Brandon Callender wants you to remember that LeBron invented the concept of the Deluxe Album.
Peezy â âLong Live Crumsâ
Last year, you could say that any of 10 different rappers from Michigan were having the best year in the state and I (probably) wouldnât argue with you about it. Peezy might not be many peopleâs first choice, but ever since he came home from jail last year heâs been on a tear. A solid chunk of his recent output comes with his take on the Flint punch-in style that he broke out on âRio Flow.â If Rio and RMC Mike have their bars rub up against each other like theyâre trying to get the last word in an argument, Peezy smooths those rough corners out to make it a laidback conversation. Itâs like watching a bebop player transition to cool jazz. âBought the new Benz off the lot just to show it off / I told âem I ainât worried âbout the top âcuz Imma throw it off,â he raps in a flow that cares more about sounding cool than metronomes.
rodneyy â ârubberbandmanâ
Scrolling through rodneyyâs SoundCloud is a treat. Heâs constantly trying out new styles/voices, or fleshing out ones heâs already done with catchier lines and the kind of athletic flourishes and slight adjustments you get from practicing a play over and over. âRubberbandmanâ could be a sequel to âPsych Wardâ from his tape Afterhours or âtonight.â Here, rodneyyâs completely unattached to any single voice or rhythm. It makes me think of Carti on âBeno!â or âDie4Guyââboth of them are interested in making songs filled with different textures that prevent their music from becoming wallpaper. It could be him jumping an octave to squeal âanemic,â the sneering and cocky one-liners about counting money before he could read, or the hypnotic ârubberband manâ chant from the outro. I donât know if anyone else has taken the same lessons from WLR that rodneyy has.
Coach Joey â I Still Got You Something
With Valentineâs Day only a week away, Coach Joey (aka Joseph McFashion, the man behind Michigan rap platform 4Sho Magazine) comes through with a mixtape about modern romance. Thereâs a song for whatever situationship, relationship, dickalationship (shoutout Sahbabii), or entanglement you may or may not be in. And yesâthere is a song on here titled âIndia & Durk.â Hereâs some of the best lines:
âThis bitch ainât had a job⊠the whole summer / Now she ask me for a coatâŠBitch, noâ
âHate My Exâ
Canât say Coach Joey is in the right for this, but he sounds so fed up with the world when he says this.
âDonât need a therapist âcuz Iâm the one you vent to / Iâm not the jealous type, tell me what you been through / Donât be shy to ask for help when the rent dueâ
âFall Asleepâ
Duality.
âI stare at you when you sleep, itâs kinda weird / But itâs cute thoughâ
âI Ainât Gon Lieâ
This might be the most relatable thing he says on the entire project for me. I donât think itâs that weird.
YMC Ant & YMC Tez â âDynamic Duoâ
Itâs a little funny that Baltimore is late as hell to the sometimes soul-draining Lil TJay/A Boogie style of melodic rap because they have the best spin on it. Starting this blurb off by making people think of their melodramatic Auto-Tune drenched wails and way-too-horny sex bars might scare folks off, and I canât blame them at all. Though YMC Ant and Tez are only borrowing from those guys so that they can inject a bit of melody into their raps to keep them from seeming too stiff. They rap like auctioneers; breathless run-on sentences bump into each other all the time. Thereâs no time to take breathers when youâre making plays.
BandGang Lonnie Bands & Shawny Binladen â âMad Max & Biggsâ
Iâd love to know who linked Lonnie and Shawny because I never wouldâve thought about how theyâd sound together. The song is great too: Itâs two of 2021âs best rappers are going crazy on âVictory.â What more could you ask for?