Bassy, hazy, blunted rap. Do people still talk about cloud rap? This definitely would've gotten that label in 2010. Lyrics are kind of all over the place, lots of abstract trippy metaphors and images. But also lots of concrete stuff, bragging, talking shit, a bit of motivational you-can-do-it stuff. Generally great flows, with lots of moving in and out of double-time. The vocals are the most east-coast thing about this. Production (esp bass and drum programming) has a strong southern influence, esp Three 6 Mafia (and that Hypnotize Minds sound in general), but the rapping has a broader range of influences... I didn't notice them saying anything terribly deep, and they don't quite live up to their idols yet, but it's clear that they've absorbed elements of everyone from Camp Lo to Big L to Freddie Gibbs. Despite being produced by a number of different people, the album has a very cohesive sound (and no duds). This is a great example of younger NYC rappers absorbing influences from well outside the last 20 years of NYC rap.

RIYL: Three 6 Mafia, Ratking, Curren$y, gruff east coast flows

we have an FCC clean copy (marked as such), it's in the case, it's got 9/12 of the real album's tracks.

1. opens with strings. choirish background vocal throughout, crawling beat with thick bass and stuttery cymbals. double-time vocals with a touch of distortion. aggressive but laid back. 3:08
2. buzzing bassline and bright pads, swirling kind of moogy high-end. flows switch between regular and double-time. 3:11
3. rapid sort-of-dissonant piano. has the creepy vibe of old three 6 mafia. flows mimic the halting cadence of the beat. 3:20
4. ethereal pads. occasional filter sweeps to give an underwater feel. occasional chopped snares and vocals, and occasional rapid panning of some elements for a ping-pong effect. to quote whatever that sample is on the chronic: "this should be played at high volume, preferably in a residential area." 3:39
5. kicks and bassline sound synthesized, but snares and cymbals sound sampled and have a nice strut. ghostly background vocal loop, some sort of low humming. filter on the chorus. great run of rhymes around 2:something, some laid-back shit talking about something or other. great flows in general on this track. a little echo-y piano at the end. 4:00
6. opens with just swirling, rising synth line. beat kicks in around :30. big booming kicks and ticky hats. kicks drop out for a while around 1:00 but come back. flows play it pretty straight, but occasionally dip into double-time. 3:35
7. fuzzed guitar and drum sample, the sort of loop that could be built from parts of a psych rock song or a spaghetti western score. beat drops out at a couple points and comes back in, is more spare and has a slightly different feel when it does it for the last time around 2:00. great fusion of disparate elements with all the fuzz and drop-outs along with the usual trappy programming. 3:00
8. first :30 is warm buzzy melody and snaps, with some echoing coos or burbles. triumphant synths kick in after that. bright, probably the only well-lit emotionally upbeat track on the whole thing. a "the world is yours" lyrical theme. 3:46
9. reversed guitar strums that then get unreversed. chorused backup vocals ("day in the life/head in the clouds"). backup vocals mostly used as texture, though they provide a bit of a bridge in the middle. drum machines seem just a bit less heavy on this one? melody stays guitar driven (w/ varying levels of reverb), but less fuzzy than the previous track. prod by portugal the man. 3:21

recommended: 5, 7, 4