Ray Vaughn is a 31 year old recording artist from Long Beach, California emerging in the summer of 2018 off his debut EP Blame Summer followed by the full-length studio debut Idle & 2 more EPs; Projects & Peer Pressure. The latter coming almost immediately after Top Dawg Entertainment had signed him to the label in fall of 2021, making up for the large handful of singles since by finally letting him drop a debut mixtape after being pushed back from last weekend to the last week of April.

“Flocker’s Remorse” begins the tape by talking about life hitting him hardly as of late whereas “XXXL Tee” takes the trap route instrumentally clarifying that the only thing he starts is business shit. “$1 Menu” discusses the Pop Out concert leaving the opps shook & them crying wolf just before “Flat Shasta” featuring Ash Leone talks about the woman he loves more than his own father.

Moving on from there, “3PM @ Dairy’s” keeps the trap vibes going painting an image of spending an afternoon at a local establishment that’s looked out for generations of local families leading into “East Chatt” featuring Isaiah Rashad asking to imagine what it’d be like if the gave a fuck. “Klown Dance” featuring Jay Rock talks about them continuing to plot & scheme leading into “Look @ God” featuring LaRussell going hyphy to boast making money daily.

“Janky Moral Compass” featuring Samara Cyn gets the final leg of The Good, The Bad, The $1 Menu talking about picking themselves up because they can feel themselves falling while “Miles Away from Heaven” heads for a stripped-back approach talking about showing you a better way. “Suburban Kidz” wraps things up by telling everyone listening who’s still in the suburbs to keep fighting & it’ll all work out in the end.

The Good, The Bad, The $1 Menu after 3 & a half long years in the making has to be the most conceptual body of work in Ray’s entire discography & an official TDE debut that many Long Beach natives will find themselves familiar with taking us on a journey from his adolescence to landing a record deal exploring both the positive & negative aspects of his career.

Score: 3.5/5

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