This is the 2nd EP from Detroit, Michigan rapper, singer/songwriter, producer, actress, model & creative director Detroit Ché. Releasing her debut single “Talk My Shit” over a decade ago, she released her debut EP Chénges in the summer of 2017 & returned last spring with a new single followed by another one couple months later. Both of which make the final cut of Chizzy, which has been getting co-signs from local veteran Miz Korona currently working on her forthcoming EP Travel in Peace dedicated to her mother.
After the intro, the self-produced “Lambo (Go Get It)” is a Detroit trap opener with some bells & pianos talking about nobody doing it like here whereas “Hugsz” takes an eerier approach instrumentally chilling in the corner where the love at dissing the frauds. “Hit Different (Money Phone)” sticks to the Detroit sound advising against calling the phone she uses to make money with back & after the “Mama Chizzy” interlude, “Super Ché” reaches the halfway point of the EP talking about charging up.
“Toobi” starts the 2nd act of the EP with a cutthroat Detroit trap beat cautioning that her crew don’t know how to act just before “1234567 (Too Feddy)” talks about people asking her suspicious questions. “Detroit Chizzy” blends strings & 808s to show the city who the real boss is while “Koi” asks why would she stop when she has more to say. “Pretty from the D” closes Chizzy by talking about not being anything like these other bitches rapping.
It’s been 8 years since Detroit Ché had to make some Chénges in her life & her comeback effort Chizzy stylistically adapts to the Detroit sound as opposed to the mellowness of that debut EP. It’s similar to what Boldy James did with Hommage earlier this spring in terms of a seasoned local MC proving that they can do what they best over that incarnation of trap & succeeding to end the 3rd quarter of the year.
Here we have the 4th studio LP from Atlanta, Georgia rapper iam3hard. Coming up in 2023 off his first couple of extended plays Down 2 Win & The Bandlab Beast, his 3rd EP Dissimilar Prevalence produced by Whyceg succeeding his full-length debut The Bandlab Bandit has become his most celebrated work & the sophomore effort WDF 3HARD followed a couple months later. Before I Sign & Willing to Die For both resulted in 3hard signing to Cegular Records, making his debut for the Sony Music imprint with 3x Harder & has been prepping for World War 3.
“Bearcoat” produced by Goxan starts off with an dark plugg opener talking about hanging out the window with a suppressed firearm whereas “Black Glock” hooks up a bell-heavy plugg instrumental from Whyceg painting imagery of the gangsta lifestyle running up carrying that specific type of gun on him. “Meds Works” takes a cloudier trap approach thanks to SOULJASPIRITS talking about Cegular doing fuckboys badly while “TSR” boasts of him spearheading the way for artists to get signed.
Nearing the end of the 1st half, “Ford Focus” incorporates some strings & 808s boasting the kind of whip he’s getting head inside of just before Trgc goes for a terror plugg vibe talking about never spinning the music of a rat whose mixtape isn’t selling very well. “Micro Jackson” finishes the 2nd quarter flexing that he & the rest of the squad gotta stay classy when pulling up to the clubs while “The Service” shifts towards a dark plugg sound talking about him still servin’ his housing projects.
“Wet Em decently gives off a more traditional plugg atmosphere continuing to hit listeners with more gangsta rap lyricism, but “What” felt like a better attempt at it despite its 96 second brevity. “Bob the Builder” gets referenced almost a couple months after J.I.D said he’d put a bullet in the general contractor while “Southlake” featuring 2sdxrt3all recaptures the synergies of their collab EP Burn the Booth Down.
The song “On Gangy” winds down World War 3’s final minutes hopping over a plugg instrumental talking about really having it out the pavement while “Shrek & Donkey” wraps things up talking about being more pissed off than the titular character of the Comcast Corporation subsidiary NBCUniversal division DreamWorks Animation’s flagship franchise & his best friend ahead of the upcoming 5th installment set to hit theaters in the summer of 2027.
3x Harder marked a huge improvement in quality compared to iam3hard’s earlier material & not only has he already outdone himself, there’s a pretty good chance World War 3 will be coming in conversations regarding 3hard’s greatest material much like it’s predecessor joining both Babystaydown & Pradabagshawty in further establishing Cegular Records to be a prominent plugg label. The plugg, dark plugg, terror plugg, cloud rap & trap production feels unparalleled compared to the last album & the same can be said regarding the Atlanta artist’s gangsta-lenient themes.
Detroit, Michigan rapper WTM Scoob is back with his 9th EP. Formerly a member of the WRLD Tour Mafia, his solo career started in 2019 with his first few EPs Good Kid as well as When You Coming Home & A Beautiful Drug. Couple more EPs Euphoric Effects & Don’t Be Proud came out ahead of his acclaimed debut album I Went to Plu2o, which was later followed by his first couple mixtapes Scoob & Sydney Tour the World and Unreleased Wav alongside his last EP Big Heart Small World. Didn’t get the chance to cover his sophomore effort Peace of Me this summer, but the concept of I’ll Neva Sell My Soul grabbed me almost immediately.
“Lean” starts with an intro borrowing from the dirty south a bit talking about sippin’ codeine whereas “Scoob Fame” talks about these pussies & hoes being unable to take shit from him. “Kount Up” hazily advises against fixing shit for these lames since they’ve been broke all of his life leading into the “Feel the Love (Bristol Heartbreak)” instrumental interlude.
The song “Training Day” begins the final act of I’ll Neva Sell My Soul with a cloudy trap beat talking about how if it ain’t 1 thing, it’s another while “U” opens up regarding his blowup & having too much to lose. “Scoobyness” finishes the EP by talking about the habits he picked up from growing up in the habitat that he was raised in with his cup being so dark, he could be a black activist.
For an 18 minute EP recorded in 2020 sometime prior to WRLD Tour’s debut mixtape WRLD Tour Mafia or Die the succeeding summer, it would’ve felt fully complete if WTM Scoob had rapped on “Feel the Love (Bristol Heartbreak)” but either way he digs up a small handful of gems made around a time when the world was completely shut down making a promise on wax that he won’t ever sell out.
New Orleans, Louisiana based emcee/producer La Reezy self-producing his 4th EP. Introducing himself in 2023 off the full-length studio debut Reeborn, he would go on to follow it up with the debut EP We All Need Help as well as both Welcome to La Reezyana & Pardon Me, I’m Different earlier this year. The latter 2 have been drawing a lot of eyes on him within these past several months, which ultimately resulted in Lareezyana Shakedown unlocking a version of himself that even he didn’t know was ready to take the spotlight.
“Nolia Clap” begins with a cross between drumless, chipmunk soul & rap rock talking about the rocket being ready to go off whereas “Hardheaded” takes a jazzier vibe instrumentally talking about how he should’ve listened to his parents & now he has to solve it himself. “Move” featuring Da1TopNoch is the only song I could do without here despite the beat stylistically throwing it back to the late 90s dirty south while “Tiana Anthem” takes a backseat vocally for 67 seconds.
“Bad Man” works in some more sampling of soul music openly confessing to his mother that he’s not a good person while “Catch the Groove” closes the greatest musical statement of La Reezy’s career as of this very moment with a crossover between drumless & chipmunk soul talking about recently turning 21 in the current political climate of our country with some strings during the hook & I relate to it since I personally turned 21 at the end of 2017.
Receiving co-signs from the same weekend after former NXT North American Champion Bronson Reed & even Juvenile of the Hot Boy$ himself, Lareezyaa Shakedown conceived during a 5-beats-in-a-day challenge sharpens his artistic dexterity coming off the same weekend local former AEW World Tag Team Champion, FTW Champion, DEFY World Champion, the inaugural NWA World Television Champion & NXT North American Champion Ricky Saints ending the longest reigning NXT North American Champion Oba Femi’s nearly 9-month reign as NXT Champion at the WME Group-owned TKO Group Holdings division WWE’s developmental NXT brand’s No Mercy III in addition to the inaugural NXT Women’s North American Champion Kelani Jordan succeeding the current TNA Knockouts World Tag Team Champion Ash by Elegance’s brief reign as TNA Knockouts World Champion and inaugural AEW World Tag Team Champion, 3-time ROH World Tag Team Champion, ROH World 6-Man Tag Team Champion, アイアンマンヘビーメタル級チャンピオン, the inaugural 2-time PWG World Champion, 6-time TNA X Division Champion & 3-time TNA World Tag Team Champion Frankie Kazarian ending former TNA World Champion Steve Maclin’s inaugural reign as TNA International Champion at Victory Road XIX.
Brand new mixtape & the 15th altogether for Atlanta, Georgia rapper, songwriter, trap pioneer & actor Jeezy. Emerging in the early 2000s off his full-length debut T.U.I. (Thuggin’ Under the Influence) & the sophomore effort Come Shop wit Me, his biggest breakthrough wouldn’t come until 2004 where he began a partnership with Def Jam Recordings that’s going on strong to this very day & dropped the classic Thug Motivation 101: Let’s Get It the following summer. Subsequent discography highlights would include Thug Motivation 102: The Inspiration, The Recession, Thug Motivation 103: Hustler’z Ambition, Seen It All: The Autobiography & even The Recession 2 that came out the day after his Verzuz battle against longtime rival Gucci Mane during the COVID-19 pandemic. He went back to basics with the help of DJ Drama on Snofall fulfilling his Def Jam contract & is looking to do it again with Still Snowin’ a couple years since I Might Forgive…But I Don’t Forget.
The funky instrumental on the title track produced by DJ Toomp & Don Cannon took me by surprise to start the tape although Jeezy nonetheless comes correct flexing that he’s still making it snow whereas “Slide for Sho” turns up the funk to turn the clubs up. “Treason” works in some sampling so he can refuse to waste his time on the people who’ve betrayed him while “Snowman Party” has a bit of a jazzier tone talking about his parties being unique.
“Inside My Soul” continues the incredible choice of samples making his grandmother proud maintaining the plug motivation while “My Friends” brings back the funk talking about not being the kind to cheat on his homies. “Another Sad Song” discusses the truth of it taking a coward to shoot up a school referring to the Evergreen tragedy in Colorado earlier this month while “Bruce Wayne” likens himself to the Warner Bros. subsidiary DC Entertainment franchise’s protagonist.
Kicking off the 2nd half, “The Whole Town” soulfully dedicates itself to all the 80s babies just before the funky “Don’t Play ‘Bout Me” cautions everyone to not fuck around with him. “Head to the Sky (You Can Win)” takes an optimistically uplifting approach conceptually over chopping up more soul samples while “Anything” returns to funkier territory taking aim at people who’ll say whatever about him.
“Hustler’s Paradise” hooks up some slick sampling to give some peace of mind since God has done him some favors over the course of his life while “Keep That Same Energy” talks about feeling like Kanye on the night of the 2009 MTV VMA Awards when he notoriously interrupted Taylor Swift’s Best Female Video acceptance speech & later put out his 2nd best album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy behind The College Dropout.
The song “Thug Life Again” nears the conclusion of Still Snowin’ soulfully making it known that he’s still living that Corporate Thug lifestyle now that CTE World is no longer distributed by a major label while the funky “Back for More” talks about his entrepreneurship. “If You Don’t Know Me” dabbles with drumless for 107 seconds to ends by reflecting on giving the streets everything but his life & time everything except for tears.
Commemorating 2 whole decades of both Trap or Die & Thug Motivation 101: Let’s Get It respectively, both Don Cannon & DJ Toomp give Jeezy a more jazzier sound than some of output in this current decade & it’s welcomed as much as I loved The Recession 2 alongside Snofall & I Might Forgive…But I Don’t Forget. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll have to make a Recession 3 at some point within the next few years & if that’s the case, this is a mature prelude to it.
This is the 2nd EP from New York emcee/producer Santana Fox. Notable for being the daughter of the late Prodigy of Mobb Deep fame, she eventually followed in her father’s footsteps making music of her own couple years after his untimely passing putting out a handful of singles up until the full-length debut Girl Next Door. Her previous EP Eye Candy a year & a half ago was a crucial moment in her career not only for her producing it all by herself, but her improved lyricism too. We were supposed to get Femme Fatale last October & although it’s still not here, She’s a Rebel! looks to prelude it.
After the titular intro, the first song “‘Till the Angels Come” sets the tone with an eeriely self-produced boom boom bap opener talking about making muhfuckas disappear without a trace whereas “Raspy Berry” promises that she’ll get revenge on a hoe in the afterlife. “Deja Vu” featuring Big Twins & Chung finds the trio over a spooky boom bap instrumental advising not to get them hyped while “Taboo” featuring Hus Kingpin suggests for their competition to give up.
“Daydreamin’” starts the 2nd half of the EP with Fox by talking about getting on it like she wants it & wanting her cup to get poured up while “Crash Out” featuring Mijita takes a more promiscuous tone lyrically. “Lucky Girl” featuring Pohlosweater cautions that anyone runnin’ their mouths around them will get socked & “Lip Gloss on the Blunt” ends She’s a Rebel! by talking about trusting her intuition’s rather than giving a fuck what anyone else thinks.
In preparation for Mobb Deep’s upcoming 9th & final album Infinite getting ready to come out under Mass Appeal Records in a couple weeks, Santana Fox has delivered yet another EP capitalizing on the artistic growth that began unraveling 18 months ago. Her production skills have flourished tremendously since the last time we heard from her & her pen’s gotten sharper, although I personally could’ve done without a couple guests.
Atlanta, Georgia emcee/producer Tha God Fahim starting the 2nd season of the Dump Gawd: Hyperbolic Time Chamber Rap saga with his 64th EP. Starting as an affiliate of Griselda Records & being 1/3 of the Dump Gawds alongside Mach-Hommy & Your Old Droog, we also can’t ignore the massive discography that he’s managed to build for himself, some of the standouts include Breaking Through tha Van Allen Belts & Dump Assassins. He’s been putting out amongst his best material in the past few years like the Camoflauge Monk-produced Dark Shogunn Assassin, the Nature Sounds-backed Iron Bull, the Nicholas Craven-produced Dump Gawd: Shot Clock King series, the Oh No-produced Berserko, the Mike Shabb-produced Dump Gawd: Rhyme Pays, Tha Supreme Hoarder of All Pristine Wealth, Supreme Dump Legend: Soul Cook Saga produced by Cookin’ Soul & Machine Gun Vocabulary produced by Cartune Beatz. Almost 3 months since the season finale of the Dump Gawd: Hyperbolic Time Chamber Rap series, the 16th installment has arrived not even 24 hours after being announced.
“Sword N Shield” begins Season 2 with a sumptuous boom bap beat talking about the 2 things he lives by whereas the drumless “Flip” shows off some lyrical acrobatics. “Safe & Dangerous” explains that it’s common knowledge he’s amongst the greats bring the kicks & snares back in the fold while “Flareon” soulfully talks about taking control of what’s his
The song “Spiteful Suffering” continues the 2nd half of the EP chopping up more soul samples & speeding it’s pitch up unloading the Glock at anyone who makes a false move while “Super Effective” talks about being a unique lyricist whenever he rhymes over a piano instrumental. “Good Bad Ugly” ends the S2 premiere observing the abundantly repugnant shadiness of the world as we know it currently.
Spending the past 11 weeks to recharge themselves, Dump Gawd: Hyperbolic Time Chamber Rap 16 gets back to business like they never took a break in the first place. Nicholas Craven’s production on this one is primarily catered to the styles boom bap, drumless & chipmunk soul clocking in at 16 minutes & Tha God Fahim dumpin’ precise bars by himself lost most entries.
Atlanta, Georgia rapper & singer/songwriter Young Thug releasing his 4th studio LP fresh off a series of controversial jail phone calls being leaked. Proving himself to have impacted the modern sound of trap music whether some heads like him or not, he has achieved this by dropping classic mixtapes like Barter 6 & JEFFERY or starting up his 300 Entertainment imprint YSL Records & even the clothing line SP5DER. He made his full-length debut So Much Fun in 2019 executive produced by J. Cole & was one of the best trap projects of that year, but the 2021 sophomore effort P*nk received mixed reviews although I thought it was still solid although not as good as the debut & Business is Business felt like the closest we’ll get to a Metro Thuggin’ project for now. Approximately a month following his now ex-girlfriend Mariah the Scientist’s most important offering of her career Hearts Sold Separately, the Atlanta trap trailblazer has finally made up for UY SCUTI’s delays.
“Ninja” produced by Southside & Dez Wright starts with a surprisingly exciting trap intro derailed by dropping the hard R whereas “Yuck” featuring Ken Carson teams up over a Taurus instrumental to discuss shit getting lit. “On the News” featuring Cardi B finds the pair on top of a London on da Track beat to ask what it feels like seeing their faces on the television while “Catch Me I’m Falling” recalls meeting with Brian Steel when incarcerated.
Metro Thuggin’ reunites for “Fucking Told U” to talk about their respective lifestyles just before “Whoopty Doo” hilariously pokes fun at his interview on the Perspektives podcast earlier this month with Wheezy. “Blaming Jesus” has one of my least favorite instrumentals on the album despite the theme of needing real love & pleading that it’s not a phase prior to “Sad Slime” talking about his falling out with Gunna.
“R.I.P. Big & Mack” featuring T.I. unites both trap pioneers of their own generations for a historic Atlanta moment remembering the late Lil Keed who Thug wishes he cherished more than some of the other former artists on YSL while “Invest Into You” by Metro Thuggin’ goes pop rap/trap to talk about investing into Mariah & vice versa. “I’m So Dope” boisterously boasts of his legacy within the subgenre of trap while “Pardon My Back” featuring Lil Baby starts the 2nd half dropping braggadocio.
Sexyy Red joins Thug on “Mami” for a fun strip club banger while “Whaddup Jesus” featuring YFN Lucci squashes the beef between the 2 with an average collaboration over a synth-heavy TM88 beat. “Walk Down” featuring 21 Savage unites both local trap stars over a trap instrumental with some bells to rep their own sets while “Pipe Down” by Cactus Slatt locks in with Metro Boomin’ talking about nobody being richer than them.
“Spider or Jeffery” featuring Quavo lets their lovers know the 2 names that they prefer them to call them by whilst praising God for allowing them to beat the corrupt system while “Revenge” featuring Lil Gotit & 1300SAINT unites the trio to seek pure vengeance.“Money on Money” featuring Future talks about loyalty to their individuals circles & disdain for snitches while “Dreams Rarely Do Come True” featuring Mariah the Scientist is a 2-parter humorously comparing him crying to Gunna snitching to crying over a bitch.
The final single “Miss My Dogs” ends with an apology to everyone addressed in the leaked jail calls while the country trap hybrid “By the Police” starts the deluxe run throwing it back to the Beautiful Thugger Girls era. “Pussy Smell Like This” asks if any younger artist is shinin’ the way he is while “All Your Time” leans heavier towards the pop rap style with lustful lyrics. “Safe” with Leon Thomas III tackles his insecurities that his reputation overshadows while “I Put A” featuring the late Lil Keed talks about these rap dudes not being his kind over a Mike WiLL-Made It beat.
“Rosetta Stone” appreciably takes its cues from the Beautiful Thugger Girls days again although the “fuck that lil’ 13” line made me cringe while “Yes You Can” suggests to let others take his style as long as they ain’t taking his life. “Fighting Depression” happens to be a P*nk outtake that ATL Jacob cooked up talking about feeling superb yet trying to fight for something that he feels deserving of while “It’s Ok to Cry” remembers his late homie who passed away in 2020. “Spit in My Mouth” talks about getting freaky with a Japanese woman in bed & the final bonus track “Birthday Boy” featuring Mariah the Scientist reunites with each other 1 last time for an R&B/pop rap duet seeking trust.
Taking into consideration that this is the first proper solo effort from Young Thug since P*nk because Metro Boomin’ produced 60% of Business is Business over 2 years ago, all the controversy surrounding the YSL founder a few weeks ago had me a bit worried regarding the final product of UY SCUTI. However, I actually enjoyed his final project under 300 Entertainment & Atlantic Records a lot more than P*nk excluding Business is Business & would easily put it above The Last Wun. It’s exciting to hear him with other producers on Metro’s level & Thugger’s more introspective since coming home.
Las Vegas, Nevada emcee Ouija Macc kicking off the Hallowicked season with his 8th LP. Breaking out 8 years ago after the Insane Clown Posse signed him to Psychopathic Records shortly after putting out his debut EP Trashfire independently, Ouija has since proven himself as the hatchet’s biggest solo act dropping his last 7 full-lengths, 2 greatest hits compilations, 8 mixtapes & 5 EPs all in the span of nearly 8 years. He even started his own label Chapter 17 Records, with Darby O’Trill now being the only artist other than Ouija & teamed up with each other for the excellent collab effort Anemoia building up Darcc Planet to become the darccest material of his career last summer. 3 months after Psycho Babbel though, we entered the Temple of Ash & Chlorine proved that he’ll always be a scrub no matter how clean he gets. Sunken Church however looks to conclude the story that Darcc Planet began 14 months ago fresh off 3-time JCW World Juggalo Tag Team Champions The Brothers of Funstruction taking the titles back to Juggalo Championship Wrestling (JCW) from YNDP & simultaneously ending their reign GCW World Tag Team Champions at the Game Changer Wrestling (GCW) event Evil Deeds and Alice Crowley became the new JCW Women’s Champion within a couple weeks.
Devereaux & Brian Kuma both produced the occult trap intro “Hatchet Homicide” talking about being allergic to the sun & not trusting anybody whereas “Fungalo” vividly describes fungus growing from within the Sunken Church asking if it could be shrooms. “Left Eye” welcomes one & all to the church hidden below the Earth flexing that he’s chilling with the late TLC member of the same name by the waterfall while the lead single “Killionaire” talks about piling up bodies.
“Flume” speaks of walking up in the room off the smoke killing a homophobe out in Texas & putting the body in his Lexus while “Decomposing” wickedly paints images of himself amongst the undead. “Chinchilla” featuring the shortest reigning JCW World Juggalo Heavyweight Champion Shaggy 2 Dope & the JCW Commissioner Violent J of ICP finally makes up for the Clowns’ verse on “Diamonds” while the 3rd single “Rain Dance” talks about lighting a candle at the Temple of Ash.
Meanwhile on “Gremlord”, we have Ouija morbidly boasting that he’s the lord of all gremlins & one forgetting to breathe after floating down while “Eastside Ritual” works in some heavy bells talking about the cult of the moon & the hatchet never sleeping. The 2nd single “Andy Milanakis” claps back at the oldheads calling him & his music obnoxious while “Decension” talks about drowning to death.
“Break da Seal” speaks of being guided by the voices the concoction of a spell & acknowledging that many wicked ones have never made it out of Hell’s Pit while the final single “Tunguska” that we got last weekend talks about the end being near, giving s middle finger to the world since most are too oblivious to recognize that the world we live in being hellafied & cooked.
The song “Night of the Stanky Heads” begins the final moments of this 14-month long saga with a spiritual successor to the “Night of…” series that the Insane Clown Posse has become known for since Carnival of Carnage & once “Mudrealm Depths” talks about being creating a literal bloody mess whenever da mane is summoned, “Goner” finishes with an emo rap closer feeling stuck in his ways again & all of his walls caving in.
“Getcha Mane” starts the deluxe run talking about having maggots in his brain making him go crazy while “Lovely” tells us the way he’s been feeling as of late, choosing to spread love if even the world doesn’t feel the same way regarding him. The final bonus track “At All” ends the brief dosage of extra freshness by talking about not knowing how to live with himself whenever he looks in the mirror.
Announced near the end of his headlining set at the Gathering of Legends or the 25th annual Gathering of the Juggalos last month, these past 5 albums that Ouija Macc has put out has in the past year have marked a new era beyond the Elements series that Trashfire began & Stalewind ended by doing the same thing with Darcc Planet & Sunken Church. A new dawn has risen entirely from the depths tying in everything that we’ve heard throughout Darcc Planet, Psycho Babbel, Temple of Ash & Chlorine in a masterfully wicced fashion.
Here is the double full-length studio debut from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada born albeit Compton, California raised emcee Jay Worthy. Coming on my radar in 2017 after The Alchemist produced his debut EP Fantasy Island from top to bottom, he would go onto drop 5 more EPs & a fantastic collab album with Larry June called 2 P’z in a Pod even though initial plans of putting it out through Griselda Records fell through for whatever reason. Harry Fraud produced You Take the Credit, We’ll Take the Check & DJ Muggs did What They Hittin’ 4 to significant acclaim, but the Roc Marciano-produced Nothing Bigger Than the Program was still good despite having too many features & the DāM-FunK produced Magic Hour improved on that as did The Tonite Show 2 entirely produced by DJ Fresh last fall. Almost a decade in the making however, Once Upon a Time has finally arrived.
After the “Beginning” intro, the first song “‘96 Big Body” gets the ball rollin’ with a smooth ass beat recalling the days when he was driving around in this fresh whip 3 decades earlier whereas “The Only 1” featuring Kamaiyah works in a Mobb beat from Cardo addresses those who thought they were the only pimps around. “For the Homies” produced by DJ Quik sends a shoutout to all of those in their lives who can’t be here leading into the g-funk heavy “Rekkless” looking back at his youth.
“Open Minded” instrumentally reminds me of something The Neptunes would’ve produced in the early/mid 2000s praising his girl for keeping that exact type of mentality while “From the Jump” featuring E-40, Jim Jones, Ohgeesy & Wiz Khalifa brings the quintet together over a DJ Fresh beat or Harry Fraud on the remix talking about how long they’ve been putting it down. “Dark Tints” featuring 03 Greedo strips the drums thanks to Conductor Williams refusing to stop what they started while “Famous Players” slickly gets in his pimp bag.
As for “Tides”, we have Jay Worthy on top of a drumlessly summery loop with lyrics about wanting a woman that he’s never even met by his side while “Bellagio” featuring Conway the Machine charismatically flexes of making music for the famous Las Vegas, Nevada hotel of the same name. “Choosing Shoes” featuring Boldy James keeps the drums out the equation painting imagery of the gangsta lifestyle while “2P’z” featuring Larry June recaptures the aura of their 2022 collab effort.
“True Story” featuring Ty$ winds down the final moments of Disc 1 by touching on some real life shit over a Hit-Boy beat while “The Outcome” featuring Ab-Soul, Dave East & Westside Gunn unites the quartet for a 4 & a half minute barfest accompanied by a sample-heavy beat that The Alchemist cooked up real realizing that this is the very moment where he & guests should observe the results. “Jive 95” featuring Bun B & Spice 1 after the “Skrappordie” interlude opens Disc 2 to go by the cheat code while “Daytons” featuring Mack 10 gives a fuck you to all of the haters they have.
Wallie the Sensei joins Worthy for the Mobb-inspired “Know My Worth” waking up to the money since they don’t know if being broke or dead is worse while “Escape from LA” featuring B-Legit & Jay 305 comes together for a Bay Area tribute. “Sake” featuring Curren$y talks about feeling more like they’re vacation rather than being on the run while the drumless “Blade Runner” featuring Roc Marciano refers to themselves as big game hunters.
“I’ll Be Fine” featuring Vicasso hops over a g-funk beat to talk about their diametric approach to making music while the funky “Gang Shit” reunited with DJ Muggs so he can admit that he doesn’t like stunt because of his humbleness. “Bix in the Morning” featuring Ice-T heavily samples “6 ‘N tha Mornin’” for a generational gangsta rap crossover while “P-Funkentelechy” sends a love letter to Parliament-Funkadelic.
Once Upon a Time’s final act begins with “Angel Dust” incorporating a psychedelic Thundercat instrumental talking about PCP while the jazzy “Worthy vs. Getty” recalls a story that occurred in 2003. Prior to the “End” outro however, “Runnin’ Outta Time” is what officially finishes responding to people who think they know him by saying that he doesn’t recognize them from his hood with Terrace Martin playing piano while “Checkmate” featuring Mozzy & Payroll Giovanni starts the deluxe run talking about not fucking with anyone who doesn’t have goals.
“I Wish” chops up more sped-up soul samples to express exactly how much he misses the women he’s speaking directly to while “The Big” featuring Le$ & Premo Rice unites so they can talk about people hating them because of the individual success each artist has experienced. 9th Wonder turns up the soulfulness for “I Can’t Relate” to profess that he doesn’t find it relatable whenever people say life’s a bitch while the funky “2night” talks about catching him in ancient whips.
Method Man appears during the drumless single “Visions” stating their confidence of always being right here as long as God’s by their side while “Same Song” featuring Shyheim talks about gangstas not living that long over a Camoflauge Monk beat. “The 4 Tops” featuring $ha Hef, T.F. & Vicasso unites everyone to drop singular verses without the need of a hook while “Mail Order Bride” featuring A$AP 12vyy & Isa P. Anchorman laughs off all these rappers who’re continuously acting tough.
“Rosie Perez” featuring Boldy James & TAS rounds out 3rd talking about everyone having to hustle so they could earn the precious gold medals they’ve won themselves while “Kalifornication” featuring YG Hootie represents their home state over an A$AP P on the Boards instrumental. After the “Ghetto Smile” interlude, “No Price” featuring Novelist soulfully talks about certain things being for free while the final bonus track “If I” featuring Rome Streetz concludes with both Griselda artists bodying an Evidence beat.
Although What They Hittin’ 4 still remains my personal favorite entry in Jay Worthy’s discography, there’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that the 30 song & almost 90 minute Once Upon a Time sticks out as the most star-studded musical opus he’s ever conceived. Bridging the east & the west coast with its admirably versatile guest list, the production mostly takes its cues from the westside to cohesively tell a story of authentically resilient ambition.
Legends Will Never Die 