New Rap Releases This Week: Earl Sweatshirt, MIKE, Swae Lee, Wiz Khalifa & More (Full Breakdown)

This is Friday to Friday, your weekly rap wrap-up going through the releases in rap and hip hop from Friday, April 3rd to Friday, April 10th. I have with me today producer hailing from Detroit, Michigan, Gav aka Lunar G.

Yo yo.

And producer and artist manager hailing from Montreal, Canada, Matt Kerier.

Yo yo, what's up?

This week's releases we have Baby Mother with Ren Dew, Sea Stunner with Born to Stunt, Codefendants with Lifers, Coyote and Static Selecta with Machetes and Micheladas, Juicy J with the Trippy Tapes Volume 1 hosted by DJ Scream, Marlin Craft with the Internet Killed the Neighborhood, Whiz Khalifa and Currency with Rofless Records for Drop Tops. Dave East with East Mix volume 3. Fly Money Chills and Link Sinatra with Visions. Kid Wild with jobs still not done. Lip Headlock which is Blockhead and Elliot Lip with The Long Way as an instrumental project. Mike Earl Sweatshirt and Surf Gang with the double album Pompei Utility. We got Nine Vicious with Emotions. Nino Breeze with Omea. Sway Lee with Same Difference. Thundercat with Distracted. Tory Lanes with LOL [expletive] Bass. Shake my head. Tory Lanes. R2R Mo with The Greatest Show on Earth. Young KO with Komodo. K Rhino with the end us tree and 41 with Area 41. So many releases this week.

Yes, indeed. A lot of releases and a lot of long releases, too.

Yeah. Not only was it a lot, but there was long projects. The Juicy J mixtape was like 30 something songs. The Mike and Earl Sweater project was 30 something songs.

30 song mixtapes.

Yeah.

The [expletive] is going on here?

It's fun, but it's a lot to get through.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. So, let's just start off with the biggest release of the week with Earl Sweatshirt and Mike Pompei utility double album in the style of Speaker Box, The Love Below. And Earl mentioned the album became a double album because both of them, Mike and Earl, they were both working with Surf Gang and figured it would make more sense and be more genuine to the audience to not separate it and just keep it as one long project. They were talking about how they kind of made a bunch of little EPs. They would each get beat packs from Surf Gang and then make little EPs and then send it to the other one and be like, "All right, check this out." And they're like, "Now, what do you got?"

So, they're trying to kind of like go back and forth one uping each other with these little EPs and then once they had enough of those, they put the whole project together, which I thought was pretty interesting.

That's hard.

That's good for your creativity to have someone you can constantly bounce around with. I think that's really cool.

Yeah, they seem to be good friends and they're like interested in challenging each other creatively though. They're both a couple of the most interesting artists in the game right now as far as keeping creativity alive and pushing music in new directions.

Yeah, I feel like this felt like two genres or two eras I should say, sorry, of hip-hop mixed together. 2015 16 cloud rap with the beats and the production like Lucky that kind of like droney melodic kind of [expletive] and then all the bars were like lean rap bars like they were just kind of like the way that they were wrapped and [expletive] like I love their just nonchalant lowkey. So, it was kind of like a really cool combination in my opinion.

I will say for me, I'm a bit more of a flow guy. So, I really I prefer the Earl part of the album more than the mic side just cuz I feel like Earl's flow switches a lot more. Like Mike kind of has like the two or three or four kind of same flows. And I find that Earl just like kind of slides on everything in different ways. Production I found was a step up. Surf Gang really brought it. Again, like if what you mentioned before the EPs, like if there's more of like a curating process I guess where like keeping the best for this, it makes sense. The production was really really good.

Oh yeah, absolutely. The vibes on every song it was like kind of blowing my mind the way I was realizing Earl has really fully evolved from a technical rapper to like a vibe rapper.

Yeah.

And he came out the gate on some just like hardcore Eminem [expletive] He could do that easily from like 15 16 years old and then that was like too easy for him. He's just always been evolving and trying to find like where his passion lays. And I think he really found that sometime around Feet of Clay was where he first took this more hard turn into this sound. And it was kind of jarring at first, but it's really come to define him now. And it's fresh and it's unique. And there's not anyone else that sounds like Earl Sweatshirt except for maybe Mike.

Yeah, that's for me that's when I got on the train cuz before like I have a hard time with rap that's like too technical sometimes, you know? It's not fun all the time to kind of listen to especially while you're working. You want sometimes a bit more of like the vibe. And yeah, definitely shows that like it's all in the writing, right? Like anyone can be a technical rapper and take the time to really like form your bars and everything. It's a craft, but fitting words properly and in certain cadences like he really he really upgraded that skill.

Yeah, for sure. And in the interviews and stuff, Earl is just giving off this confidence of someone who was way ahead of his time and then the world just finally caught up with him and now he's just looking back like, "Cool, you guys finally get it now." That's how it feels because I think Feet of Clay kind of was ahead of its time and he was super early to Mike's whole wave and that sound. He's the first person that I heard about Mike from. In some random interview, someone asked him who's his favorite rapper and he said Mike. And the interviewer had never heard of him. He was just like the guy's just name is just Mike. He's like, "Yep." And I was like, "Huh, I wonder who that is."

And now he's accomplished.

Yeah. He's become huge. But they never compromise their sound. They really know exactly what they're going for. It's super intentional. I love it.

Yeah. I couldn't remember Feet of Clay when you said it, but then that's the one with like Macami and Mauvi features and I was like, "Oh, yeah. I know that was that's what did it for me cuz I was like where did this come from cuz Earl was not doing [expletive] like that with those kind of people and like Maui I'd found probably around the same time. So I was just like that's kind of crazy cuz I've been listening to Earl Sweatshirt for 10 plus years you know like however long his career's been I've pretty much been a part of it you know so it's like once all that [expletive] kind of caught fire like Odd Future and all that stuff it was just kind of crazy. So I think it is sick to see how he's evolved over time and just kind of like slid into this lane.

Yeah. And I mean, these beats aren't that surprising for him because it sounds not exactly like something off 2015 to 2018, like I don't like [expletive] I don't go outside slash some rap songs kind of era.

Yeah.

There's a lot of 808s. There's a lot of trap style flows, but he's taking it in a unique direction. It doesn't surprise me that he would go for these kind of beats. I think this is totally in his lane, and he was able to blend the Surf Gang and the Earl Sweatshirt universes perfectly.

Yeah. You know, the production was just wavy as [expletive] That's what I kind of felt like it was just whatever that wavy production and it makes sense. Like Surf Gang, you know, Waves, whatever. But I was just like, "Oh, that's kind of crazy." Like Minty again and Kirkland were probably my three favorites. Again, I think really stood out because of the production. And then Minty was the single, but again, really it hearkened back to that kind of like wavy lean rap kind of feel.

I liked a lot of songs on this. I was a big fan of the whole project. I have a list of standout tracks for Mike's and Earl's albums. So, off Pompei, I liked Not4W, Minty, Shudder Island, Back La featuring Noel Smith, Back Home, and Man of the Month. Those were my favorite off of Mike's. And then off of Earl's Project, Utility, I liked React, Lead Belly, Chaly Tuna, Locusts, Tour to France, Chicago, and then Don't Worry and Choly Tuna. Earl is doing like this new character or something where he's like pitching his voice up and then the lyrics on both of those songs, they have a different flow and he's going for a little bit more of like a braggadocious like money flexing style like bars and I thought it was amazing. Those were like two of my favorite songs on there. I could totally enjoy an entire album of him doing like that pitch vocal with like it reminds me of like La Tyler or something like that. It's not what you'd expect from him, but he's able to do it in a completely unique way that's like and it's catchy.

I was just going to say, yeah, sometimes like sometimes it doesn't work. That's the problem. The really high pitch like it's when it's too

Yeah.

You know, trying to find its pocket kind of thing, but

No, Earl is just sliding on every single one of these beats. Really

100%. And I'm excited to see too, I feel like releases like this also kind of like I mean, you said it yourself like he looks very confident, but I feel like it also encourages you to want to keep evolving, right? And I did see that the reception was pretty good, too. So, I mean, like I'm sure he's going to step it up even more on the next one.

To me, commercial rap kind of coming to an end. And so, there's just so much I don't know if it's happening naturally or people's focus is like actually shifting and searching for alternative styles and genres of rap. But, I just think it's sick to see this stuff finally coming to fruition, like being pretty mainstream, quote unquote, like not as underground as it was. Like, there's a whole new underground and the other underground is kind of above ground now. So, it's just kind of sick to see that.

It's not like when I was like, you know, 14, 15, when we would talk about the underground, it was a very different underground than what it is now. Now, like everyone has access to Spotify. No one is uploading albums on like an obscure website like that, right? It's now it's like even if you're completely unknown, you'll use a distributor and get on Dro Kid and Apple Music and all that stuff. It's become one of those terms kind of like indie where it's more about a sonic description but it has a different definition for every generation cuz like you said like when I think of underground rap I think of like immortal technique like that's how old I am.

Yeah. No, but I mean at the same time you're not wrong either cuz like you said it just constantly evolves. So like that [expletive] is underground still, you know? Like it's still in my opinion, I feel like I get what you're saying. Like it's not like a thing anymore, but it's more it describes like a feeling or a sound.

At some point underground could describe like boom bap and like backpack rap, but now people would probably call that like Jason or something. It's easier to have a big touchstone for their relationship with that sound.

And like back in the day like MF Doom, right? Like the underground vibe is like not everyone knows about him. It's usually like you got to hear about him from someone else. Especially back then like you weren't we weren't all on like social media all the time and even vlogs were like kind of just bubbling up on the internet and stuff. And then there's the second era which to me is like when the game was considered an underground rapper where he was just like dropping tape after tape after tape after tape like just non-stop putting out hundreds of songs, hour songs. Like that already felt like not the underground that I was used to, right?

Yeah. And then I hear young kids on Reddit talk about the underground meaning like Osama and like rage stuff, more extreme rage stuff. And I'm like, okay, if that's underground to you, that's awesome. I don't even like I can't even ever use that term anymore cuz I have no idea. I'll have to have a whole conversation with the person about what they mean by it. So it's like the terms become useless to me.

Oh, Tech 9 like strange music. Like when I think about that's a that was like especially that it was a label doing it like that was an underground label.

Absolutely.

Oh your your guy of course we can't forget Aesop Rock.

Yeah. And then you have uh the whole like rhymesayers sphere. You could call that stuff underground like Yeah. Aesop Rock LP.

Oh yeah. See, I fall in the middle where I'm like I feel like I kind of bridge this gap where I'm like I understand the young ins, but I also relate to everything that you guys are saying about like actual underground. I got confused for a while where I was like, wait, what the [expletive] happened to the sound that was underground? Like that Playboy Cardi adjacent sound was underground when I was in high school, you know? It was not popular. It was like Soundcloud rap basically. All that was underground. So, it's like I get it. I kind of feel like I bridge this gap where I get that part now, but I also still way relate more to like underground in the sense that you guys are talking about.

My first experience with hearing that was someone telling me about Papoose and I respect Papoose, a good guy and everything, but that being my first experience thinking that's what underground music was supposed to sound like, I didn't enjoy it very much, I have to say. But, uh, man, it's crazy to look back and just see like is it even considered underground again? Like you were saying, what even is considered that, right? Or it's like the whole thing with like albums and mixtapes. Like a mixtape is just an album that you don't want to count like under your contract or whatever, right?

Yeah, pretty much. Cuz I mean, we got a 30 song mixtape. So, you know, like Earl and Mike called this a mixtape. It's interesting cuz they both have their own labels.

Yeah.

Mike has 10K and Earl has Tan Cresa and this was released under both. So, whatever choice it was for them to call it a mixtape, I'm not sure because I'm pretty sure they have enough control over their own labels. They call it whatever they want. But maybe that was more for the fans because they almost kind of were lowering expectations a little bit or was saying stuff like the real hip-hop heads, this is going to be the worst thing we've ever dropped.

Yeah, good marketing.

Yeah, that's kind of like what I was saying with him just being more of a vibe rapper. I expect him to still go back and forth between technical and vibe like over the course of his career, but right now with what he's doing with this project, it's all vibe.

To be technical. Like that is a very fun thing to do and it's a fun thing when you can execute it, hear it, and then like see people catching bars at, you know, like you weren't sure if people were going to catch or not. Like there is a good rewarding feeling from that, I'm sure. But also like, you know, you want to add some vibes to your catalog. You want to be able to get heard by more than just people who are really into the lyrical and the, you know,

And have fun party songs to perform live. I think they're touring right now. I would love to go see them. I'm going to see if there are shows near me.

They're going to be at Pine Knob 30 minutes away from me.

Oh, nice.

Got to go, sir.

But yeah, we did have some super long projects this week. Uh, another mixtape that's very long that we listened to this week that I had some time to listen to at least was Juicy Jay, the Trippy Tapes Volume 1, hosted by the legendary DJ Scream. Some dope classic trap. Definitely some fluff. It's 31 songs. So that's pretty damn long. But if you're down to listen through it, there's definitely some Juicy J Gems on here. It's mostly produced by Lex Luger with some tracks also produced by T-Major, Ghost Rage, Mickey Swift, and then Juicy himself produced some joints on this. For me, standout tracks Riley Daywalker, I Want a Baby, You Not That Scotty featuring Baby Face E, and Gophers. Gophers was funny.

Riley for me was a must-have. I love that song like cuz it's I don't know if you knew but it's basically like he added the sound effect on the original song that was on a mix from like 2011.

Okay. I saw it was a remix.

Yeah. So it's just like the it's the same exact song but when there's like a gunshot it goes like [expletive] Which is like the the TikTok sound.

Oh yeah.

And it was just like it blew up on TikTok and he was like, "Hey, like." And I saw a video of him being surprised because again it's like a 10 I think even 15 year old song. And he was like, "Hey, my" I think he said his niece or something told him, "I love your song on TikTok." And he was like, "Which song are you talking about?" Cuz you know, hopefully not slob on my knob or anything like that, right? But yeah, Riley was I'm happy you put that on there.

I will say though, like it's a lot of songs. I will always listen to every single new Juicy J release. I will always find a good chunk of maybe even a quarter, half of the mixtapes always had like savable songs, songs that I can come back to. But this many songs, I feel like he could have definitely done three different albums. And I would have still checked all three. Like say he dropped like one this month, one next month, and like another one after. I would have checked all three of them. But to sit through 31 songs was a little long. Even though every song was good, every song was consistent. Like you said, Jacob, there's some funny hooks on there. There's some hooks that I think if it would have been said by someone else that was maybe a little bit less confident, it would have been cringe. But I mean, it's Juicy J. Can't really get more confident that he can do what he wants at this point. If he can produce a full 31 song album, let the guy do what he wants.

Yeah. So, expect more from him and DJ Scream.

Oh, and I forgot to mention there's a posthumous Gangsta Boo feature on there.

Mhm.

So,

[expletive]

Yeah. Which felt weird and random. I don't know if there's maybe like a story where maybe like he already had the feature and like already had the song locked in cuz I feel like probably everyone has a song locked in with Juicy J at this point and like to me like I like he seems like the kind of guy that does a lot of like verse for verse or something like that. So maybe he had it like in the vault for a while but it was a nice little short verse. Oh yeah. I always like Juicy J. It's just 31 songs pretty [expletive] long. So I've been kind of waiting on that one but Juicy J like you were saying Matt he can do whatever the [expletive] he wants now. He did that [expletive] with Logic and let Logic produce the entire album and like did it at a different speed and like all this [expletive] and it was really cool. But yeah, you can do whatever the [expletive] he wants at this point. And most of his music too, I feel like is meant to be played in clubs at parties. Absolutely has his own sound and that's perfectly okay. You know, like some people can't do that and it's like, okay, dude, you sound corny and played out. I don't feel that way at all when I listen to Juicy J. So, there's literally never been a time that I've been tired of hearing the yay ho yay ho like adlib. Like even like the specific 36 like the snare roll and everything, I never get tired of hearing it ever.

Even though I just complained that 31 songs was long, it's still like if you have the time to listen to it and you are dedicated to hearing 31 songs of pretty much the same vibe, it's good. It's just not everyone can do that, right?

Yeah. Especially like there's different producers, but it is mainly the Lex Luger sound pretty much.

Yeah. But

No, I go with you. And like I like that. So it's I was excited when I heard it was mostly Lex. But that's just cuz like to me I love hearing the classic trap Juicy J sound. So I was like, "Oh, [expletive] yeah. Okay, cool."

It's not anything surprising, but it's consistent and it's good all the way through.

Yeah.

Yeah. That was Juicy Jay, the Trippy Tapes, hosted by DJ Scream Volume One. So maybe we could look forward to more of those in the future. What do you guys want to talk about next?

Uh Sway. Sway is a kind of artist that sounds better with someone else in the sense that I think that Sway cannot possibly become any Okay, this it's going to sound weird, but I don't think he can become any better than he is. I feel like his writing is great. His singing is great. I'm not saying he's perfect, but I'm saying that the only thing that could basically make him grow and sound different, I think, is collaboration. At the end of the day, like Rae Sremmurd is a group that no matter what you want to say from 2010 to 2020, you can say Rae Sremmurd was if not the biggest hip-hop group of that era. Uh, for a hip-hop group to come out with two albums, Black Beatles is a huge song. Just Black Beatles alone.

I love it, too.

I still listen to it. Listen, that song alone has I think they're at like two billion streams. Like that is

I wouldn't be surprised.

And for that to be the second album that came out like what, seven years later from the first one, like no one thought Rae was coming with any more hits like we thought they were done. We saw Slim Jimmy kind of fizzle out, you know? We like knew no one knew what was going to happen. And then Sway got Black Beatles, then Unforgettable, and then nothing else happened after. But I mean also on sicko mode there's like a Sway ad lib on there which like created like this hype and like Sway is huge. So to me that's a guy that needs to expand the sound with collaboration. Like his biggest songs are done through collaborative efforts. I just find that the solo songs I'm sitting there and I'm thinking this guy's great. He's amazing. I don't care to keep listening to it.

Mhm.

It's like it's in some way it's almost too good where it's like I want some more something different to do with that sound, you know? Add some different flavors and different things to kind of make you step out of your comfort zone and be a little bit different.

Maybe work with some new producers, too.

Absolutely.

See, I will say the Spider-Man [expletive] that he did, that's probably the only other big I've really liked. Sunflower, I mean, Annihilate,

um Calling, like he's got quite a few songs on that. He has a song with Internet Money. It's called Thrusting with Future. And it didn't do great, but I love that song.

No, it goes so hard though. I know. I love Internet Money. That was one of the first producer groups that I was like really really heavily into.

Oh, Arms Around You with um XXX and um Maluma like this guy is good. That's the thing. But every single song like it's amazing.

Songs are good with the features, right?

Yep.

So, it's like what is he? I feel like he's more of a pop artist in that sense, you know, like in the if you're going to label it by the way the work comes out and [expletive] So, it's like instead of marketing yourself or thinking of yourself as like R&B or hip-hop or whatever it is that he recognizes himself as, I feel like you should just lean into the collaborative pop star [expletive] you know? Like that's all I feel that's a majority of pop music is like you got two or three people on a song whether it's like a name producer and two featured artists or just two featured art like whatever it is those songs pop the [expletive] off just lean into that in my opinion and that's not any hate towards what he's doing but it's just like feel like like you said he would just continue to blow.

Like Sway has something very special where he can shop around songs like for example like unforgettable there was the beat and there was the Sway hook already when French heard it and so the French verse on unforgettable has that melody that kind of that Sway uses. And so it just shows like Sway will build a song and can shop around the song and like he's giving you a packaged kind of like a solid hook where you can kind of bounce off of and make you sound better, you know?

I'm sure he also has crazy writing credits that we probably

Oh yeah, for sure. For sure. But yeah, that's again great album. It's just it was forgettable.

The name is appropriate then. Sway Lee with Same Difference. Gav, you want to talk about one of your picks?

Yeah, I'll bring up the Link Sinatra Fly Money Chills Project Visions. Personally really enjoyed this. I've been hearing a lot of stuff just kind of like as it's been being worked out, demos and stuff like that. And so I was really excited for this cuz I kind of had an idea of what was coming, but I also knew that it was still going to get polished and tweaked and finished. So this was super exciting for me to hear. I thought a couple standout tracks were Diego Money, Grind. Grind I thought was sick because Fly Money Chills starts it off by saying, "Greatness requires interest and non-stop dedication." G R I N D. And I didn't catch that even the first time around. Like I was listening again and I was like, "Oh shit." But then Link also has a line on that. It says, "Hit his hip, make him hop. How you thought of that?" These are uh people that I listen to a decent amount. So, it's just cool to see like this coming out being really polished and being I feel like a really good release for both of their catalogs.

Nice. Yeah. I had the chance to check this out once and I thought it was pretty good. I like the first track Opulence. That was pretty good hook on there.

Oh, yeah.

I've personally never heard of him, but I've really been listening to a lot of Detroit rap lately. I have to add that to my rotation.

Definitely check this [expletive] out cuz he's been doing it for 10 plus years here.

Yeah, I'll definitely check him out.

Yeah, it's fun going to shows that he does and [expletive] too. I've recorded a couple music videos and [expletive] with him and uh we'll just be like on the corner of a block and people will be driving by and be like, "Yo, Link." Like they just everyone knows who this [expletive] is. So, it's just kind of cool to see. And I know he's been really really working hard lately and like polishing his [expletive] and putting a lot of effort into how his releases are coming out and like how his imagery is coming across. So, it's just cool to see that kind of all leveling up.

Next, I want to talk about Nino Breeze with Omera. Nino Breeze is a Florida rapper signed to MMG under Rick Ross. And speaking of Detroit rappers, he seems to be super tapped in. Two of my favorite songs on here were Shine featuring Icewear Bezo and Cutting Up featuring Piso. So he's clearly tapped in with what's going on in Michigan.

Oh yeah.

And then I also really liked What Pain Do. But Nino Breeze wasn't familiar with him, but he has a genuinely unique flow. It took me a few listens to get it, but I became a fan by the end of the week. I don't even know how to describe his flow. It's just it's just Nino Breeze. I'd recommend checking it out if you've never heard it before. It probably is like an acquired taste. Like you might hate it or you might love it, but it's worth checking out in case you're one of the people that loves it. The beats are pretty typical MMG trap beats. Not that that's a bad thing, but his flow over the beats makes the songs unique. So, total surprise to me, but I recommend checking out Nino Breeze Omera.

Hell yeah. I'm looking right now. I want to check out those two songs you were talking about with Pezy and Ice Bezo. Shine and cutting up.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He had signed to MMG and then I believe had to serve time and I think it was like a good four or five-ish years which is like just an unfortunate thing, right? Like when you're on the cusp of getting that kind of label push and everything and then like you can't. But yeah, no, like you said, very unique flow. It's a very specific cadence, but uh but it works. I love to see that MMG is having kind of a not not a resurfacing cuz I mean Rick Ross has always been around, right? But I feel like for a little bit, MMG kind of went their separate ways. Like Meek started doing his thing. Wale did his thing, and then a lot of the other MMG people that I was hoping to hear more from, we didn't. So, it's nice to see. I don't know if he's rebuilding the label, kind of pushing more artists out. But, yeah, I'm happy to see it.

This was a good sign in my opinion.

Yeah. Yeah. Like, I don't know if like Stalley is still signed to MMG. Like there's a few artists I remember from back in the day, but it's just nice to see Rick Ross kind of sitting back in his head of label chair and putting stuff out like that.

Mhm. Matt, you want to do another pick?

There was Yeah, the Tory Lanes album was I don't have much to say about it. I will say that Tory Lanes is another one of So, it's the LOL [expletive] Bass album.

Terrible name.

Terrible name. But I will say that Tory Lanes is one of those people where consistency is a bit of a curse. Where there's no bad songs. The writing is good, the singing is good, the production, surprisingly for all of the releases that he's been putting out. I mean, this guy's been putting out hundreds of releases like a year basically. Uh, seems like when he went into serving time, he started just dropping even more music. So, I mean, this album is good, consistent, good production, again, good writing, everything. I didn't find that there was anything really stand out, especially seeing how we got quite a few different genre albums before. Like for me, that one album where he had the color violet on it and the lady in of of Namek where it was like kind of like prom kind of style music.

That one I haven't liked a lot. That one I was like, "What the [expletive] Where did this come from?"

Yeah. Oh, alone at prom. That's what it's called.

Yeah.

Yeah. Then Sorry for what after it was good. Like that. Like it's been good. It's just it now is starting to feel where things are kind of sounding more like one type of way. So, I'm hoping to see him kind of step out and try those different sounds again. Alone that again that alone at prom sound that like synth wavy like

Yeah, it was '80s synth

and I felt like with the time Stranger Things was popping that Kate Bush song was popping it just like it just worked, you know? So, again, good album but it didn't have that like magical feeling from the other ones. It's missing the pizzazz.

Rest in peace, Megan's foot.

Yeah. Damn.

Okay. So, yeah. Next, I want to talk about Coyote, produced by Static Selecta with Machetes and Micheladas. The beats are expectedly great from Static Selecta. Incredible boom bap producer. I wasn't familiar with Coyote, but I was impressed. Really strong songwriting, great strong song concepts. This was definitely one of my favorites from this week. Standout tracks on this one for me. What's Peace featuring locksmith and RA the rugged man. It's super powerful civil rights song. Cortez on my feet. That's a fun one. And Kid Named Johnny. Really strong storytelling. Amazing beats. I really recommend this for anyone that likes like boom bap lyrical [expletive]

Mhm. Oh yeah. The RA the Rugged Man verse is just uh Yeah, that whole song was a very powerful like you said, just like emotion invoking. I feel like it's very scary to go into politics, especially now. And I think that they did it in a very tasteful, brave way. There's no other way to go about it. Everything was written really, really well. And yeah, like you said, it's a whole album of just raps, you know? So, I mean, if you're into that kind of thing, really a good listen. It's the kind of thing where I really want to kind of sit there and, you know, take apart every bar and really listen to what they're saying. Uh, yeah. And if you're someone who loves doing that, then this is the one for you for sure. That's exciting cuz I'll just sit there with genius open and follow along cuz I'm like that's the kind of [expletive] that I love, you know? Like I love that. It's almost like showing off a little wit, too, which I just always appreciate and things, any art form, you know?

Yeah. It's like comedy and drama combined. Like

again, two of my favorite things.

Yeah. And I was surprised to hear there's an intro with uh Exhibit on it.

Yes, that's right. Exhibit did an intro. I should have mentioned that. That's a good call.

Oh [expletive]

Yeah,

that's exciting. All right, Gav, you want to do another pick?

Yeah, the last one I listened to was the Currency Whiz Khalifa album, Roofless Records for Drop Tops Disc One. That's what it is. So, I really like this one. I really like Whiz Khalifa and Currency together. Granted, I don't listen to either of them separately all that often. Not that I don't like either of them. Like, I have listened to their solo projects, but I really just love the two of them together. Like, the way that the beats are selected, like everything just comes out really, really well. And you can kind of tell who takes lead on each song on it, which is cool, too. And like the production follows that as well. Like if Currency is going to be the one that's really featured on that song, like the same one is one of the songs on there that's kind of like a currency standout in my opinion. You can tell like if you listen to his solo stuff, it's similar, you know? Whereas like when Khalifa is doing Live Fast Burn Slow, it's like makes you feel like something off of Black and Yellow or something like that. I thought it was sick. Rari Twins was the other song that I was really excited about. You take your Rari, I'll take mine. It's just kind of a catchy like hook song.

Yeah.

All that kind of listening to Whiz Khalifa to listen to that sound and then you add currency with it and it's just like, okay, cool. Then now there's this West Coast bounce flow to it.

And I do find that that Whiz's pen kind of grew to almost a level of Sway's where Whiz is writing really good hooks and he's singing them more and more and more. I'm hearing these really nice melodic hooks that he's doing and like I really respect it and especially growing up on like the whole Taylor gang movement and everything like he was doing this sing songy but it was like the same sing song that every rapper was doing at that time where it's like you're singing bad but it sounds good. But now it just I find his voice I don't know if he like what he's been doing vocal lessons or whatever but he's putting together really solid hooks.

I think he talked about that [expletive] a little bit where he was like, "Man, I run a record label now." Like cuz he was for a while he was just doing features for the most part. Like he stopped dropping solo projects and like he's like I can just hop on any of my artists songs and like drop a verse or do a hook or something like and it helps and it sounds good and like everyone gets paid. He's like I've got a lot going on. I don't have to put out a ton of albums on my own anymore. So

yeah, that makes sense.

All right, that was Whiz Khalifa and Currency with Ruthless Records for Drop Tops. Do you have any more, Matt?

I was going to bring up the Baby Mother album. I love her. She's underrated.

Yeah.

Oh, I don't I didn't check this out. Tell me about it. Baby Mother Rent Stew.

Yeah. So, she's just one of those rappers that are just different. She had a hit called Rules and then had other songs that did well, but she's kind of remained consistent throughout that whole time. Even though she didn't blow up like she did songs with like young baby Tate who like she went on to be really successful, right? So, I mean, baby mother's always remain consistent and the reason why I bring her up is I just, you know, I'd love for people to check her out. I think the production is very unique. The subject matter will be very similar to what other female rappers talk about, but the way in which she says it is just, I think, better, funnier. She just has a way of basically saying that men aren't [expletive] in a catchy way. Uh, and the beats do sound very kind of like it's hard to find a comparison, but almost early Doja Cat where it sounds very like when you're at that point where the bedroom beats like the beats that maybe you're able to make or another producer or something have that kind of distinct sound where it's like it requires confidence to create where it's like, you know, maybe more like aggressive 808s, uh, different drums, like just like weird synths and stuff like that. Um, that's it. Yeah. And like every song is unique. Each song doesn't sound the same as the last one. Definitely urge people to check it out.

All right. Nice. I want to now for sure. Well, speaking of unique female rappers, there is a young group called 41 from Brooklyn, New York. It's a three-person group, female rapper named Jen Carter and two dudes, Kylie Rich and Tata. This project is their debut album after blowing up in like 2022 area. They're kind of like a Gen Z TikTok drill group, right? They just started recording together as friends on Band Lab in 2020.

Holy [expletive]

And then they got signed and this is their debut album. They're a controversial group because of some of their earlier songs having very violent drill lyrics, but now they're leaning more towards like a party oriented lyrics. Probably cuz their label was like, "You guys need to chill. We have to sell this to the masses." So 41 had another album before in 2023, but it's not an album. It's well, it's specifically called 41, not the album. So it's a mixtape, I guess, right? You guys have probably heard the song of them.

Bent was did really good.

I hadn't heard it before checking it out. I was so surprised by their monthly listeners. They had 3 million monthly listeners, but I never heard of them. And then I was like, okay, they're like big with Gen Z and they're kind of just blew up off of these singles. But I guess you're saying they also had an album, but I think Bent wasn't off that album though, I don't think. Right. It was like

was on an EP before that album. They had been dropping, but I think that I had read as well like the whole thing over Band Lab and I think that this album was maybe just more polished and put together cuz yeah, the other ones were more like they had like a mixtape feel. This sounds super professional, very well put together.

I was really surprised with how the beats, they're definitely completely rooted in Brooklyn Drill, but there's actually some really unique beats on here and the lyrics aren't like blatantly offensive, but I went back to it a few times and I really enjoyed it. The standout tracks for me on it were the first song, Starlets, Draco and ARPs. I'm just talking about how it's not they're not as violent, but of course they got one of my favorite songs called Draco and ARPs featuring Gerbo also like uh Last Night featuring Cash Cobain.

Being from Canada, I have a bad idea of what the American geography is. And so I had been into Jersey Club beats for a while. So when I heard 41 and I heard that half the album is like Brooklyn drill and the other half is Jersey Club, I was like why? Like why? And I didn't realize that New Jersey is like right there.

Oh, [expletive] is going on? I just basic completely.

No, like people live in Jersey and work in New York.

They pay a lot of money every day.

I Yeah. No, I do have a bit of a hard time with the when they use the Jersey Club like the tumm but it's like very slow and that's what like a lot of like Jen Carter's flow is very on that kind of cadence. And I find that after a couple songs, it does become a bit of like a I don't know, a very robotic a little bit.

I think the thing that fought that off for me was the three different vocalists that all came at it with such a different vibe. Uh they all have completely different flows and tonally their vocals sound a lot different. So yeah, I agree. Like the beats are kind of the same thing. Rhythmically definitely, but with that genre, you expect the drums to be a certain way. So you have to just play with other things besides the drums. So they really played with the melodies and wrote really beautiful melodies. You can actually put something really like soulful over that. Boom boom boom boom boom boom even over that.

And I was happy to hear more of Jen Carter too. I hope that she gets more I hope actually all three of them. Hopefully this helps them maybe branch out and we get to hear them on you know other things. There was also on there there was a song which I think was and the lead Chaos but I guess maybe they included it on the album because he's like the primary artist uh on that song.

Yeah, that was interesting. It's called Or what

and it sounds like his type of song too cuz like he's been on that little like [expletive] Me Out and like all those songs.

That's where I lost him.

Oh, really?

I Slept Me Out one, two, three, or four.

Which

at one?

Yeah. At one.

Damn.

I was just like, damn, man. I saw you perform Cam a lot live and this just isn't the same.

That's crazy.

Like, but that's just me. And like I understand that it appeals to an entire different mass of people cuz like do whatever the [expletive] works, man. Like Blueface changed his whole thing after it got kind of old after a little bit and then disappeared, but that's a separate story. But

I like the blue face flow.

It's actually pretty good. A lot of times I'll put on hip-hop, my girlfriend be like, "Oh, you like you really like" she can't stand it. She'll be like, "Oh, you like the guys that like are off flow." And sometimes it's not that like they are on pocket. It's just that it's a different type of pocket.

I will say Blue Face definitely for the most part sometimes tends to go off tempo, but it is still on beat. Just

different.

Yeah. Like when someone's ahead of the beat, it just makes you like have a different type of anticipation. It makes you feel different when you listen to it. So, it's done very purposefully.

It's like it tickles this weird sense. Yeah.

Yeah. The last thing I want to say is just again, shout out to Jen Carter. One of my favorite songs is called Situated. It was a solo song from her. It's one of the least streamed songs from the new project, which is disappointing. It's one of the best. Definitely go check out Situated by 41 and J Carter. But yeah, that was 41 with Area 41. All right, so like we said at the top, this was a super full week. We talked about 41 with Area 41. Baby Mother with Ren Stew, Coyote, and Static Selecta with Machetes and Micheladas. Juicy Jay with the Trippy Tapes Volume One hosted by DJ Scream. Whiz Khalifa and Currency with Ruthless Records for Drop Tops. Fly Money Chills and Link Sinatra with Visions. Mike and Earl Sweatshirt produced by Surf Gang with Pompei Utility. Nino Breeze with Omera Sway Lee with Same Difference. Tory Lanes with LOL [expletive] Base. The ones we didn't talk about Sea Stoner with Born to Stunt, Codefendants with Lifers, Marlin Craft with the Internet Killed the Neighborhood, Dave East with East Mix Volume 3, Kid Wild with Job Still Not Done, Lip Head with The Long Way, Nine Vicious with Emotions, Thundercat with Distracted. Kind of surprised we didn't talk about that, but it was a really busy week. Like we said, R2R Mo with the greatest show on earth, Young Ko with Komodo, and lastly, K Rhino with the End US Tree. All right, so let's talk about what else we've been doing in music this week. For me, I mixed and mastered a couple tracks. One for a rapper named OTR Cuddy and another for a rapper named Jay-Z the Kid.

Oh, not Jay-Z.

That's about it. Not Jay-Z. Not Jay-Z. Gav, what else have you been doing in music this week?

Yeah, it's kind of been a slow week for me. Just working on beats and then doing an engineering session tomorrow. So,

nice.

Yes, sir.

What about you, Matt?

Uh, I've been working on beats cuz I've been working on some Detroit style beats. So, I'm trying to get myself in the more dark vibes. I tend to whenever I work on beats, it tends to be more upbeat and happy. So, I'm trying to get, you know, more gritty and yeah. So, just going for that vibe, immersing myself in it. Been listening to a lot of that kind of rap to try and, you know, stay in that vibe. So, it was challenging with the releases that we hadn't, especially, you know, when you have 30 songs of Juicy J. It really takes you out of that kind of vibe. So, yeah, they're just trying to immerse myself in these vibes and finish some beats. Good [expletive]

Cool. So, releases coming up next week. We have Buddy with Semi Sims 3, Skrilla with Z, Snoop Dogg with 10 till Midnight, TF and DJ Mugs with Don't Call Me Lucky, and lastly, Wesley Joseph with Forever Someday. 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 also save the F2F Spotify playlist to follow along with what we're listening to through the week. So, what is that? It's a living playlist that we update every week with not all the latest releases, but all the ones that we might end up talking about on the show, so you can listen with us throughout the week before we talk about it. It's what we use to listen to the weekly releases, and you guys should use it, too. So, you know, we've done the work for you, and you can find that link in the description. To get a hold of us, you can email Friday to Friday podcast at gmail.com. Our intro and outro music by lunar g. Find him at prodby lunar.g. Podcast edited by me, Jacob from Frequency overflow. You can find me at frequency overflow. Join us every week to stay in tune with hip-hop releases from Friday to Friday. Peace. Peace.