Tony Shhnow – “Self Portrait” review

Here is the 8th studio LP from Atlanta, Georgia plugg pioneer Tony Shhnow. Being introduced to his music after my younger brother J$zpiech showed me his 4th mixtape Black Billionaires Club & the song “Vet” off the full-length debut Da World’s Ours 3, he then continued to turn heads with his 8th mixtape Reflexions to critical acclaim & I honestly wish I covered it considering that some of his best songs are on there like “Finessin’” or “Forgive Don’t Forget”. He would return to his plugg roots on the BeatPluggzproduced Plug Motivation, Love Streak showed a more sensual side to him, Shadowbanned 2 dabbled with new sounds, the self-produced #NoOneElse was a step above Out the Woods & looks to paint a Self Portrait fresh off the 3rd chapter of the Shadowbanned series.

After the “Mr. Shhnow” intro, the first song “I Can’t” produced by Mike & Keys sets up shop with a ratchet instrumental talking about making money from making music & trappin’ whereas “Die 4 Me” poses the question if anyone would still ride for him if life took a turn. “Think Again” talks about there being plenty of people who’d kill for you & spending with your lifespan just before “Beat da Odds” flexes that he stays quiet even if his money don’t.

“Thank God That I’m a Real N***a” obviously gives his praises to the most high that He made the Shhnowman as legitimate as they come & after the “Ion Wanna Talk” skit, “Voicemails” talks about all the O.G.s saluting him like he’s in the service. “Devotion” flexes that he’s on the incline & not fucking with swine despite going H•A•M while “Tush Push” featuring Chrisnxtdoor talks about metaphorically being identical twins with money.

Luh Tyler joins Tony on “Bank Statements” to smoke competition while “Infest” talks about having so much work that he could possibly supervise. “Burnt Out” featuring Marco+ explains that they stay strapped because they don’t know what other people be on & once “Boss Up” dismisses the hate from lames because it’s not worth it, “Understand” ends the Self Portrait with a self-produced throwback to his plugg origins.

Starring the deluxe run, “Cobb to Cabo” talks about seeing past the fake through a blindfold & his bitch snapping harder than Thanos while “D.Y.T.A.M. (Did You Think About Me)?” featuring 03 Greedo poses that very question over some sampling from Bakkwoods. The final bonus track “Certified” however finished with these sinister 808 patterns talking about the inability to take his homies anywhere since they all sell drugs & keep handguns close to them.

Been waiting for Tony Shhnow to drop another album for a while now & Self Portrait will easily go down as some of his best material joining Black Billionaires Club, Reflexions or #NoOneElse as a more recent example. Mike & Keys’ production on almost the entirety of it is easily amongst their most experimentally cutting-edge & the Shhnowman paints a clever image of who he is generally.

Score: 4.5/5

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Tony Shhnow – “#NoOneElse” review

Atlanta, Georgia plugg pioneer Tony Shhnow following up his 7th album Out the Woods with his self-produced 14th EP. Being introduced to his music after my younger brother J$zpiech showed me his 4th mixtape Black Billionaires Club & the song “Vet” off the full-length debut Da World’s Ours 3, he then continued to turn heads with his 8th mixtape Reflexions to critical acclaim last summer & I honestly wish I covered it considering that some of his best songs are on there like “Finessin’” or “Forgive Don’t Forget”. He then returned to his plugg roots on the BeatPluggz produced Plug Motivation, Love Streak showed a more sensual side to him, Shadowbanned 2 dabbled with new sounds & is starting the 2nd half of 2024 explaining there’s #NoOneElse like him 4 months after coming Out the Woods.

“Fort Myers to Atlanta” featuring SB Nunkk starts off with synths & hi-hats talking about catching them in both titular areas of Florida & Georgia that they represent whereas “Everything Match” kinda has a pluggier tone to the instrumental to flex that his whole outfit matches entirely. “Yale” talks about how good the brain is over a rubbery trap beat with some bells just before the grittier “1 of Dem 1’s” explains the fact that the Shnnowman built different, which is facts.

After the “Rap” skit, “Fall Down” nears the conclusion of the EP working in more synthesizers & hi-hats talking about being around once everything collapses in the end while “Check” moves on from there with a peppy ballad dedicate to those who be fresh to death out here. “Yeen Got Deez” featuring 10 Dunkin ends #NoOneElse pointing out that ain’t nobody else got it the way both of them do.

Out the Woods was a solid album of it’s own, but I have to admit here that I’m leaning more towards this new EP here in terms of quality. Best project of the 2 he’s given us in 2024 & will go down as one of the strongest EPs of his entire career. He really flourishes behind the boards cooking up production better than the last LP all by himself & validating that he’s genuinely 1 of a kind veteran in the underground scene.

Score: 4/5

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Tony Shhnow – “Out the Woods” review

Atlanta, Georgia rapper Tony Shhnow is back with his 7th full-length LP. Being introduced to his music after my younger brother J$zpiech showed me his 4th mixtape Black Billionaires Club & the song “Vet” off the full-length debut Da World’s Ours 3, he then continued to turn heads with his 8th mixtape Reflexions to critical acclaim last summer & I honestly wish I covered it considering that some of his best songs are on there like “Finessin’” or “Forgive Don’t Forget”. Love Streak showed a more sensual side to him after returning to his plugg roots on the BeatPluggz produced Plug Motivation & is aptly coming Out the Woods only hours since former 7-time IWGP世界チャンピオン & NEVER無差別級6人タッグ王座オカダ・カズチカ made his official AEW debut in the Shhnowman’s city.

After the “Intro to the Woods”, the first song “Cool Minute” is a glamorously mellow opener talking about being in the kitchen whereas “Don’t Slip” works in pianos & hi-hats going to a new level with this shit. “What We Doin’” gives off a classier approach, instrumentally asking his girl what the deal is now that they got a hotel room for the night, but then “99 Overall” featuring 1TakeJay talks about putting it on over crooning vocals & horns. 1TakeJay’s performances though don’t quite hold up to Tony’s.

After the “Adrenaline” skit, “Salute (Yes)” continues the trap beats with interesting samples boasting the way he’s living these days leading into “Animal Crossing” with my personal favorite feature of the 3 on the album 3AG Pilot bringing the rage thanks to Dylvinci painting images of the gangsta lifestyles they’ve experienced. “Her Favourite” sensually details all his woman’s favorite things just before “I’m Standing Right Here” hopping over synths & hi-hats talking about making money forever.

“Tryna See” gives me a psychedelic feeling continuing the themes of romance & after the “Lost” skit, “No Time Soon” brings in the horns talking about being the one. “Pool” featuring PNDRN takes it back to the plugg sound looking to be making moves while “Watch” has a peaceful trap atmosphere talking about how he’s the one calling shots.

After the “Guidance” skit, “RollAnotha1” keeps it trillwave bragging that he got a whole lotta Funyons while the title track is just an outro. The first of 2 bonus tracks though “Hustler” starts the encore of the LP with strings & hi-hats addressing those who’re misinformed prior to “Mind of da Crook” officially concluding Out the Woods jumping over synthesizers doing what it took.

This definitely isn’t one of my favorite Tony Shhnow projects or anything like that although I will say that I still enjoyed a pretty good amount of what we got here since he’s one of the most interesting hip hop artists in the underground today. I can do without the skits & a couple of the features, but it’s awesome to see him predominantly taking it back to his plugg sound & his ear-grabbing bars never fail to amuse.

Score: 3.5/5

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Tony Shhnow – “Love Streak” review

This is the 6th full-length album from Atlanta, Georgia rapper Tony Shhnow. Being introduced to his music after my younger brother J$zpiech showed me his 4th mixtape Black Billionaires Club & the song “Vet” off the full-length debut Da World’s Ours 3, he then continued to turn heads with his 8th mixtape Reflexions to critical acclaim last summer & I honestly wish I covered it considering that some of his best songs are on there like “Finessin’” or “Forgive Don’t Forget”. He then returned to his plugg roots on the BeatPluggz produced Plug Motivation nearly 6 months ago & is already back with Love Streak.

“If It Wasn’t for Me” is a sample drill opener acknowledging that his girl wouldn’t be in love right now had he not come back around whereas “Real Rare” has a more chilled out aesthetic to the beat talking about legitimacy being scarce this day in age. “Don’t B Affraid” hooks up an R&B loop with some hi-hats so he can tell shawty that she shouldn’t worry about a damn thing around him, but then we’re treated to a sequel to “Sometimes” off Killstreak 2 that’s superior to the predecessor from the CashCache instrumental flipping “Rain” by SWV to the lyrics about how he rides around depending the given day.

Keeping it rolling, we have the Shhnowman on “Something to Remember” telling his lover that she ain’t ever met another guy like him in the past with a slickly sensual beat & Lil Crank doing a fine job with the hook just before “Need” has a more groovy vibe to it talking about the woman he’s currently seeing the only one he needs in his life. The sequel to “Time Takes” off the original Killstreak flipping the sample smoothly declaring that only the man upstairs can judge his fate leading into the tranquil “Control Issues” featuring 3AG Pilot to discuss their expensive tastes & their bitches being thick although they slim.

“On the Street” has the hardest feature performance of the entire album from MAVI as he & Tony jump on a drumless instrumental to reference 16-time WWE world champion, 4-time WWE tag team champion & 5-time WWE United States Champion John Cena while “ILY / IH8U” has a cloudier vibe teetering between being obsessed with this girl to being unable to stand her. “Unordinary Drugs” comes through with a dope ass flip of “No Ordinary Love” by Sade describing the goods as being unusual or extraordinary while “Mixed Emotions” has a calmer approach explaining that you can feel every step he takes

Meanwhile, “Touch the Sky” is a jazzy 2-minute heater to start the final leg of Love Streak encouraging his lover to open her mind & speak to him about literally anything while the song “Friends Still” with UnoTheActivist finds the 2 dominant forces in plugg music by delivering an enticing jam asking if they still cool with the significant others in their lives. The penultimate track “Reminisce” cooks up a more peaceful sound as the Shhnowman reflects & D.R.A.M. dropping the best hook on the whole album until “No Pressure” sends things off on a pluggier note acknowledging that he’s unable to stress shit.

Plug Motivation was a more than welcoming return to Tony’s roots into the trap subgenre that he helped pioneer & given the title of this new project here, I went into it expecting a more romantic side of him & that’s exactly what we got here. A couple lackluster feature performances here & there, but I also respect the amount of R&B/soul samples throughout tying into the whole romantic concept that dude pulls off naturally as opposed to it coming off as trite & forced like some other rappers normally do.

Score: 3.5/5

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Tony Shhnow – “Plug Motivation” review

Tony Shhnow is a 26 year old rapper from Atlanta, Georgia whom my brother J$zpiech introduced me to off the strength of his 4th mixtape Black Billionaires Club & the song “Vet” taken from the full-length debut Da World’s Ours 3. He just dropped his 8th mixtape Reflexions to critical acclaim over the summer & I honestly wish I covered it considering that some of his best songs are on there like “Finessin’” or “Forgive Don’t Forget”. So when Tony announced his 6th album right here, the interest was most definitely there & I didn’t want to make the same mistake twice.

The title track is a triumphant opener to the album produced by MexikoDro & Popstar Benny taking you through the trials & tribulations of the rich & famous whereas “5 P’s” takes a more pluggier route discussing pints, pounds, pills, pussy & power. “Trust” works in some synths to tell all the pussies to quit flexing prior to the delicately produced “A to Z” cleverly using the alphabet to describe his lifestyle referencing 14-time WWE world champion, WWE Hall of Famer, 5-time WWE Intercontinental Champion, 3-time WWE tag team champion & current WWE CCO Triple H.

As far as “Fuck da Rap Game” goes, we have Tony keeping the plugg vibes going talking about becoming a boss just before “Life n Hard Times” confesses that he’s clean as a bitch & his trap house is dirty over a dreamy beat. The Darkside Mally feature on “Shook Dem Haters Off” doesn’t do it for me even though I like Tony’s verse & the CashCache instrumental, but then “Hell’s Hot” has a more darker quality to it getting on some bitter ex-boyfriend shit.

“Everything I Should” blends some synths & keys talking about having literally every single thing he believes he should in his possession until “Paper Trail” returns to pluggier territory telling a bitch he might dip on her because “I got chips, no you can’t Frito-Lay with me” & the hook from Bear1boss just so happens to be the best feature on the entire album in my personal opinion. “Sorry!” laces some more synths apologizing for not spending time with this woman while “10 Blocks” with SB Nunkk weaves some organs into the fold talking about how much their wrists cost.

Moving on from there, the cheery atmosphere of the “Can’t Say I’m Broke” instrumental is something I really enjoy as Tony brags about his wealth while “M’s” with ManMan Savage has a more calmer sound to it talking about how that’s all they just want. “Dat’s Me” is a bassy plugg banger comparing himself to a dog on a leash while “Jugg” with Diego Money finds the 2 dropping some gangsta raps over a quirky MexikoDro beat.

“World on My Back” has a more energetic tone to it talking about having power & Darkside Mally returns once more on the aggressive “Join the Campaign” with his verse here being better than “Shook da Haters Off” showing off their big dog statuses. “Not the Same” has an entrancingly psychedelic atmosphere to the instrumental talking about being cut from a different cloth while “Don’t Know” with Seddy Hendrinx comes through with an awkwardly sensual ballad.

The song “Know Us” sees Tony over a trap beat with some horns talking about how everyone is familiar with him & his squad while the penultimate track “Mean” explains how he likes his women over a plugg instrumental. “Work Like Dis” though is an explosive closer to the album going into detail as to what happens when one decides to grind as hard as he does.

This dude‘s a pretty much a pioneer in the plugg scene so for him to return to that style on Plug Motivation will definitely appeal to any fan of his old or new. He has a unique voice, his gangsta themed bars are ear-grabbing for all the right reasons & the BeatPluggz were the perfect people to enlist behind the boards as they whip up is some of their finest batch of beats to date.

Score: 4/5

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