Studio album number eighteen for Curren$y, sixth project in 2020, fourth LPs, with four different producers. The latest is Harry Fraud, with whom he has collaborated since 2012, and who realizes all the rhythms in this sequel to "The Marina EP" (2018).
The music chosen by the producer is one of the best of the year among hip-hop records: Fraud combines melodic and musical samples, releasing an often ethereal, heavenly, wonderful sound. It's an incredibly excellent soundscape for the MC flow, effortless, relaxed, crisp and smooth, the rapper always lets the beat breathe for a few seconds, cleverly, and is completely fit with the vibes of the track, kills all the cuts with a style reminiscent of Snoop's in 92-93. Curren$y doesn't change his typical lyrics, still spitting on weed, women, drugs, bragga and money, and for many fans this plays against him: it's the exact opposite instead, his bars are functional to the rhythms and so they had to be, the man had to succeed simply to bring a little more than decent flow to make a solid project, indeed it's technically flawless, managing to elevate the entire album towards the best hip-hop records of the season.
Each track is a dope track, even when the guests arrive: the third choice has another splendid sample, of sax, left to breathe in the background, then Curren$y delivers smoothness on an elegant piano, with perfect and light drum; after the simple pop hook, without effort, comes Wiz Khalifa: he has had a difficult year musically, but here he's not wrong even when he's wrong. Rick Ross offers a verse in the excellent "Mugello Red" and Conway arrives in the next track, "Riviera Beach", on a rhythm of Fraud born Griselda, boom bap midtempo for the effortless delivery of the rapper from Buffalo. Following the release of the album, the sample of "Nostalgia" (1973, from the soundtrack of the movie "La ragazza fuoristrada") by Piero Umiliani used for "Seven Seas", which gave a dark, cold and shiny tone to the track, has been eliminated due to copyright problems and replaced with a sample that returns a completely different sound, with a Moroderian matrix. Finally, Jim Jones: on a great rhythm, with female soul samples looped in the background, Curren$y opens, then also delivers the former Dipset, at his best in career.
With twenty-five minutes of listening, nine short cuts and a handful of guests, Curren$y and Harry Fraud come up with a near-perfect, fantastic project: critics slept incredibly, this is [still] an obscure candidate for hip-hop album of the year. 8.5/10.
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