some spirited bars from Jet Lifers T.Y., Fiend, and LE$. Mr. Marcelo and Freddie Gibbs guest star on ‘WWH,’ as well. With a chill sound, this tape does not disappoint, although I would have preferred a song or track from Mary Gold, arguably the brightest star in the camp.

Life.

Review: ‘Designer Drugs (EP),’ Corner Boy P & Mary Gold (Prod. by Samir Urbina)

I have long been a fan of New Orleans rapper, Curren$y, but it took a little while before I could fully rock with his musical collective, Jet Life. Members of the group are Young Roddy, Trademark Da Skydiver, Fiend (yes, No Limit Fiend), Street Wiz, producer Monsta Beatz, Mary Gold, and Corner Boy P. While they’re not all that diverse in terms of musical stylings (except Mary Gold, because she’s a beautiful, perfect alien), it’s a solid group, and like their leader, they have all mostly honed the art of “lifestyle rap.” So when I heard that Corner Boy P and Mary Gold would team up to drop Designer Drugs on July 4, I knew I had to add it to my music library immediately.

Corner Boy P has been getting a lot of play from me lately, and that goes double for his latest solo effort, DON P, which has gotten me through a few dozen sessions since its release. Mary Gold is my favorite music artist out right now. I love her voice, I love her style, I love the style of her voice, and I love the voice of her style, if that makes a semblance of sense at all. Her Sex Hormoned Druggie mixtape was one of my favorites 0f 2013, and its appeal is still incredibly strong. Mary Gold could drop a tape in which she raps about how she hates to rap and I’d clamor for it to get 5 mics, two thumbs up, a 10/10, and Nobel Peace Prize…all at the same damn time.

“Intro” – Nothing special, really. Just what sounds like a newscaster’s voice (likely generic) informing us of the new wave, “designer drugs.”

“MCM Shades” – I’m not sure if I’ve ever heard Urbina’s production before, but if this was our first meeting, it was definitely a good one. Corner Boy starts off “MCM Shades” but it’s Mary Gold who steals the show with her delivery on the hook: “MCM in my shades, baby/You gon’ feel me, feel me…” And of course, starting her verse with “I’m a smooth bitch,” Ms. Gold set the tone for the rest of the EP, in my biased opinion.

“Remember Me” – The title is self-explanatory: “When it’s all said and done, will they remember you?” And, this is a very important question for any artist to contemplate. What will your legacy be? Corner Boy bats first, rapping: “She switch up every week/Addicted to the fame/When you lose it, tryna chase it using cocaine and extacy…” Along with making lifestyle rap, Corner Boy makes what I like to call “grinder music.” Whatever you do in life, you grind while doing it, basically. Mother Mary asks, “What you gon’ do when them lights out?” and speeds up her flow a little bit initially before reverting to her half-singing style that seemingly always gets the job done. Sickest beat on the Designer Drugs EP, for damn sure.

“Roll Up” – Oh shit, I think I love everything about this fucking song. The production is perfect for this kind of song. It could easily be played in a trap nightclub or beach party in the Hamptons where rich White kids snort everything that can be turned into powder. With a sort of 80s vibe to it (sounds like something Sade would rap over), it matches the tone of the lyrics Corner Boy drops to kick things off. Mary spends about 45-50 seconds singing “roll up” and “roll up for me” about as sexy as she possibly can before Corner Boy spits a dope, succinct verse that doesn’t even last 45 seconds, if I’m not mistaken. The break into the hook, the hook itself, as well as Corner Boy P’s verse, make this my favorite track on Designer Drugs.

“What You Got 4 Me” – Okay… “LUXURY/GIRL LIVE IN LUXURY…” Woo! Fiend makes a guest appearance, too, and it makes this track even doper.

“Outro” – This EP started with nothing special, and ended with nothing special, which was somewhat of a disappointment.

I don’t expect Corner Boy P and Mary Gold to team up again in the future, although I think they should. Then again, I’d much rather hear her collaborate with Curren$y for a full-length project, or even Young Roddy, two artists who I admittedly prefer over P. Urbina has a relatively unique sound, and partnered with the drawl of P and unabashed style of Mary, it helped make Designer Drugs a pretty good EP, despite the fact that I feel robbed, having only gotten 4 songs. Nevertheless, this is worthy of addition to your music library, especially if you’re a brand whore whose infatuation with materialism extends all the way to your drugs of preference. Good music, loves. Get into it.

For 2014: Mary Gold

Nudism, sex and drugs. It would be very tempting to confine New Orleans rapper/singer/songwriter/Nephilim (?) Mary Gold to those three things, but that wouldn’t serve her artistic persona a damn bit of justice. Granted, the intoxicating artist did release a project titled, Sex Hormone’d Druggie, but titles are for show, in my opinion.

SHD was easily the most interesting work I listened to in 2013. Whether it’s Gold’s sexy drawl, the winding production, her slurred bars or seemingly constant pining for drugs, sex or fucking liberation, I simply couldn’t stop listening to it.

I first heard Mary Gold on Curren$y and Jet Life’s Red Eye Mixtape, on “Prayer,” featuring Curren$y. “Hopefully, I don’t die/Hopefully, I don’t sink…,” Gold utters over a haunting beat. And while the song caused my heart to skip a few beats, the video was all of that and even more. The 22 year-old is clearly talented, but is so raw that it hurts. One could very well get the sense that she doesn’t want to be refined; that her jagged approach isn’t quite calculated, but certainly embraced. Her lyrics may be described as “creepy” by some, but those are generally folks who want status quo, especially from a female artist.

SHD is very diverse in terms of sound, but one could get lost in the maze that is Mary Gold. “Druggie Girl” is a very uptempo song, with Gold telling listeners, “Turned me onto the ballgame, I’mma hit her” before sounding eerily similar to Macy Gray, singing, “Baby boy, you better have some dough, if you wanna be with me…” A very smooth drug reference is heard on the LA Beatz-produced “Threesome” as it shouldn’t be difficult to figure out what Gold means by “Threesomes in my living room” after she paid ode to “white girl” and “Mary Ann.”

The guitar-heavy “Needy” is a lovers’ anthem of sorts, if those lovers were heavily under the influence, and “Grand Theft” is dangerously close to “mindfuck” territory. I don’t know what Gold meant by “All my niggas look like Jesus/So you know she tryna fuck,” but it doesn’t matter, because it fit Diggable Slim’s production and Mary’s style.

While “Prayer” was my favorite track on SHD (It was on Red Eye Mixtape to serve as an intro to Mary Gold) for a while, it didn’t take long before the Rmur-produced “Coup De Ville” became my go-to song. It’s not even three minutes long, but I didn’t care then, and I still don’t care now. Set over a steady bassline and a saxophone that just won’t fucking quit, Gold takes the listener on a journey through their city. Motherfucker, just ridin’ around…ay.

Not everyone will be a fan of Mary Gold, and even fewer will be a fan of Sex Hormone’d Druggie. But, everything isn’t for everyone. So if you can’t reconcile in your head a southern singer/songwriter/rapper/whatever she wants to be, whenever she wants to be it whose manipulated vocals will do more than their part to scare the life out of you, don’t venture in her direction. I love how fresh her music sounds, no matter how “unconventional” it may be. And I hope that in 2014, she continues to deliver the ether. Mother Mary, oh, mother Mary…