BigXThaPlug, Mike WiLL Made-It, Kota The Friend, Samara Cyn

This is Friday to Friday, your weekly rap wrap-up going through releases in rap and hip-hop from Friday, March 20th to Friday, March 27th. I have with me today artist and producer hailing from the Twin Cities, Minnesota, Terry V.

Yo, love the intro. That was dope. I got hyped.

Yeah, right? Appreciate that. Also, uh, producer and artist manager hailing from Montreal, Canada, Matt Carrié.

Yo, yo, what's up?

Uh, this week's releases we have Mike Will Made It with Reset, 6W A, a project from 600 Entertainment, BigX The Plug, Roc 30, Murder Gang PB, and Young Hood. The album is called 6W A. Kid Cudi with Have You Been to Heaven at Night EP, Baby Gucci with The Leak, Lil Keke with Streets Is My Witness, Samara Cyn with Detour, Kota The Friend with Local Art Dealer Volume 1, and a couple singles to talk about as well. So, I want to kick it off right off the bat with this 6W A project.

Yeah.

Yeah. I wanted to start off by saying I'm happy he's not doing another country project right away, at least, because I did not enjoy the country project. So, I was stoked to see not only did he not go back to country, he went to the roots of hip-hop, because this project is completely NWA and West Coast influenced throughout the whole album. The cover art is a full-on recreation of the Straight Outta Compton NWA cover, both in the lyrics and sonically. There's just tons of West Coast and NWA DNA throughout this whole thing.

Especially with the single having that specific sound, I didn't think that the whole album would have that, but yeah, I was not mad at all. And like you said, there's no, no country at all on this one. It's just pure, just hip-hop, which I'm, I'm happy with.

Hip-hop, yeah. BigX shined on this one. Roc 30 shined on this one. I wasn't— Roc 30 wasn't on my radar until I listened to this project. But yeah, no, um, the West Coast influence, the NWA influence. I like the beats on here, too. Even a joint with Snoop on there was pretty dope. 80s hip-hop and the South, like, fused together, like, really made a really good stew, and they didn't leave no meat on the bone. There was, like, those West Coast beats, but then there was also still those, like, Dallas, BigX The Plug type beats, or whatever you want to call them, and it was a mixture of the two. But it worked. The cadence of rapping, both the 90s style and, like, the kind of down South style, they're both laid back, right? So it kind of meshes well together where it's just two complete different eras, but just same energy kind of thing. Yeah. It was, it was, it was good. It was really good.

So I was trying to understand the connection between NWA and 600 Entertainment, and it was really revealed on the track A Word from the D.O.C., which was a cool message from him. Can't really call it a feature, but it was like a cool message of positivity towards 600 Entertainment. And then I saw through a little research that the D.O.C. is from Dallas, Texas, same as 600 Entertainment crew, which I had no idea about, cuz I always just assumed the D.O.C. is from the West Coast coming up with Dr. Dre. So that's the connection there, is that is the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas area.

That track would stand out to me. That, I— even though it's not a song, that message specifically, hearing someone giving blessings and saying like, "We're going to support you all the way. Just leave some crumbs behind, you know, we'll, we'll pick them up, but like we're going to support you." Like it was such a strong, nice message. Yeah. Like that's exactly what has been doing, is just pushing that sound. It was really nice to hear that, that track. It was very inspiring. Sometimes there's a disconnect between like the older generation and the newer generation of hip-hop.

Oh, yeah.

And we have to kill that and show more support to each other, even more so now that now, like, older artists are getting a chance to shine on records. And so it's, it's dope to hear that instead of the old man shaking his, shaking his fist at the cloud. We got to start showing love to these guys.

That— yeah, this was dope. I was surprised to see this one. You know, just fused off of NWA in the '80s, but yeah, no, they, they knocked this one out the park. I think this is one of my favorite— I think this was my favorite release out of the week, was the 6W A album. There were countless NWA references throughout the whole project.

Oh, yeah.

But just some quick highlights: the song "Safe to Say" was their version of "Today Was a Good Day". I don't think it actually sampled any of it, but it was at the same tempo and then wrapped up with "Today Was a Good Day" at the very end of the flow. Yeah. And then the song 6W A samples "6 in the Morning" by Ice-T, which is perfect for a 6W A. And then there was "America's Most Wanted" samples "Boyz n the Hood" by Eazy-E. And then the track with Snoop, "Sixer Party" samples "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang". So, there was a good combination of both sampling the classic tracks, but also writing from scratch some very distinct West Coast and also Dallas-Fort Worth area type beats, if you could call it that.

Mhm. Yeah. I'd also add "I'm a Dog", one of my favorite songs off of this project, too. Like I said, I want to check for more Osama. He definitely snapped on this project.

Yeah. And like you said, on 6W A they sampled, like, the "6 in the Morning", which is how Osama enters the song. Like that's his, his first bar. Which, what a great way for anyone to enter a song, right?

Understood the assignment, man.

Oh, yeah. Absolutely.

For me, I'm just learning about Young Hood and Murder Gang PB from this. I'll definitely be checking out their solo albums for sure, cuz I enjoyed this so much. That's why groups work, for cross-promotion. You get people like me that are like, "Okay, now I got a sampler from you, from your group project. Now I'm down to check out your solo stuff since you impressed me, so check out whatever comes next from them."

Yeah, yeah.

Lastly, I just want to go over a quick list of producers that worked on this thing. Tony Coles, Rance, Charles Cooks, Rick Romero, BandPlay, who we talked about a bunch last week, Montie, Dave Coe, Dwilly, BounceGoHard, 850, Chef Made, Aim on My Neck, amongst others, but those are just some highlights. BigX has rhymed over some, some dope, some dope ass [expletive], man. His [expletive] has been dope. His production has been—

Your beats are good before you have money, before you have the budget to pay the big producers, like you— you found the right producer, stick by him. Like that's— stick by your producer. Especially when you can create a real sonic identity with a producer. That's, that's really what every rapper should be aiming for, in my opinion.

Yeah. No, 100%. 100%.

All right. You guys want to talk about Mike Will Made It, Reset?

Yes.

Yeah, let's do it, man.

There was a lot of features on this. Some relevant features right now too, because we got T.I. on this right during the 50 Cent beef. We got CeeLo Green right after dropping his epic Gnarls Barkley comeback. Cole with, I believe, his first verse post Fall Off and snapping, and probably for me I liked it better than a lot of stuff on The Fall Off. But you know—

Comparison culture, but— man, yeah, that was, that was easily one of my favorite songs, was the Cole feature.

Real quick, I just want to go over: Young Thug, 21 Savage, Caribou, 2 Chainz, Huncho, Ludacris—that Ludacris verse—Tizo Touchdown, Chief Keef, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, OJ da Juiceman, Killer Mike, Swae Lee. Obviously Mike Will Made It super well connected. He can probably get almost any artist he wants.

Oh yeah.

This show— it was a good stretch of different artists that he had, cuz it wasn't all southern rappers. It wasn't all hood trap. Like he had— he brought back Ludacris, who went crazy. The J. Cole song, man. Say what you want, and I had to walk back a lot of stuff because the man's pen stays in shape, man.

100%.

And it, it stays in shape.

That I'll ever deny. He'll always be a part of the conversation.

That Killer Mike verse too, with Joey— T.I. Yeah.

That was a really interesting combo. I didn't really expect that combination of rappers.

No, and then I think Killer Mike came in last too. So like when he came— like when I heard it, I'm like, and we got Mike there. Some producer tapes will sometimes be like the same sound throughout. This had, like, very different vibes for me.

My standout was the, was the Young Thug song. I used the Spotify DJ and it let me know that I've listened to it 56 times since—

Oh my god.

I've had it on repeat. I've had it on repeat. I felt like those Young Thug vibes I didn't get with the Post Prison album. And so those specific vibes I've been craving for a while, and so I guess I just went overboard with having it on repeat. But I miss the more bouncy, melodic kind of Young Thug song, and Mike Will has the sound selection for it.

By the way, that song is called Russian Roulette.

Mhm.

Mhm. It— it sounds like some classic Thug, to the point where I'm wondering if this was a verse he had in the tuck. It feels like it.

Thug famously has thousands of unreleased songs, so it could possibly be an old unreleased song. I would love it if that weren't true and actually Thug was, like, feeling that inspired enough to give us something this good since getting out.

I would love if he was, like, really, you know, back on his [expletive], but either way, we got the song. Yeah.

That's it. And Mike Will Made It has always shown that he, he's a great producer. He can make beats. There's no denying that, but he also has a good ear. He knows what to put together, how to put it together. I mean, this isn't his first album. I don't think ever any of his albums have ever really flopped that bad, especially, like, for a producer album. They've always kind of had their couple of, you know, songs that stood out and, like, did their thing.

Mhm.

Um, and even, like you mentioned, the Ludacris verse. That gave me— that gave me nostalgia. I mean, Ludacris verses always, always have that kind of comedic tone, and, like, even the more recent ones, but that one just felt like 2005-2010, like, just—

Back in his bag now.

The beat even sounded— like, it reminded me of, like, a 2000s Timbaland beat where it had that bounce to it, where Ludacris, he just went crazy on it. He did some old school kind of flows where he was like doing a long pause, like, but a dubba dubba dubba dubba, but—

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I like that. Yeah. Yeah. Cuz that's so his style, man. Cuz Ludacris is one of my favorite rappers, and, like, influential rappers in terms of his creativity. But also, like, Tizo, I've heard some Tizo records. My friend is, like, a really big Tizo fan. One thing he, like, harps on on Tizo is just, like, his harmonies and the melodies and how he layers his vocals. And on, on Deeper, the song, like, as much as I love Ludacris' verse on there, Tizo did an amazing job on this record, too.

Yeah, true.

I remember Tizo when I was— before X became Twitter, I remember seeing Tizo with, like, maybe 100, 150 followers on there. And this guy was posting every single day. Sometimes, like, when you're, you're looking to market stuff, you know, you see how other people do and you're like, "I don't want to post every day like that. Like that seems like too much." And he did it, and look where he is now. Like this is a guy who's been selling himself and really showing, you know, what he could do. And now he's just— he's everywhere. Yeah. And like you said, the vocal layering, like it's, it's so— it's nice. It's polished. He put in the work, marketed himself, and uh, and it's paying off.

Was it the Amazon performance that Tyler had did, and he had brought Tizo out? Like, even his performance where he's, like, escaping, like, the mental patient in this big ass bed but still performing. Like, yeah, this dude is— this dude is dope. Because of his sound getting found, he's just, I guess, a hot commodity as a, you know, everyone wants him as a feature on their, on their project.

And he's done a lot of features, yeah.

Something's going to surprise drop at some point. Like you can't be so consistent and not drop something.

I mean, and if, and if anything else, like, it's just continuing his reach. It's just continuing his reach. Especially with all these different artists that are on here, like T.I., OJ, 2 Chainz. All these different artists on this project, too, to, like, to broaden, like, his range.

I forgot to say that OJ song. That was a good song, too. I feel like OJ really has a specific Gucci, you know, Brick Squad kind of trap sound. And it's, it's hard to have that sound in 2026 and make it sound kind of still authentic and not, you know, outdated. But again, Mike Will did it. It was good. That was one of my favorites as well. That, that one was called Stove Lit with OJ da Juiceman. I like the Killer Mike verse. There was a track on there with Zaytoven, and so I'm thinking, like, did they co-produce the beat? I want to say maybe Zaytoven did the melody and then Mike did the drums. I'm not sure. I can't say, but just, like, just listening to the drums on this album, like, a lot of hi-hat rolls and things like that, snare rolls that Mike—

There are a few producers on this. Like there's Mike Will, like he's the executive producer, but then you have 30 Roc, 8 Major plus Sonny Digital, London on the track, Zaytoven—

Okay.

—Southside, DJ, and BJ Burton. So I mean, like, as long as Mike Will Made It is able to step back and go, "Hey look, you do your thing and then I'll finish the song," you know? Yeah. Everything was cohesive. Everything sounded great. So I, I love to see that it wasn't just one guy doing everything, and he's able to collaborate.

Yeah. You had mentioned, like, hearing J. Cole on this album and, like, wanted to hear more of it on Fall Off. That was one of the things that I feel like a lot of people are saying, cuz people, like, "Dang, I wish I heard Cole on more beats like this and this." And even watching that interview, was just, like, it just made more sense that that was the project that he wanted to do, like, just have his hands on, to where he can walk away and say, like, "I've done it. I did my best." But I love when J. Cole raps with other producers, man. He makes some of his best work rapping with other producers.

I agree, 100%. Yeah. No— wrong, Cole. Keep doing what you do, but, you know— yeah.

But that's why the feature— the feature run was so crazy. That's part of that, is cuz it's like, oh, he's so versatile. Like he can, he can hop on so many different types of beats and different people's styles and still make it work.

Yeah. Yeah, well, I guess we're getting on a J. Cole conversation, but, but yeah, I know you're right. He was great on this, and 100% I would have loved to have seen more of this energy on the Fall Off. Yeah. I understand that that's not what he wanted to do with the Fall Off, so I am thinking about possibly doing a Fall Off part two, because we learned so much from these recent interviews that, uh, now I'm like, should we revisit that conversation, cuz I already feel a lot differently, but—

I'm down for that.

If you haven't already heard that, do check out our Fall Off special episode. But, Cole aside, let's take a detour to Samara Cyn's Detour. This is the— my other favorite release from this week. So, this was a pretty fun project. Standout tracks for me, "Oh Shit", of course. I really liked "Good Is a Lie", and then "Bushwick", which was featuring Overcast. Overcast also produced a few joints on here, but he's featured as vocalist on one of them. But, he did also produce, cuz he produces and raps, so he produced some on the songs that he's not featured on as well.

Okay.

I love her versatility. I love the melodies, her lyrics. I really like "Nomad", too. "Highest Nomad". But, "Bushwick" and "Oh Shit", like, are the standouts for me.

But, this was— yeah, this was a vibe. I like the production on this. It was like upbeat, earthy. Yeah, something that you probably light up when just, like, ride and vibe to. Like it was a— it was a really dope listen.

She seems to have a solid small team of producers that she's working with constantly, cuz there's a lot of overlap between the songs. It's not a big group. So, she's working with Two Fresh, who's twin brothers from Nashville. They've worked with Mac Miller, Teddy Swims, Duckworth. There's someone named Para Krstajic, who is, like, a world-class bass player. And then when I learned that and then went back and listened to the album again, I was like, "Wow, the basslines are really next level in this." And then also Whit Cane and Docks Made. So, not a huge list of producers, but you can really tell everything was written from scratch for her. This is, like, a team that she's working closely with to build a sound for her.

Yeah. And I think that's one of the things that I got out of this, too. Like, building her sound, finding her sound, and finding her voice. She's there. Like, I think, like, she's— or she's there or she's arriving there. At least for me, she's dope. I want to give this a listen again when it's warmer outside in Minnesota. Like, I can't wait to actually spin this at our next art event, too. Some of these songs, they fit the vibe. So, I'm excited. She's supposed to be, um, touring, I guess, with Smino coming up soon. So, I'm excited to see.

Oh, with Smino. That's a good show. That makes sense. Yeah. Next, I did want to mention a little bit about Kota The Friend's Local Art Dealer Volume 1. This just dropped at the very end of the week, so didn't have as much time to listen to this as I normally would, but I found out it actually came out already through some small channels in February and it just hit streaming this week. And then actually first came out on the service Even, E-V-E-N, which I'm growing increasingly interested in now because more people are using it, including J. Cole, who used it on that little EP that came out, like, a week before The Fall Off. But, it's supposed to be, like, a more direct way to support artists for digital rather than buying a CD, because, like, the profit margins, as we know, on digital music has just become so razor thin. So, this is a company that's trying to, trying to make digital music have a more direct line to the artist. So, there's that aspect of it where the margins are better, but also he released it over a month early for his most hardcore fans to get there first, which I thought was cool and a great idea, because he's able to maximize the value he got from his biggest fans. Because if he had just put it on streaming, you know, even his biggest fans are most likely just going to go check it out on Spotify. But, instead, he had a direct connection to them through social media or whatever to say, "Follow this link, support me directly to buy this project," and then put it on streaming a month and a half later. I thought that was pretty cool, cuz he is a— yeah, he's an independent artist. He owns his own label called Flight Boys. So, you have to be clever about how you package your products when you're independent, cuz you don't have that big machine pushing your music for you. So, I like to see that.

100%. Yeah. And I feel like he's one of those artists where his fan base is very loyal. It's just one of those guys where, like, I don't care about him a lot, but when I do, it's, it's people who really love him. Finding a way to, like, to distribute your music to where you can get something back. A friend of mine— my third approach to what they've recently did was just, like, on streaming platforms, they put out the samples. You know, you get, like, 30 seconds or 45 seconds snippets of the song, and then kind of invite them to Bandcamp to go purchase the album, do like that. But it's, it's always interesting to find ways how independent artists are connecting with their fans and getting a chance to get more return on their album. So, that— I'm, I'm pretty invested to learn more about it.

In terms of the project itself, Local Art Dealer Volume 1, it's very musical in terms of instrumentation. There's lots of real instruments, guitars and keys. It sounds played rather than sampled. Sounds built from scratch except for Atlantic Avenue featuring Rome Streetz, which makes sense for that feature, to give a more sampled sound. But that was the only feature on the album, is— is a pretty great track. I like that one. And my line of the week goes to Kota The Friend on Buckets. He says, "Before I kick the bucket, I'mma move out west. Settling is out of my budget. I can't afford another regret." Other standout tracks, 10 Cent and Love Slave. So, I like this one.

Mhm. I heard it a little bit. I feel like at first I didn't understand the title, but then, like, you explained, like, the streaming service and everything, I understand. But it's, like you said, everything felt very live played. I haven't had a chance to go out and check it out. So, I'll— listening to you guys talk about it, I'm going to go ahead and give it a listen.

All right. I wanted to talk quickly about Big Baby Gucci with The Leak. I'm pretty picky about auto-crooning stuff. It's hard for me to like a full project in that sound, but I ended up liking more tracks off this than I thought I would after the first listen. There was some standout stuff on here. I liked New Mexico, Walking Dead, Send You Off, and Still Alive. Those were the ones I found worth checking out off this. Have you guys ever heard of Big Baby Gucci? This is my first exposure to him.

Yes, I have.

No, I have not.

Yeah, I've been hearing him since, like, maybe 2020-ish. He had a song that did really well, was Drop Top Lexus, but then in 2020 he dropped Can't Feel [expletive], which was Mike Dean kind of style heavy instrumentals. I definitely recommend checking him out. Like he definitely has a couple of standout tracks that are worth saving. It just— it depends if you want that vibe, cuz it is a very specific vibe, and it's auto-tuned, like you said. Auto-crooning is the term you used.

Yeah.

That, that makes sense, yeah. I had never heard that before.

Yeah.

Oh, really?

Um, yeah, he's from Charlotte, North Carolina as well, which I found interesting. That's also where DaBaby is from. Uh, is there anything else either of you guys want to talk about?

Um, the only single I had to bring up was Mink in Miami. Beat, the sample flip, dope. I love Rick Ross' verse. I love French's verse. I did not like Max B singing that damn hook.

Oh, no.

Like, they could have— they could have got a female in it or somebody else to sing it, but—

No, I don't—

Sorry, Max. I'm, I'm— I'm sorry, my boy. It's just, like, no. But the beat and everything else was crazy.

Everything— everything. It was, it was crazy. Like Ross can, can rap as usual. French, you know, it, it's hit or miss for me, but on this one he, he did what he had to do.

Yeah, he was in pocket.

Max's— here's the thing. I can hear the potential. I can hear— like, I wasn't around during the Max era. Like, I wasn't into that, into music yet at that time. So I don't know how much it was hitting when he came out. I can hear the potential when I listen to it. It's just, to me—and this is, this might be rude, but to me it feels so unpolished. It feels so, like, when— then did it the first time and was like, "Yo, this, this is amazing, right?" And everyone else went like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, this— you're right, man. This is phenomenal. We're for sure keeping this." Yeah. He didn't have the good homie to be like, "You could probably get a better take." And I'm saying that fully understanding that it's, it's probably super rude of me, because he is, you know, a legend and he is, like, he, he gets his flowers and a lot of people really like him, but to me personally that's what it kind of sounds like.

Yeah, unless that's a New York thing where they go crazy for it in New York.

No, he should have had a little Russell's engineer in the room where it's all like, "Nah, bro. Not— not— no." And it frustrates me because I love bad singing. Random throwback, but, like, you know Mac Maine? Mac Maine used to sing the worst hooks, but I liked them. They sounded good. And so with Max B, I don't know if that's what he's going for.

Especially with the, with the last album, the big single being Ever Since You Left Me. With French and, and Max B. I don't know if you guys heard that one. It has a big sample, the disco sample.

I heard that today, and— and he asked—

Yes, I heard that today on the radio today. And that was a bit better than this. Like— like I love disco. That's a huge sample for me. French comes on, does his thing as French does, you know, on big songs. And Max starts singing. Yeah, I—

Was that— that was the single of that album. Like that's— that was the hit of their, their collab album that just came out.

Oh, yeah. The beat is phenomenal, like it is what it is. It is what it is. It's the dope beat.

Yeah, no. And when I first heard— Meek Mill and I'm all like, "Okay, Ross is coming back." And then a hook comes on and I'm all like, "No."

It's frustrating.

Even auto-tune it. Like, I don't— I don't even know if auto-tune would have made it sound better. Like, and no, that's not, like, being disrespectful, because it's not about ego when you try to make a dope song. Somebody— sometimes you need somebody in the room who's all like, "Nah." Unless that's, like I said, maybe that's a New York thing, or, or a flossy thing.

I just don't get it. He has the confidence. Like, like when he's doing these hooks, I can tell that he's doing the wave thing while he's doing the recording. Like he— I can hear the— like, you know, like— but it's hard to tell you, man. Like, ah, I don't— but you know what? All that, all that disrespect aside, I want to hear more of it because I feel like I need to understand it. I need to hear it be developed. I need to hear maybe different producers maybe try and, and, and work with it. Maybe— I don't know. Both of the beats were dope, though. I, I, I don't know. Engineering, maybe? Different— could be. I don't know. But yeah, outside of that, Mink in Miami is— yeah, I, I, I do like the record. It's just I don't— maybe it's one of those times, like, you'll hear it enough times to where it just bothers you less and less, but I don't know. I don't know.

Yeah. I also felt like what I got from Ross, what I got from French, and what I got from the beat, I can get from other songs. Like I can get from other Rick Ross songs, you know? Like I don't feel like this one is a staple in my Rick Ross catalog, you know?

Nah. Just, just some swaggy that they'll drop for the clubs. That's it. Yeah.

I do feel like we are soon due for a new Rick Ross album, though. As long as he doesn't have Max B on the hook doing that, then yeah, I'm, I'm all— I'm all in.

No, we're— yeah, we're due.

Yeah, there's— hasn't been since 2023-ish. This could be the year. Yeah. All right. Last single I want to talk about this week, off the upcoming Pompeii Utility Project, we got another single from Earl Sweatshirt and MIKE called Lead Belly. Look, the more beats I hear off this project, the more excited I am for the full thing.

Mhm.

I'm hearing some weird discourse online that people are upset for some reason with Earl Sweatshirt and MIKE for not rapping over, like, the most lo-fi sampled [expletive] imaginable. This thing is going to be a standout. It's going to sound different in their catalog. There's nothing wrong with that. You can go back to those albums. Pompeii Utility is going to be— I'm really looking forward to Pompeii Utility, but I, I like what I'm hearing. I like what I'm hearing, and people hate for no reason.

I feel like, especially Earl has a very specific, distinct sound, and I'm happy that his fan base love that sound. I'm happy that that's what they want from him, but let the guy explore other, other venues. Let the guy explore other lanes, you know? He, he is versatile. It's just that he hasn't, I think, maybe gotten the opportunity, maybe because of the fan base or the pressure, whatever, but these are sounding good. They're sounding good. I'm excited.

Yeah, dropping next week, April 3rd.

Yeah.

Sometimes fans, especially when your artist isn't, like, huge or mainstream, you feel like you have this obligation, like, to kind of keep them in a pocket that you found them in, but you got to give them that chance to grow and experiment, because that's what, you know, that's what artistry is at the end of the day. Like, it's cool that, that you've, you've grown to love them as they are, but, you know, you got to give them a chance to flap their wings and try different [expletive], man. Like, you fall in love with the nostalgic of your artist, which is cool, but at the same time, allow them to grow and try something different. Let them go. Let them go. Let them flap his wings. Let them leave the nest.

I still feel like— I like it— it still felt like Earl Sweatshirt to me. It just— it was still, like— it wasn't lo-fi, but it wasn't so far off. Like, it wasn't— it's not a rock and roll single, you know?

Right. And it's not ironic, too. Because I remember when Earl first switched to that sound, people are, like, "What? What? What's going on? What happened to the dark synth stuff?" So, it's, like, you know, people are just going to be upset by change, I guess. I love new [expletive]—

Bring it on.

Yeah. Bring it on. Exactly. Exactly.

Bad change— cuz sometimes, like, an artist doing a bad new sound just means that they're, they're experimenting, and that's, that's music at the end of the day.

That's fair, too.

Against the wall, see what sticks.

That was this week's releases. We talked about Mike Will Made It with Reset, that 600 Entertainment, BigX The Plug, Roc 30, Murder Gang PB, and Young Hood with 6W A, Samara Cyn with Detour, Kota The Friend with Local Art Dealer Volume 1, Big Baby Gucci with The Leak, talked about some singles, and then we also did not talk about Lil Keke's Streets Is My Witness and Kid Cudi's Have You Been to Heaven at Night EP. Let's talk about what else we've been doing in music this week. For me, I didn't mix any tracks this week, but if you're a producer or artist that needs your track mixed and mastered, you can email me at frequencyoverflow@gmail.com or DM me at frequencyoverflow on Insta for my rates. But, this week I did make some promotional shorts for our 1925 loop kit, which is a free loop kit you can find, uh, in the frequency overflow Instagram bio. It's the easiest way to get it. It samples public domain songs released in 1925. So, completely royalty-free samples and the kit itself is free. 150 loops. Check that out.

Dope [expletive].

Dope [expletive].

What about you, Terry? What you been up to this week?

Yeah, working on another single. I've been trying to do weekly. Last week I didn't quite meet that. So, that's cool, but I did ended up dropping a single, "Don't Know". And I'm preparing to drop another single this week. I'm just trying to decide which one out of the two that I'm going to release. Now, I should probably just pull the trigger, cuz I'm getting more comfortable just dropping it, just putting it out there. So, I'm still working on music. Produced a record for a friend of mine, Loveless, who's working on a project— that, or EP, that he's going to drop. And yeah, you can find me on socials at YoTerryV. That's Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, all the socials, YouTube, and just look for more stuff coming soon.

Excellent. What about you, Matt?

I just been, uh, you know, starting beats and not finishing them. The, the classic, uh, producer grind. Starting hundreds of things, finishing none. Other than that, you know, just been brushing up on my music theory, trying to just expand my knowledge of music and, and not get lost in the, in the language of it. And yeah, just been working also on some marketing stuff for my artist, Lucius B. Thundercat. Just some promotional stuff. A lot of behind-the-scenes stuff, but, uh, yeah, other than that, it's been mostly just producing and not finishing.

Dope.

Such is the life.

True. Yeah, that's the way to go.

Excellent. So, releases coming up next week. We have Central Cee with All Roads Lead Home EP. This actually got delayed 1 week. That's why it was also mentioned in this section last week. Chief Keef with Skeletor, Dälek with Brilliance of a Falling Moon, Fetty Wap out of prison with Xavier, Juvenile with Boiling Point, Kanye West with Bully, Stove God Cooks with All This for Me. This is one of my most excited albums of the entire year. And lastly, Yeat with ADL. A lot of heavy hitters, okay.

If you haven't checked the, the Juvenile single that he put out, think, like, a couple weeks ago, it's worth checking out with Meg the Stallion. It just—

Okay.

I love hearing OGs that can, that still sound so good, so modern. The flow is there. I'm excited for it.

Cool. I'm going to check that out. I'm glad Chief Keef got another project coming out. I was glad that he was on Mike Will too. So, I'm like, "Yay, let's turn up the guy." Thank you, listeners. If you haven't already, please give us a like and subscribe on YouTube. Or if you're listening on Spotify or Apple Podcast, take a second to rate us five stars. You can save the F2F Spotify playlist to follow along with what we're listening to throughout the week. You can find that link in the description. To get a hold of us, you can email fridaytofridaypodcast@gmail.com. Our intro and outro music by Lunar G. Find him at prod.by.lunar.g on Instagram. Podcast edited by me, Jacob from Frequency Overflow. You can find me at frequencyoverflow. And join us every week to stay in tune with hip-hop releases from Friday to Friday. Peace.