Your Old Droog, Mooch, Real Bad Man, Raz Fresco & Nicholas Craven

This is Friday to Friday, your weekly rap wrap-up, going through our favorite releases in rap and hip hop from Friday, September 25th to Friday, October 2nd. My name is Jacob. I'm a mixing and mastering engineer from California, and your host for today. And I have with me artist, producer, and DJ hailing from the Twin Cities, Minnesota, Terry V. >> Yo yo, what's good? as well as producer hailing from Detroit, Michigan, Gav aka Prod by Lunar G. >> What's up? >> Before we get into our picks for this week, here's the full list of artists that dropped projects. We got Apollo Brown and Skyoo Big Moochi Grape and Zoven DDG Fei Isola Fimstki Interstate J Cardinal Official Mooch and Real Bad Man Filthy Rich Raz Fresco and Nicholas Craraven T Grizzly Trey the Truth and Mazy Your Old Drew and Bang Gang Lonnie Bands. We had multiple amazing lyrical and boom bap projects from this week. That's mainly what we're going to be talking about today. So, we can kick it off the bat with Real Bad Man and Mooch with Terminator [ __ ] Mooch is from Rochester, New York. He's a member of the collective decluction, amazing bars, really, really quality project from both of them. And I found it interesting this week. I'd learned for the first time Real Bad Man was previously a designer and art director for Sty and he started Real Bad Man actually as a clothing brand and was releasing vinyls alongside clothing drops and then he switched it to being a full music label Real Bad Man Records where he releases his collab albums like his projects with Baldy James. But yeah, this was a really this is a cool project. My favorite ones were Chrome Nickel with Speaking of Boldy James and then also St. Knack featured on that one. Got Nowhere to Go featuring Diner and then [music] Bigger Than Life was my other favorite. Those were kind of my top three. >> Man, I gotta shout out the Nat Turner beat. This whole project was [ __ ] sweet though. I like that uh every beat kind of had its own vibe, you know? It was very boom bab like had an aesthetic, but >> Mhm. >> I felt like everyone was kind of unique. It didn't feel like recycled at all. >> No, different enough. But um very boom bapish, man. Um, Tiger Stretch Marks was another one I would add on to that just how that beat was just like kind of simple wavy, but [ __ ] was hard. Like had that New York essence to it. Like this this was like a really good blend of boom bap New York dope [ __ ] >> Yeah. >> Felt like everything that we were about to cover had like a very uh unique vocal aspect to it. Like it wasn't just the bars. It was like sonically vocals were a big part of it. At least for me too. No, that's a good point because we had all these boom bat projects, but they don't all sound the same. They all have a distinct It's because the I think the lyricists are all distinct enough that it carries the whole project without it feeling like just a bunch of the same thing. >> Yeah. >> The confidence of it like just the recording that confidence coming through. But, you know, I think uh for how much boom bap we got, all of them, like you said, felt different. >> Yeah. Which was a nice break from last week, which was like very trapheavy. >> Mhm. And even with these boom bap records that we got, it wasn't repetitive. Just how you were saying like the aggression and the confidence like especially on Chrome Nickel throughout that um throughout that whole record with him and Baldi. Like it was it was just straight like bar you up. >> That's got one of the sickest intros for the beat fire. This week was awesome for for Boom Bap. >> Yeah. I also really loved the the artwork on the cover and then if you see the videos that play on Spotify, the canvases, there's some really cool animations that they got that kind of reminds me of like what Zarface did last month where they just had these cool cartoon animations that go work perfectly for those little Spotify videos. Well, that's real bad man and mooch with Terminator [ __ ] Next, let's talk about Raz Fresco with the doo. This is the second fulllength project produced by Nicholas Craraven for Raz Fresco. The first one is Bingerie from 2022. It means bakery in French, which um Raz Fresco is a founder of the indie label called Bakers Club. >> So that's the tie in there. And then >> they're both from Canada as well. And by the way, shout out to to Matt. He's our resident Canadian. Couldn't be here this week, but he he gave us the Canadian stamp of approval on this one. So, respect. [laughter] >> Yeah. Know, this one was my personal favorite this week. What's crazy, too, is he just dropped another album, Y equals Self. >> Yeah, that was super recent. >> Yeah, he self-produced that entire album, too. >> Right. Yeah. >> He's a strong producer, but I love it personally when a rapper that also produces doesn't only want to use their own beats. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> No, he's got crazy credits, too. I mean, he's done stuff for Rayquan, ASAP 12V, Mac Miller, Rum Street >> where he's he doesn't have any lyrics on it. He's just he's just produced. >> But yeah, shout out to Nick Craven on this production. This was some of the strongest Nick Craven production from this year, I think, on this project. Without a >> doubt. I really liked it. Yeah. >> Yeah. No, I was going to damn near say clap it up for Nick cuz we've been covering him a lot this year and he hasn't been disappointing. I love the way that the beats sound on this project, especially Blueberry right off the top. >> [clears throat] >> that soulful that so that oh my gosh it's crazy because it's it's simple but it's like the way it hits you and the feeling you get when you play it like and then with Ros Fresco's rhyme scheming patterns all over these beats it was like you were saying Gav this was one of my favorites I don't know if this was my favorite or Drogue was my favorite it was like it was it was close between those two but these two were these two were dope yeah Nick Craven has been going crazy this year man >> he's been going crazy putting it work yeah >> my favorites were don't belong song, New Flavors, Checkmate, and Frogs in the Water. >> Frogs was crazy. I was going to say tip of my mind, too. The vocal sample and just the whole mix on that. It just feels like that vocal sample swirling around in the background. Like, it's such a busy song, but it doesn't feel like overwhelming. Yeah. Which is like a line that Nicholas Craven kind of walks a lot where the soul sample vocal is so loud that it's like most of the beat and then there's a rapper on top of it. But when the mix is right, it really hits. >> Like it doesn't clash. Like I don't I don't know how he does that. >> Yeah, exactly. >> Yesterday was one of my favorites, too. Like that's a good example of that cuz she's singing like going through like throughout the whole thing. But it's like it's no clash and it just sits perfect and it's just that soul like that simple what quarter quarter of the sample that they play over and over again and then like one turn around at the end like after 16 bars or whatever. Simple [ __ ] like that, bro. But it just sounds so [ __ ] fire. [laughter] >> When you have the right chop, that's all you have to do with it, honestly. Like just that the four bar with the turnaround is like you said, such a simple technique for like sample flipping. But I think that goes to kind of what we were talking about last week where like it's not always the most technically advanced [ __ ] that sounds good, you know? Like it's sometimes it's just finding the right thing. >> Yeah. >> And doing something simple with it. But I thought uh Things We Do was another one of my favorites to be honest with SD Knack on it. They just have they sound so good together. Oldie James too featured on this as well. I swear to God we've been covering Blue every single week for the past like 2 months. >> He's been on everything. >> Yeah. >> Also, one thing I noticed on here was some of the spiritual undertones and his and his lyrics. And I appreciate how he did it because [music] sometimes when they touch subjects like that, it can come off like kind of corny, but just his his whole spin on it was dope. You hear it on Blue Blair and Don't Belong, but like a lot of that was on here. And like as a as an artist that also includes some of his spit alley in his music, it's always dope to see that representation. This was a really fire project, man. I I I think I listened, like I said, it was a tossup between us and Drew, but um the beats on here like really >> That's what I was going to say. I got so swept up in the music that I like didn't even catch most of the bars. >> It was a vibe, man. [laughter] >> Yeah, it was his voice sounds so [ __ ] good with this production that like I was just simply listening to like just feeling it more than dissecting it. So, I'm glad that you caught some of the bars and like the meanings of the songs. And for me, honestly, this and Drew are just neck and neck. Like, I don't think I could even put one above the other. It was they felt so different too that I was just like, man, these are each in their own lane. >> For me, I got to give it to Drew. And on that note, we should uh transition over to your old Drew with his album Bread and Butter. >> So good, dude. >> The mix on this is crazy. The first thing I noticed was just like the bass sounds different. Like it it feel every song felt so full. And then not to mention again like his voice is phenomenal, too. So it's just like it's the whole package. It didn't feel like anything was forced. >> Yo, speaking of his voice, I just learned this week that when your old Drew dropped his first EP in 2014, the internet thought that it was actually Nas doing a side project. >> Crazy. >> Which is a huge compliment. That's wild. And then he like revealed his identity later that year. >> That's crazy because >> I not that he was trying to emulate Doom, but I heard a lot of Doom and his tone um when rapping on this. Oh, but to get compared to any if you can compare to Nas on your first joint, man. [ __ ] >> Right. Isn't that crazy? That's amazing. >> You can definitely hear it on the on the conductor. The shouting Fro >> Definitely sounds like Nas, which is now that you say it, there's like confirmation bias, but I totally hear it, you know? >> Although, I will say like this is his EP from like 12 years ago, so he's way more developed his own personal sound by now. So, not to say that he sounds like Nas on Bread and Butter. It's just like kind of an old fact about him. That's interesting. >> Got you. >> Other interesting facts about him, he's actually born in the Ukraine, but then moved and was raised in Brooklyn, New York, but it's actually a Ukrainian dude. >> Did not know that. >> Got you. I will say though, for Shod and Fraud, am I pronouncing that right? Shod and Fraud. >> Shod and Freud. >> Shod and Freud. Yeah, that I think was my least favorite beat on the project. >> Oh, wow. That's funny. >> Really? >> The conductor joint, huh? >> I know. Oh, and I was just saying just how, you know, conductors creeping up, but like not to say that it was bad. It was just my least favorite one cuz I was like, "Conductor, I'm like, "Let me hear it." And I was like, "It's cool. It it it's cool." Not to not to not conductor or anything like that, but it was just Yeah. It's just something I had noticed because I I I really I was expecting to hear something a little bit more like you know. >> See, I that's I think what made me like this so much is that like sometimes conductor is a little like abstract almost with his beats sometimes and like ways that I don't love. Like I like a lot of his beats, but there's definitely some that I'm like I am really struggling to get behind this one. And this just like being so laidback and chill. I was like no this is perfect. Especially with the vocals. So like that's funny you say that. I'm not mad at him. >> It's followed up by that fly low beat which is just totally change of pace and like he kills that too. >> Yeah, I don't care was amazing. That whole run of the last four songs, Shod and Freud into I don't care into Hunter Biden into the bonus song Impression Control >> which arguably one of the best. >> Yeah, that was like one of my favorite songs too. >> Yeah, >> rappers can't write choruses so they scratch hooks like >> scratch. He just he goes in off rip on that. >> Yeah. So many amazing lyrics. Like definitely the strongest lyrics of the week for me for Euro Drew and the most songs that I playlisted on any project. I think I playlisted like 10 on here. Like it's a really strong project. Nice. >> Yeah. That Pavlovian effect too. Yeah. Just speaking on the current state of what's happening in hip hop and in our community. Like it's that [music] shit's dope. Just like what he's saying on that record and on that on the song like these kids. just all like the pattern of living that lifestyle like you know your words have power but it's like at the same expense like that's the environment they're living in and it's crazy because most of them don't even expect to to live that long. So yeah for bread and butter like I said it was up there with Rise Fresco because the the beats were dope the lyrical content was dope but um yeah man this man was spitting throughout [music] this whole project symphony therapy like the vulnerability and therapy. Yeah, this this was like I said, it was it was close, but I give the edge to Rise cuz I love Rise Flow, but that's [laughter] just me. >> Yeah, I was going to say this. They're so They're so different for me. Like, for being boom bat, for being in the same like sub genre, they're so [ __ ] different that I have to just like put them both at number one. but drew the way there's there's space for his lyrics, you know, like as opposed to Raz Fresco where it to me that one kind of felt like a whole package cuz this one I did catch a lot of bars. I did catch a lot more of the meaning of the songs and I don't know if that's just his flow and like the pace of it, but it was really nice. >> Also like his ability to connect with the audience like he he words stuff in a way where I'm on one hand I'm thinking, "Oh, that's crazy. I've never heard it that worded that way before." And then I'm also thinking, "Oh yeah, I know exactly what he's talking about." So it's like both relatable and really interesting at the same time. >> Yeah. I was listening to an artist talk about like two big things in music is that people can give you stuff that makes you think and people can give you stuff that makes you feel. And with with Ros Fresco and your old Drew, I think you got both of those. I think with Drew, you got a bit more of that thinking though. Like you could certainly feel it was a lot of feeling in it as well, but you got you got a c you certainly got a lot more thinking in terms of that. And then Ro, that's not taking anything from Roz. I think Raz was just more so displaying his rhyming ability and I think Drew like gave us more conceptual records off of the album. But nonetheless, like really dope listens. >> It's a really good way to put it. >> Yeah, totally. Yeah. Uh your old Drew is just a little bit more concrete and Raz Fresco is a little bit more abstract. >> Yeah. Like this Drew project felt a lot more like socially conscious, I guess. And I don't always love [ __ ] like that, but he was able to blend it with such a like nice sonic package [music] and like also have some like just feelood songs on there, I guess, you know, like [ __ ] that wasn't like [music] about something that I think it made the the stuff that was about something a lot more palatable. >> That's what makes this project like dope until the sense where it's all like if that's not your normal bag of music, but it still made you want to listen to it and take it in. I think that's going back to that feeling thing where when the artist can make you feel and make you appreciate the art in ways that you probably normally wouldn't if it was somebody else. So >> yeah, sure. >> He has some bars on there, too. >> Yo, he was going off on this project, bro. Yeah. [laughter] >> Yeah. So many lines to catch. Like I think I could listen to this one over and over and over again. I'm just going to catch more and more bars. >> Yeah. >> Yeah, for sure. >> Absolutely. >> Well, that's your old Drew with bread and butter. One last thing I forgot to mention was that your old Juke was also featured on Real Bad Man and Mooch. So you can check out his verse on there as well. But uh let's head over into honorable mentions. I wanted to shout out first of all Fei Isola with Kiwi Salad. This is a younger rapper out of Chicago carrying the torch of the Smino and Saba lineage coming out of Shy Town. So he really did a a good job of taking that sound and those roots but making it his own. So [music] shout out to Femi for that. >> Yeah. Love that Chicago vibe, man. I I love that [ __ ] >> I liked uh right here. Haha. >> It was dope. >> And then the the Woo interlude. I don't even know why he called this an interlude cuz this is just like one of the best songs on there. But yeah, [laughter] shout out Femiola. >> I was going to say bring me that too. That was probably one of my favorite off there with Fem Dot. >> Nice. Femi with fem dot >> on haha he has a line where he says uh what's a clue klux to a panther? That [ __ ] was hard. [laughter] >> That [ __ ] was hard. >> And then uh next on the honorable mention Cardinal Official with Fire Starter Volume 2. Huge number of features on this. Specifically for me the second song 40 Acres in a Ferrari which has Stove God cooks on the hook and then Black Dot on the verses. This is probably my favorite song of the week. Like out of everything we covered, how much I loved all that. The way Blackthog killed this amazing beat was just and then sto on the hook. It was just crazy. >> We got two Idris Ela features too, which I thought was kind of crazy. >> Yes, >> he's on top three in Bombay Sunsets. >> He had Bju Bontton on here too. >> BJ the Chicago kid, Tain, >> Melanie, Fiona, so good. >> It just the way it starts off with that drum fill just grabbed me right away. I was like, "Okay, what's this?" And then Black Thought just goes in, dude. >> Yeah. Oh my god. I had to send that to my brother like immediately. I was like, "This [clears throat] is crazy." And then we got a whole string of Michigan rappers dropping projects this week. >> We got DDG with Hitathon, T Grizzly with They Forgot, Filthy Rich with Seminary Hall of Fame, and those last two both have Skill Baby features. >> Seminary is actually a street in Detroit. Oh, okay. Okay. That reference. And then also Apollo Brown and Skyoo with the luxury tax. I liked Keep It Close, Hear Me Out, and then Blind Spot featuring Elzi and again, Blue Sean again. >> Yeah, >> the Apollo album was amazing, too. I had a good time listening to it. A lot of dope bars, a lot of dope concepts. >> Same. I liked it. >> Yeah, I thought Blind Spot was really cool. I really liked Abundance as well. Luxury Tax. There were a couple singles this week that actually went crazy. >> Let's do singles real quick. >> There was so much good [ __ ] this week. >> Yeah, this is a this was a dope week. Hold my purse, which is a conductor Williams beat with a female vocalist, rapper, and singer, I think, named Win and Winnie. Okay. And when I first like pulled up her Spotify, I was like, wait, I'm feel like I'm looking at the wrong thing because it's so confusing to match like what I was listening to to what I was looking at. >> [laughter] >> I did not I did not expect her to come as hard on that song looking at this photo. I'm just being honest. >> No. And like and if you listen to her top song, Jaw Morant, it's like absolute Tik Tok like hood thought music. It's crazy cuz that's like not at all what she raps about. Like that song stands out in such a weird way from the rest of her catalog. >> Yeah. She had a line like that on um hold my purse where she says I'm I'm giving him top boss like waka flocka or some [ __ ] some bar like some line like that. I'm about like yo she's spazzing though but she was going the [ __ ] off >> and it was like consistently good the whole song. It wasn't like oh there was a couple like cool lines in there. It was like n she like barred up that whole damn song. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Very confident. >> I was like like damn she talking. [laughter] >> Yeah. That was dope. Well, that's all of our singles and all of our honorable mentions. So, before we get into releases for next week, let's do plugs. This week, I've been uh mixing a track for Terry Ve here. It's going to be a single coming up soon. Also mixed a couple new tracks for Lucius B Thundercat, Matt's artist, and then we also have a single that dropped recently called Hard Times, which you can check out now on streaming. And uh we got coming up soon a Halloween themed boom bap instrumental project little EPA that we're going to drop. >> Nice. Nice. >> About a week. So I'll have more to talk about with that coming up next week. >> Dope. >> Well, that's all for me. What do you want to plug Terry? >> Single. New single coming out that is currently being mixed by Frequency Overflow. Produced by Low from Frequency Overflow. and I've been doing production for an artist that's getting ready to release uh a new project. She goes by the name Jamie. So, I'll have more information coming soon. And then hopefully get a chance to get back to creating working on more songs. [music] >> But if you guys want to follow me, hopefully y'all do cuz I do dope [ __ ] [laughter] You can follow me everywhere at yo Terry V. >> Hell yeah. >> Bad. What about you, Gav? What do you want to plug? just been putting together like some B packs, trying to sort through some stuff, figure out what I want to finish, doing some more outreach and like really pushing socials and stuff like that. So, putting together stuff for content and working with Matt actually on like a lot of visuals and like Instagram shorts and [ __ ] like that. So, just trying to step up the social game. But yeah, follow me everywhere on everything at prod by lunar.g. Probably try and put together a btape by the end of the year, too. So, >> yeah, for sure. That'll be dope. All right, that's plugs releases coming up next week. We have Chrome Waves and Afro. Got No Cap project from Quo. Been waiting on this Chrome Life project. Looking forward to that. Rocket Needs Space and Surf Gang. And then lastly, the Korea Town oddity. Be a cool week next week. >> Yeah, it's going to be a little more trap focused, but it should be exciting. >> Okay. It'll be a good week. >> And that's our show. You can save the official Spotify playlist to hear the releases from each week. That playlist is updated weekly with all the newest projects. That link is in the description. And you can see all our content on our website, f2fpod.com. That's the number two. Our intro and outro music by prod by lunar.g. Find him at prod byluner.g everywhere. And thank you for listening to Friday to Friday, 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. Peace.