hip-hop / gangsta rap

Gibbs turns in one of his strongest and most concise records yet. On this EP, he takes the sharp storytelling quality of his best records (the old mixtapes, Piñata) and combines it with the rangier vocal technique and production he embraced on "Shadow of a Doubt". And then trims it down into 8 tracks that mash up and alternate between bravado, regret, apprehension, hope, and of course copious shit-talking about the drug game.

RIYL: Vince Staples, Mobb Deep, MC Eiht, ESG (the rapper)

FCCs noted (def 4, maybe 6; this was a "clean" version, further cleaned, but a couple escaped)

favorites: 7, 8, 3, 6, 2, 1

1. echoed out piano phrase gives way to thick churning bass with hiccuping 808 snares and cymbals as punctuation. slightly melodic flows, bravado tinged with anxiety, fatalism. mid-way, flips to pitched up soul samples, booming slow rolling 808 kicks. slightly random interjection at the end, though i wouldn't quite call it out of place. 5:21
2. starts with dark lo-fi piano sample, then rich clean electric bass comes in, funky drum pattern. reflecting on where he's been, drifting from old friends. 2:59
3. strings, slow rolling synth bass and booming 808s, dark and nocturnal, confident/determined but grateful for having escaped close calls. a bit of auto-tune backup vox on hook. 4:35
4. (FCC: fuck) synth pads buried spanish vox, female vox on the hook, trappy 808s and squelchy bass crash in after not long. reminisces on past lover and business connect that wasn't meant to be forever. medium tempo, stuttery drums steadied out by bassline and background synth pads. 3:55
5. very trappy 808s and bassline make subs jump, ghostly choral vox as pads in the background, straight-forward confident ballin braggadocio, buried hype background vox, drums occasionally drop out and bassline gets squelchy. gradual record slowing effect to end. 3:18
6. [technically FCC free, but some edits are pretty close. def safe harbor ok.] clean calm piano runs, steady mid-tempo drums with woodblocks knock, clean bassline, slightly frantic raps jump all over the beat. calm jazzy beat contrasts with nervy flows and subject matter. slightly sung bridge, relaxed with more confidence, drums drop out, gives way to shit talking bitter uncle leaving voicemail. beat slows, screwed raps as slow rolling 808s come in under slightly simpler bassline and echoed fragmented version of the piano line of the rest. 3:12
7. beat is a trunk rattler, punchy, shifty without being showy, low-key glitchy. undergirds slow droney organ layers and not much else. sorta-sung slightly chorused or autotuned hook. double-time blunted stuntin, talkin shit but the wife is on the phone way in the background chewing him out a little, and shit talking gives way to some regrets and worries. smooth slow burner, a hit in an alternate universe. my favorite on the album. 4:00
8. icy filtered echoed piano, screwed scratched hook, flow shifts between sharp and a little lurchy, to smoothed out and bluesy. wordless choir/soul backup vox woven through in background. syruped out 808 crashes in briefly at 1:30, comes back just after 2:00, never stays long. last third no drums, piano slips into whirlpools of reverse and reverb, as choir vocal slowly gets turned up; short story about a realization in jail, an i love you to his wife, reset, renewed focus. harsh comedown and triumphant closer in one brings it back around to where it started. 4:29