Tag: $amaad

$amaad – “Idea of Evil” review

This is the 4th mixtape from Compton, California rapper/producer $amaad. For almost a decade already, he’s built quite a large discography for himself consisting of his last 3 tapes as well as 26 EPs & 4 full-length studio albums. The Say Hi $amaad! (Care Package) series would go on to receive the same favorable reception as did the Child of Drama penology coming off the final installment over a year ago to have Evilgiane of the Surf Gang fully produce Idea of Evil in it’s entirety.

“Castle in the Sky” begins with this ambient plugg intro mixed with some heavy vocal effects using it’s title for a nod to スタジオジブリ’s theatrical debut of the same name written & directed by it’s co-founder 宮崎 駿 whereas “Child of Drama” carries those exact same vibes talking about having bullets for dumb muhfuckas. “Griffith Was Nothing” instrumentally has a more standard trap flare to it flexing that he’s doing this like it ain’t shit while “Saving You for Later” clarifies to an individual who thought they were saving him.

Moving on from there, “Drank Hunters” brings back the syrupy feeling of the earlier tracks talking about how he can’t act like he don’t want it just before “Leisure Day” featuring Saiah Woes finds the 2 decently linking up over an 808-heavy beat talking about seizing shit when they wake up. “Mama, I’m Alive” feels less of an interlude & more of an 103 second freestyle over this bouncy plugg instrumental leading into the title track featuring 730atMorning talks about wanting meaning out of their suffering.

“We” also featuring 730atMorning details the kinda women who they consider to be more their speed while “Us” featuring Rafa talks about bitches who be acting funny when they know both of them have to leave whether it’s for studio sessions or touring. “Seinin Anime! Show Out” continues wanting his lover to tell him exactly what he’s doing wrong in their relationship while “In Hell” collides some bells & 808s talking about people not nattering down there.

$a’maya appears on “Tendencies” trading bars back-&-forth with $amaad on the microphone for a couple minutes while “#SurfBae” talks about the ability he has of making bad bitches wanna start hustling. “All Around the World” reaches Idea of Evil’s halfway point expressing his desire of traveling the entire globe & how he embarrasses people in every state while “Palm Tree Evening” kicks off the 2nd half hopping over a plugg beat talking about his girl waking up clean.

“Sweet Chin Music” references the iconic finisher of 2-time WWE Hall of Famer, 4-time WWE world champion, WWE Intercontinental Champion, 6-time WWE tag team champion, the current WWE Senior Vice President of Talent Development & head booker of their main developmental brand NXT Shawn Michaels while “Nobody No One” hooks up a lo-fi drum break talking about not being scared of anyone because they don’t have guns like he does.

Meanwhile on “Posse”, we have $amaad calling out the people who claim to be making money in their music when that isn’t the case whatsoever & wanting to give his crew diamonds while “D’ussé Don’t Say” talks about getting rich off some bad choices he made in the past. “I Got Water 4 U” featuring Saiah Woes reunites both artists over this aquatically atmospheric instrumental doubling up in the trap while “Rich Fucker” talks about him going 30-for-10.

“I Take Trips & Don’t Leave” gives off a more psychedelic plugg edge admitting to him trying to hit his girl from the back while “Green!” featuring Niontay talks about their preference of lean instead of liquor & their own revenues gradually increasing. “Behind My Back” spends nearly a minute & a half experimenting with lowend addressing the individuals running their mouth unbeknownst to him while “Sniper Gang Kodak #SurfGang” talks about trying to ball out.

Wrapping up Idea of Evil’s final moments, the song “It Was All Good” combines a sample with some elements of cloud rap & trap explaining his vision of making millions while “Making My Way” interestingly flips the iconic Vanessa Carlton single “1,000 Miles” talking about living downtown with his bae. “Get Me Started” recalls a time where a hoe wanted to fuck him at this party & the outro “I Look Back” featuring Saiah Woes concludes the tape on a more introspective note.

Sure Idea of Evil has some occasional moments where you can feel it’s lengthy runtime & some understandably getting the impression that it’s bloated, but a great deal of it to me anyway provides us some of the most important material in $amaad’s career. Evilgiane’s production sticks with a predominant plugg sound including secondary influences of trap & ambient plugg with only a few guests joining him in describing a mind at war with itself.

Score: 4/5

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$amaad – “Child of Drama 5: Fin” review

Compton, California rapper/producer $amaad concluding the Child of Drama series that made him a breakout name in the underground with his 3rd mixtape. Since 2018, he’s built quite a large discography for himself consisting of his last couple tapes as well as 26 EPs & 4 albums. The Say Hi $amaad! (Care Package) series would go on to receive the same favorable reception as the Child of Drama, making the 5th installment of the latter the final entry of & his 5th body of work in 2025 ultimately.

“Rigo” is this cloudy trap intro asking if you’ll be mad or not if people start sleeping on you & needing adderall whereas “Keep the Dream Alive” talks about the things he does never being enough on top of knowing nobody but everybody. “Interface & Glock” works in some sampling boasting that he doesn’t have any rivals he can think of while “Pimp Juice” expresses the love he has for sippin’ lean keeping the Sprite in his cup dirty.

RTW Biggs’ feature on “Put the Pint Back” is the weakest of the 2 even if they embrace a heavy plugg vibe so both of them can turn the city up together just before the warmongering “Tank Davis” homages the current WBA Lightweight Champion of the same name. “Bootychaaain” brings back the cloud rap vibes talking about working hard for all he has & getting by off his music career, but then the atmospheric “Bands & Strippers” doing it the way he does because he came from nothing.

“Telegram” featuring Rafa & produced by Evilgiane takes it’s name after the cloud-based, cross-platform, social media & IM service with Milt saving the best feature of the 2 for last while “Use Ya Brain” playfully references 2-time WWE Hall of Famer, 4-time WWE world champion, WWE Intercontinental Champion, 6-time WWE tag team champion, the current WWE Senior Vice President of Talent Development & head booker of their main developmental brand NXT Shawn Michaels said to be inducting WWE CCO Triple H as a 2-time WWE Hall of Famer next month after recently making former CMLL Mundial Femenil Campeon, inaugural CMLL Mundial Femenil Parejas Campeon & 新日本プロレス STRONG女子チャンピオン Stephanie Vaquer the current NXT Women’s Champion & NXT Women’s North American Champion.

Meanwhile on “Explicit to Do List”, we have $amaad talking about his life going the way he’s planned it & being unable to wait for all his homies behind bars to come home while “All These Hoes Get Wet” hooks up these pianos to tackle themes of lust. “Who Am I?” mixes a reversed sample & 808s together to talk about being in this shit for way too long that is until “Purple Swag” once again serves as an ode to that purple drank.

“Until the Sun” continues to push towards the conclusion of the Child of Drama series dissing everyone who keeps putting him in a box only to get out of it every single time & being in your city throwing cash prior to “Femto” reuniting with Evilgiane for the final time going as hard as they did on with Rafa on “Telegram” earlier radiating a cloudy drill hybrid warning that you’ll have to go through him if they want his bitch.

Archie’s Comic almost a couple months ago has been singled out from many including myself to be the worst project in $amaad’s whole discography & to close the book on Child of Drama for good, it’s far more interesting than the boredom that Archie’s Comic was plagued by. The production shows influences of wave, plugg, cloud rap & drill music putting a bigger emphasis on killer rather than filler.

Score: 3.5/5

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