Tag: Velvet Note Records

Ramirez – “Brabus & Lorinsers” review

San Francisco, California emcee Ramirez ending the month with his 13th extended play. Emerging as a longtime affiliate of the $uicideboy$, he would go on to co-found to the New Orleans-based indie label G*59 Record$ with them & build himself as an artist by dropping 8 mixtapes along with his last dozen EPs & 5 full-lengths. Tha Playa$ Manual was his best LP yet with it’s g-funk production from Rocci, coming off the sequel under his newly formed EMPIRE Distribution imprint Velvet Note Records nearly 13 months earlier following his amicable G*59 departure to drop Brabus & Lorinsers.

“Gran Turismo” begins with this smooth west coast intro rapping about the only thing that stays on his mind is making money whereas “Hacienda” takes a more spacious route instrumentally & getting significantly melodic in terms of performance, exploring his range for an R&B slow jam. “The Harvest” featuring Boldy James finds the pair encouraging everyone to get their paper while “Lil Nameless 2K16” takes it back to his Memphis rap origins.

Kicking off the 2nd half of Brabus & Lorinsers, the song “Too Many Hoes” coasts over a chilled out beat talking about having an excessive amount of women tryna take what’s his just before “Soundscape” cavernously yearns to be held tight & kept close. The lead single “Come Outside” shifts towards a g-funk vibe talking about killin’ bitches softly leaving the candy paint drippin’ while the 2nd single “Dance in White” wraps up the EP with a nu disco outro.

It wouldn’t really be much of a surprise to me if a great deal of Brabus & Lorinsers was made for Tha Playa$ Manual II sessions considering most of it retains the smooth g-funk/Mobb aesthetics of what Ramirez did last summer when he gave us a spiritual successor to the most beloved entry in his discography, but there are some moments that remind me of his early days in G*59 so it’s kinda like you’re getting a mix of his styles both old & new.

Score: 3.5/5

Keep up with @legendswill_never_die on Instagram & @LegendsllLiveOn on Twitter for the best music reviews weekly!

Ramirez – “Tha Playa$ Manual II” review

Here is the 5th studio LP from San Francisco, California emcee Ramirez. Emerging as a longtime affiliate of the $uicideboy$, he would go on to co-found to the New Orleans-based indie label G*59 Record$ with them & build himself as an artist by dropping 8 mixtapes, his last dozen EPs & 4 full-lengths. Tha Playa$ Manual was his best LP yet with it’s g-funk production from Rocci & is looks to mark a new chapter with the sequel on his newly formed EMPIRE Distribution imprint Velvet Note Records over a week after G*59 announced his departure to go do his own thing.

After the “Velvet Note Lounge” skit, the first song “Hollow Tips” was a synth-funk intro & skittering hi-hats introducing y’all to his heater if you even try to make a move on him whereas the jazzy “Cut Throat Game” advises to get back up no matter how hard you fall. “Playas Need Love” fuses both g-funk & jazz to talk about that very subject in hand, but then the 2nd single “True Playas” suggests not to trip because fortune favored the strong putting a synth-heavy feel on the Mobb sound.

“I’m Not Yo Daddy” fuses trap & synth-funk together suggesting you come take a ride with him just before “Boulevard Nights” featuring Jason Joshua & Rocci matches a seducing instrumental that wears it’s jazz influences more during the 2nd half with all 3 of them sharing a melodic delivery. After the “Playing a Fool” skit, “Money Don’t Stop for You” jazzily sings of wanting nothing more to waste his time with a woman he’d fall for while “Shake Junt Hoes”proved to be a Memphis inspired final single.

Meanwhile on “Pushin’ on Some Paper”, we have the Lil Homewrecker talking about pimpin’ being second nature to him & making it look easy while the lead single “Chain Swangin’” turns the Mobb influences back up explaining that he’s still the same playa with a deadly weapon on him. “Scrapin’ tha Corner” throws back to the phonk undertones of Tha Playa$ Manual to talk about being on some larger shit while “Never Listen” offers invest in oneself as his best advice. 

“Don’t Lose Hope” gets back on the g-funk/synth-funk crossovers wanting to hold his romantic interest tight because he wants her to know she’ll always be safe around him in any possible situation & “Cadillac Burnin’” featuring Rocci ahead of the “Goodbye & Goodnight” outro properly finishing Ramirez’ debut of Velvet Note with a captivating duet feeling reminiscent of something you’d hear during the 70s & I mean that as a compliment instead of implying any indication of it being outdated.

Tha Playa$ Manual has been regarded by many in the G*59 fandom to be the crown jewel of the label’s entire discography & I’d have to say it’s aged astonishingly well as a modern g-funk classic since it came out down the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns. Tha Playa$ Manual II as a sequel raises his artistic stakes even higher than I would’ve thought. There are a few songs where he takes a break from delivering bars of the gangsta life to favor towards sung vocals with on top of the best production he’s had in a few years culminating in elements of g-funk, Memphis rap, pop rap, jazz rap, synth-funk & Mobb music.

Score: 4.5/5

Keep up with @legendswill_never_die on Instagram & @LegendsllLiveOn on Twitter for the best music reviews weekly!