Santana Fox – “Gunmetal” review

New York emcee/producer Santana Fox is back for her sophomore effort. 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. Eye Candy was a crucial moment in her career not only for her producing it all by herself, but her improved lyricism too. She’s a Rebel! wasn’t necessarily as great for it’s own set of highlight tracks & has returned to drop Gunmetal.

After the intro, “Lovesick” whispers over a self-produced instrumental about how her romantic interest got her addicted whereas “Control Me” shows a bit of a rock influenced expressing that she gives no fucks. “Sigils” featuring Vicious Vampira aggressively responds to all the bitches who think they’re sweet just before “Hourglass” darkly talks about only gaining to collect & always getting the job done.

“Grasshopper” embraces a trap metal sound assuring that she’ll keep the lights on while the title track heavily addresses the people wondering how it feels to be on her level of success or notoriety. “Neuroscience” confesses to an inability of taming herself whenever the person she’s addressing speaks to her while “POV” sings about wishing she could show her partner all the tricks she has up her sleeve & what her love feels like.

Rounding out 3rd, the song “Sweat It Out” has a psychedelic soul feeling to it wanting to be taken to a higher level while “Fly on the Wall” talks about the way it’s gonna be with a person who’s dead wrong once again leaning towards her trap metal influences. “Lost Ya Mind” takes the drumless chipmunk soul route talking about her unwillingness to lose everything she’s ever built for over a dumb muhfucka while “Mr. Hyde” ends by talking about learning from the best when there isn’t any lies told there.

Spending the last 5 months finding her own sound, Santana Fox’s latest album continues to capture her artistic self-sufficiency a lot similarly to Eye Candy except this surpasses the predecessor in terms of her greatest body of work. Her production versatilely blends alternative hip hop, nu metal, boom bap, trip hop, jazz, drumless, chipmunk soul, psychedelic soul & trap metal and I appreciate her dialing it back with the features so she could focus on her range as a vocalist. I said her dad’s looking down on her proud of the musician she’s become when Eye Candy dropped & it couldn’t be truer presently.

Score: 4.5/5

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Santana Fox – “She’s a Rebel!” review

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.

Score: 3.5/5

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Santana Fox – “Eye Candy” review

Santana Fox is a 26 year old MC/producer from New York 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 celebrating it’s 2-year anniversary this summer. However after seeing that her debut mixtape over here would be fully self-produced, I went into it thinking that she would level up artistically since her potential has already been shown previously.

The first song “Space Cadet” after the the “Wicked Poet’s Prelude” intro begins with kicks, snares & pianos so she can flow like a UFO following the “Hotline” skit, “Vinyl Dust” keeps it grimy instrumentally talking about going viral to spite who used to be her favorite rapper snatching their sound back. “Fight Me” featuring Pohlosweater brings a synth/boom bap vibe to the fold boasting they ain’t seen or heard anything like them & after the “Hypnotherapy” interlude, “Tokyo Trippin’” lusciously clarifies that the drugs do her as apposed to her doing drugs herself & the consequences of her spoiled ways.

Mike Shabb joins Santana on the title track with the best feature on the tape incorporating a darker sound asking who do they become just to make them happy & after the “Sittin’ by the Lake” skit, “Pray4Mine” keeps it rugged talking about always praying for her n***a. After the “Cards Never Lie” skit, the penultimate track “Moment of Silence” featuring Prodigy himself pushes near the end of a rawly asking her father why they actin’ like they owe her something before he leaves & the closer “Count Me Out” closes up shop with some pianos brushing off those downplaying her.

It sorta feels like an EP if you remove all 5 of the skits & interludes but at the same time when you keep them in, it’s more of a mixtape & one that I think any Mobb Deep fan like myself would find themselves enjoying because Santana’s very much carrying on her dad’s legacy in her own way & I’m sure he’s looking down on her proud of what a groundbreaking entry that Eye Candy is in her discography. Her production’s is a cut above Girl Next Door’s as are the couplet of features & her songwriting being kicked up a notch.

Score: 4.5/5

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