Inspectah Deck Cletus Strap Whookilledkenny Hurricane Wisdom Compton AV

This is Friday to Friday, your weekly rap wrap-up going through our favorite releases in rap and hiphop from Friday, August 7th to Friday, August 14th. My name is Jacob. I'm a mixing and mastering engineer from California and your host for today. And I have with me producer and artist manager hailing from Montreal, Canada, Matt Kerier. >> Yo, what's up? >> As well as producer hailing from Detroit, Michigan, Gav aka Lunar G. What it do? >> Before we get into our picks for this week, here's the full list of artists that dropped projects. We got inspected deck Q unique and DJ Rhitmatic DZ Deshawn Cletus Strap Zo Osama Money Sign Suede Compton AV and Steels Lawson Gizzy Glow Who Killed Kenny Fat Mac Mooney Baby Boy Hurricane Wisdom Be Slime and lastly Pooh Shy with all eyes on shist. We're not going to be covering that this week, but I did want to say a few words on it because it's a culturally significant project right now. This did end up coming out on 1017 Records, Gucci Main's record label, which is crazy because for anyone that's been under a rock, Pooh, Shy is locked up right now for holding Gucci at gunpoint to get out of his contract. And it didn't work and he's still on the he's still in the contract and now he's in jail. did not work. >> But I think it's just funny of Gucci to be like, "Actually, you have to stay even though like you're not [ __ ] with me." And you know, they have a bad personal relationship at this point, but you know, Gucci's going to keep making money off of them. So, it's a cash cow. Anyways, to get into our picks for this week, I'm going to kick it off with a classic rapper, Inspect the Deck, with this album, Dragon's Breath, fully produced by Pa Dre, who we covered before on his project with R.J. Payne. Got your name right this time? Really solid classic hip-hop beats. My favorite beat on the whole project is the last track, actually, Explicit Material, which is uh also a Scarface track. Yep. >> The thing I was wondering with it is were these because there's a couple Zarface songs. Is did Pa Dre produce the beats with 7L or are they calling it Sarface just because Esoteric is also on the tracks? I'm not sure, but that'd be interesting to know. But yeah, man. This this was a this was a dope project. Interesting that Wuang is a featured artist on the whole album. I'm not sure what the differentiation is there that makes it a Woo album also and not just an Inspect the Deck album because I was looking through other Wuang members on Spotify. No other solo album from any member has had that. But it's a huge advantage in the streaming era. It means anyone following Wuang but not Inspect the Deck is going to see this on their release radar, which is a lot of people. Wuang has 6 million monthly listeners. Inspect the Deck has 300K monthly listeners. So, I don't know how he worked that that out with the guys, but it's a huge look to get that >> for sure. Yeah, I like the project. My one complaint I have on it is that almost every song has like a vocal intro, some sort of intro, which is cool, you know, for like the song crafting and everything, but there's some songs that I really liked, and I have a hard time playlisting songs that have an intro like that. Like, I really liked Hector was one of my favorite songs. >> Okay. >> But there's like a 30-se secondond intro. >> Mhm. >> And I'm I'm a guy who puts stuff on repeat, so that was kind of hard. >> Yeah. It's an old school thing to do to put those long intros and outros. >> I was going to say I kind of like it, but I also agree cuz there were a couple where it felt like it almost took me out of the vibe or whatever you want to say. Like I was listening to it and I was just like, "Oh man, like what's next?" And then it does have like a even an outro like I forget which song exactly, but there's one that >> I think or cold case I'm pretty sure has like a one of those like old ID channel like outros and it's not bad like it's for like a novelty kind of thing. It was cool like listening through it the first time and just like hearing all that [ __ ] But yeah, on repeat or like trying to playlist it, it is a little tougher, but you know, I thought this project was sick. Like some of the features on here were really cool, too. Um, >> yeah, speaking of Cold Case, we got a really awesome feature from Ransom on that. >> Yeah, I was going to That's what I was going to shout out. I was like that song really really is probably one of my favorites on there. And then uh Solitude, Up at Night, and Shaolin Rebel 2 were like all the ones that I kind of felt like were standouts, but the whole thing was fire. You know, there were a couple songs that I was like, "Ah, this isn't quite for me." Like more like old school R&B focus, and I was just like, "Ah." >> Yeah, I'm with you on that. The only thing I wasn't a fan of on this project was the singing hooks. The singing hooks I wasn't really into. >> A couple. >> Yeah. But there was a lot of good beats. I really loved One of One. It's a really standout like dark ominous beat. Starts with this haunting high synth line before switching to a trumpet for the for the lead line. Dope dope space that PA Dre created on that one. It sounds like a late night city street. And then uh Possession I also liked the beat was such an advanced mixture of samples. There were vocal chants in certain parts that really took it to a different place. And then I also loved how the high hats were panned on that one. And then the last song I want to shout out is they have a Zarface track called Zaryiana Grande which is pretty funny. >> Definitely looking forward to the Zarface collab album coming up with Frankie Pulitzer releasing at the end of August. >> It's going to be fire. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. This project was dope. >> Yeah. >> I thought it was a really really good entry. I I also like if you dig into Inspected Deck Spotify, it's like one of the I I can't remember if it says lesser known or lowkey or like what word he used, but it was like one of the like more nonchalant members of Wuang. Oh yeah. And is it like got his name from just kind of quietly observing type [ __ ] like just Mr. Inspected Deck. So >> I'm glad you said that cuz I wanted to say something on that. This is only Inspector Deck's fifth solo album, which I didn't realize because some Woo members have like upwards of 20 solo albums. >> Yeah, >> there's some huge gaps in between his releases. But little history lesson for anyone that doesn't know this fact about Wuang. Famously, Inspector Deck did not have a solo album drop until 99 because of a flood in Rizza's basement destroying the beats for his album. He's supposed to have an album in that first cycle along with the other big members and he might have been just as big as Method Man and ODB if it wasn't for that basement flooding. But rumored to be like a hundred lost RZA beats in that flood. I wish I could hear those. >> Yeah, >> dude. That would be sick. And it's funny you shout out ODB cuz he's uh he has like a ODB sample on there. >> That's right. >> I thought that was dope, too. just having like aostumous ODB sound like a live, you know, like it was probably like a live performance or some [ __ ] and he just like ripped that and threw it in there which I thought was sweet. >> Yeah. And then there was also it was a little snippet from a Method Man interview where he's being asked who his top favorite MC's are and he just names Inspected Deck five times. >> Yeah. >> So that's also maybe part of why it's a it's a Wuang official album is because you know they have so many features and integrations with with core members and stuff but I mean at the same time we're missing a lot. There's no RZO on here. There's no Jiza. There's, you know, there's there's a lot of pieces missing to really make it a Woo album in my opinion. But I'm still glad that Wuang was a featured artist so that he could just get a bigger look with this project. >> Yeah. Good marketing strat. >> Yeah. Cool. Well, that's Inspected Deck with Dragon's Breath. Next, let's talk about Cletus Strap with Rappers Suck from Englewood, California. Cletus Strap has a super laidback vocal tone. The beats he picks tend to be in the abstract hip-hop category. However, his lyrics aren't that abstract compared to a lot of his contemporaries, which I thought was a cool combo. Like, you can follow him pretty clearly without having to decode his lyrics the way you do with like an Billy Woods or, you know, some of those other abstract rappers, but the beats give you that same feel. >> Yeah. >> Plus some more surf gangy like 808 kind of stuff as well. from first play I just like hit play on the album and I'm like oh this sounds like Surf Gang and I don't mean that in a bad way. I was like this is not what I expected. So I was kind of like geeked to hear that and like it still cuts through >> and it is like a weird contrast in a good way that just like makes all the lyrics stand out. >> Yeah, for sure. Speaking of the production, it's mostly produced by MadMax 4800 and Cam the Chef with some additional production from WTF Omari, Lauron, and lastly Earl Sweatshirt himself using his producer alias, Random Black Dude. And uh interesting that this came out on Tan Cresa Records. This marks the first non-Earl sweatshirt release to ever drop on Tan Creset Records, which is a subsidiary of Colia that was created for Earl to release his own music on. It's a label that's been around since the early Odd Future days, but it's just now that Earl is starting to actually sign people and make it into his own label where you can show off some some young talent, which is cool. It's cool to see. >> That's dope. A little nugget of history right there. >> We got an Earl feature on here. the track Nonchalant, which is pretty cool. And Nonchalant is like this guy's whole rapping style. Like, it's just he's so laid-back, but it's a it's a tight eight track album. It's just under 20 minutes. Uh like I said, Nonchalant was a good one. I also like Paddle Ball, Chili, On the Run. There's a lot of good [ __ ] on here. >> Yeah, I probably could have saved it all. I picked out uh Nonchalant and Chile, though. Those are like the two that really kind of grab my attention. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah, dude. The artwork, if you really dig into it, it's got like [ __ ] Mammore from the thrift shop video on there. >> Wait, what? >> Yeah. On the left corner, it's all a bunch of corny rappers. >> Oh, that's awesome. Oh, I got to I got to look through that in more detail. That's hilarious. >> It's got the CIA logo. Like, >> that's dope. Well, that's Cletus Strap with rapper suck. Next, let's get into Compton AV with Summer 26 from Compton, obviously, and produced by Steels. a prominent West Coast producer from Long Beach with tons of credits with big West Coast artist. Compton AV's song Yaya blew up this year. So, we got two remixes of that track on here. Personally, I think the the original has the best verses, but man, this album is so fun. It just goes so hard from track one. The intro is crazy. >> It's got this crazy high-pitch vocal sample that carries this super hype trap beat. Man, just from A to Z, this this was a great album. He's been around for a minute, too. I was like doing a little digging on him and you see like in his bio, he [ __ ] licensed his music out to SoFi Stadium, which is kind of crazy. >> Yeah. >> Like with 30 million streams from this Yaya song. Like, but it says he's been doing this [ __ ] for like a decade or over a decade. So, like, he's been putting stuff out. But I thought this project was [ __ ] sweet, dude. >> Yeah. >> I really like Time of Your Life. >> Bark Like You Want It was fun. And it does something I really like where like a lot of artists who do that kind of like club or like you know booty shaking music or whatever you want to call it. It's kind of hard to make it both for women and for men. >> And I found that this album had both vibes like >> Yeah. Yeah. >> It was really cool to see the blend. >> And also like one of the remixes was called a she mix which was like a few female rappers on the verses which was fun. >> Mhm. >> But then randomly a blueface feature at the end of the she mix for some reason. But but man, this album is so damn hype. I was stoked for all the bangers. But then we get this song called Letter to Nip where AV shows some more emotional introspection. And there's also Big Sad 1900 on that one. But my issue with this track was just that the hook says letter to nip, but then the verses don't really follow through on that concept. It's not a storytelling song. It's not like it doesn't read like a letter. It's just like a couple verses over a more kind of chill, sad beat and then the hooks are saying, you know, letter to nip. But it just didn't feel like a letter to nip. So that one was kind of a miss for me. >> I think there was like a couple of bars that were like metaphors >> targeted like like a hustle, you know, metaphor here and there like but yeah. No, you're right. It didn't feel like it was like >> a letter to Nip. >> Like letter to nip implies like you're spilling your heart out to him, you know, and it wasn't that at all. Yeah. >> Could have been called just like I love I love I love Nip. I don't know. Something like an homage or like you know. >> Yeah. Yeah. It should have been homage to Nip or something. That would have made more sense. Yeah. >> I said I love Nip and realize how how weird that sounds. But yeah. >> Yeah. >> I wasn't going to say it, but I was like, "Bro, if you named this [ __ ] I Love Nip, I'm going to [ __ ] die." I did actually like the song and and it came on before I saw the name and then when it kind of like the pace kind of changed, you know, the mood of the whole album, that's when I checked the name and yeah, it just it feels like such a deeper thing than it really is, but still a cool song. >> Yeah, I wish there was more followthrough on the concept, but it's still cool to get the Nipy shout out. And also for next week, we got a Postumous NIP album coming out called Prolific. So, we got that to look forward to next week. I also really like UGFT, Bark Like You Wanted, Gav mentioned that one, too. Bow featuring Lob Biggie. That beat was just stupid hype. Great hook, Fun Versus. Yeah, man. I was a fan of this project. And I'll definitely be keeping up with Continent for sure. >> Yeah, dude. The bow beat. This beat goes crazy. And then Time of Your Life. I just I like the boy feature. >> My favorite was actually the intro. >> Intro was crazy. >> The intro is so good. He shouldn't have called it intro. It should had a real title. You remember like back in the day when like you had to have a fire intro that like really like and you know set the tone like I feel like a lot of albums don't really have that anymore. >> That one I was like right away I was like oh >> yeah fire first song and it has a beat switch up like really quickly. It like starts off kind of mellow and then it just drops into this really hype west coast type. >> I did not know what I was getting into and like off that first song and then I was like oh holy [ __ ] dude this is great. This whole thing goes hard. >> Yeah for sure. Uh, kind of a side note, but unrelatedly, Benny the Butcher just released a single The Day Before, also called Summer 26. >> Yeah, >> but it's just a coincidence. I mean, it's a it's an obvious title. We're in Summer 26. >> But I just thought that was funny. >> I wonder, you know, if AV was like, "Man, are you for real right now?" >> Yeah, he might have seen that like, are you serious? >> God damn it. I'm setting up my old roll out and then Benny just comes in dropped this little single out of nowhere. >> But that is a fire single by the way. Check out that Benny single. >> So good. >> Right on. Well, that's Compton AV with Summer 26. Next, let's talk about Hurricane Wisdom with Weather the World. This was an interesting one. Rapper and singer from Florida. Just got 2026 XXL freshman. So, kind of a relevant project right now. Good timing for him. He has a He has a unique voice. It's kind of raspy, like vocal fry, but in like a singing, cruning context. I think it's kind of an acquired taste. It's not going to be for everyone, but I found myself liking it more and more throughout the week, but I specifically really like Barbie doll featuring Chance the Rapper. Just perfect beat for a chance feature. And then uh Enough was a good song. That was the second song on there. And then My Life, which was a bonus track. I like that one as well. But by the way, like what's the point of calling something a bonus track if like I've never heard the album before? It's not a bonus to me. >> It's I think it's like the illusion of added value. >> Like I I could have not given you this, but I did. >> That's fair. >> Yeah. >> So for me, the bonus song was one of my favorite off the album. And I don't know if maybe you wanted to stand out. Maybe you're hoping people will actually go to the last song on the album instead of like dropping off halfway. But I I definitely like I was getting halfway and I was like I don't know if I'm going to finish this right now. And then I I went to the bonus cuz like I have to hear the bonus. Right. Interesting. >> Yeah. I I can definitely second what you just said, Matt. The not even the bonus part, but just like getting through it and going, "Ah, I don't know if I'm going to finish this." >> And I feel like the middle of it was a little weaker than the end of it in my opinion. Like it started pretty strong. I was like, "Okay, I like this." And then it kind of fell off. Barbie doll was like a refresher. It was like, "Oh, hey, I'm still here." And then like second half is hard, but like last three or four songs were good in my opinion. Like I really like NASCAR life. I'm kind of a sucker for acoustic, especially like slap guitar. Like just that kind of sound being incorporated into this, but >> really he reminds me like his voice when he's singing sounds so much like the kid Loy on uh like older stuff. not his like way overproduced like poppy reverb the [ __ ] out sound now but like his older more raw [ __ ] sounds so much like that >> like trying to sound like extra sexy with like some rasp in your voice I can see that >> yeah but like that is kid Loy to me and like I liked a lot of his old [ __ ] and then just listening to this it kind of reminded me of it but I did also really like the gun feature on here not that it was anything like crazy but I was just I like Gunonna and it was cool to see him on something like this relevant, not just himself. >> Yeah. >> Or like his own product. >> It was a good look for Hurricane Wisdom, too. >> Like for Guna, like now that I'm thinking about it, yeah, we haven't seen him. I don't even think this year we we reviewed anything with him. >> Yeah. I don't think so. >> I'm pretty sure the last thing he dropped was that album. The last one. I think that's the album that he put out. >> The Last One. >> Something W. >> And that's Hurricane Wisdom with Weather the World. A little fun fact, his real first name is actually Wisdom. That's his birth, first name. Yeah, >> that is cool. >> So, last release of the week. Let's talk about Who Killed Kenny with Cold Game. Originally from Austin, Texas. Currently based in LA. Kind of hard to put your finger on like what style or what subgenre it is, but really strong beats. Really strong beats on this one. >> Yeah, the production, man. It honestly, it even felt like some of the beats just sound like way too much time was put into them, which is which is a good thing, right? For me, that was Texico. Texico has been one of those repeat songs and it just has that kind of beat where you're like, "Okay, this this was not a beat that was put together in in 20 minutes at all." >> No. >> The sound design, I guess, of of what is being used, you know, but uh but yeah, for me it was really production was definitely the most solid thing on this album. >> Yeah, I definitely have to agree with you guys. I think what stood out for me was there were a couple songs on here that really made this feel like an album. Like I feel like long long time ago, uh, albums used to like actually kind of blend together like the mixes. It felt like you could do a one take of it and then just kind of like chop it up. And there were a couple songs on here that like did that where I was like, "Oh, this is a new song already." It's a small detail that not many people do anymore. So, I like to see that. I thought it it felt intentional. But yeah, I had Texico saved right now and to the max. Those were the three that kind of stood out to me. to the max. I will say I felt like was strongest vocally in my opinion, just like flow-wise and tonally. I only had one song saved by him before this, so I didn't really know like too much about him. >> Yeah, me neither. I mean, this is my first project with him. He's he's a little bit lesser known, but yeah, cool project. >> Shout out to the producers. >> He's got good beat selection. >> Yeah, great beat selection. >> Oh, that requires an ear for sure. Like it's not even a disc or anything. Like at the end of the day, you know, he put them together and and like the writing is is good. like like it's not, you know, the most like crazy bars or crazy hooks or anything, but like for the most part, like he is writing the beats like >> Yeah. Yeah. It's very like good. I just it didn't cross over to great for me. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. That that's a great way to put it and feels harsh to an extent, but like I don't know. I I think you guys nailed it. Like vocally it it rides, but it's the subject matter is kind of lacking. You know, there's not like a lot of substance to it. Yeah, I think that's >> but that doesn't take away from like the skill or the Sonic or like the, you know, so it is Yeah, I'd say good not great cuz I feel like something great has to have kind of all of that, you know? It's got to have like >> something to it lyrically as well. >> Yeah, it was a tough week to drop for him though. >> Yes. No, it was not a He had some heavy hitters, but >> like to compare Yeah. Like that's like especially if we're talking about bars and like lyrical content like >> it's definitely a heavy week for It didn't inspect the deck project. So, >> yeah. But, I mean, I liked it enough to check out his next project still. I'll I'm down to cover him again in the future. It put him on my radar, so good. >> Yeah, >> that's Who Killed Kenny with Cold Game. And that is all our releases for this week. Let's get into plugs. You can check out our beats at frequencyoverflow.com. And you can always hit me up for mixing and mastering services. We also got a few new beats up on the website this week using our own 1925 loop kit, which is a royalty-free loop kit that samples public domain music released in 1925. We made some sort of official beats to show off the kit. So, you can check those out on the website. That's me. Gav, what do you want to plug? Um, just the the usual, you know, follow my socials, check out my Beat Stars, Spotify. It's all prod by lunar.g pretty much on like I said like almost every platform. I'm most active on I'd say like Spotify, Instagram, YouTube. But yeah, I've just been working on uh working on some music and finally getting back into the swing of things and about it. >> Right on. What do you got, Matt? What do you want to plug? >> Uh, you can follow me at SVR Karier. Uh, follow my artist, Lucius P. Thundercat. we're going to have a a single dropping next month. Other than that, not for myself, but definitely check out those those public domain beats from Frequency Overflow. I find that especially right now with AI, those, you know, sample banks being overrun, public domain is the thing to look at right now. It's stuff that you can actually use and it's there and just waiting to be used, right? And it's all legal. So, >> it's not going to get flagged as AI. >> Exactly. Right on. Well, that is plugs. Releases coming up next week. We have Channel Tress, Friday, Girl Talk, Michael Christmas and Chris Crack, Nipy Hustle and Bino Riddu, Open Mike Eagle and Kenny Seagull, The Mussolini and Ninth Wonder, and lastly, Trippy Red. Definitely looking forward to the Trippy Red project. The singles have been heat so far, and I'm not even like really a Trippy Red fan, but should be should be a good week next week. >> I'm excited. >> The Trippy Red single at Young Thug was garbage. So, >> I agree. >> I'm not going to lie. I did not like it at all. >> Don't put my Don't put my goat on a song like that. >> Interesting. Cool. Well, that makes me even more excited for for next week's release. Let's see. >> All right, so fun. >> Thank you listeners. You can check us out on our website at f2fpod.com. That's the number two. You can follow the podcast on Instagram, Fridayto podcast. We now have a Tik Tok. You can follow us at f2fpodcast or just type in Friday to Friday podcast to find us on Tik Tok. You can save the official Spotify playlist to hear the best releases from each week before the episodes come out. You can find that link in the description. Our intro and outro music by lunar g. Find him at prod by lunar.g. You guys, it's the show about Fridays that comes out on a Monday. Join us every Monday to stay in tune with hip-hop releases from Friday to Friday. Peace. Peace.