show preview: Curren$y at The Beacham, Friday June 15
Since his earlier days of rapping alongside New Orleans rapper Lil
Wayne, Curren$y has been a very notable voice in hip-hop. His status
increased even more as he released his much acclaimed Ski Beatz
produced record, Pilot Talk, as well as his sequel album later that
same year, laying down lazy, well-thought out rhymes over dreamy and
smooth production. Curren$y seems to flawlessly release new material
every month, delivering mixtapes and guest appearances heavy in
between solid album releases. The Stoned Immaculate marks the very
first “major,” release from the New Orleans native, and his forth
effort for 2012.
Yet, as much material as the rapper seems to be releasing, he doesn’t
seem to ever decrease in quality. The Stoned Immaculate doesn’t show
any crumbling by Curren$y’s talent or flow, but rather a continuation
of his constant and steady effort in hip-hop. This album is Curren$y’s
most polished and well rounded work to date, delivering the consistent
stoner-smooth jams the rapper is well known for with an additional
number of guest appearances.
In fact, one of the only downsides to the album is that it may
actually have too much guest appearances. Of the 13 tracks, 10 of them
have guest appearances, with the digital version of the album holding
16 tracks with 11 songs featuring other rappers. Curren$y’s drifting
voice works well on the beats provided for The Stoned Immaculate, but
some of the other rappers don’t stack up as high. On “What It Look
Like,” Wale’s voice sticks out a little more noticeably than Curren$y,
sounding somewhat obnoxious on the hook. Wiz Khalifa makes two
appearances, providing one hit and one miss for the album. The rappers
themselves aren’t all terrible, but these beats are meant for the
smooth-talking Curren$y at times and are a bit unsuitable for company.
The guests aren’t all sloppy, however. Wiz Khalifa did serve a great
verse on the album’s theme song “Jet Life,” alongside rapper Big
K.R.I.T., who also produced the song. 2 Chainz did very well on
“Capitol,” slowly rapping and stumbling with every syllable the way
the Georgia rapper is known for, while spitting somewhat clichéd lines
that provide guilty pleasures to listeners (You know I do it like I’m
doing it for Dew/Watch the shoes, ostrich, you know what time it is
like 2 watches). In “No Squares,” Curren$y takes his title as one of
the hardest working rappers in the game (Spokes pokin’/I should be the
“weed don’t stop me from workin” spokesperson/Cause I get it in,
stoned, active like a sober person runnin”). The production by Daz
Dillinger, Tony P, Bink!, J.U.S.T.I.C.E League, Pharrell, and many
others are all solid and created a very perfectly rounded mix for the
entire album, providing Curren$y with southern drum heavy patterns,
mildly lazy flute/synth loops and a high volume of spazzy jazz
samples.
Curren$y is definitely known for rapping alongside his production in a
very lazy manner, almost blending into the background while riding the
wave of each beat. This is something not all rappers can do and what
most strive for. This could be either a gift or curse for the hip-hop
artist though, since some of his lines may come up missing as he’s
homogeneous to his production and his voice is inseparable to the
flows on some songs.
But as the album title states, Curren$y proves himself to be
immaculate, effortless spitting rhymes about the finest herb, the
hottest girls, and the fastest cars he handles on a daily basis. The
subject matter may not be new at all for hip-hop, but it does seem
perfected by the rapper, and the delivery makes it a fresh listen.
This album is exactly what you would expect from the N.O. artist with
plenty more to offer.
Keytracks: “Chandelier,” “Privacy Glass,” “Jet Life,” “No Squares”
Thanks,
Kevin Cortez, Staff writer for Brink Magazine.
Please pick up a copy of Brink Magazine or check out http://brinkmagonline.com/
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