Image via SwaVay/Instagram
Donald Morrison says it’s oddly fitting that “Wah Gwan Delilah” is genuinely the last good Drake song.
Less than two years ago, fans genuinely feared for NBA YoungBoy’s life. Photos appeared of Youngboy lying on the floor next to handfuls of Xanax bars; an Instagram made for Youngboy’s cat, Neon, had posted that his father is unhealthy and taking “20xanxz” a day (though it’s unclear if YoungBoy actually ran that account.)
There were charges related to a prescription drug fraud ring operating out of his home in Utah, and charges pertaining to identity fraud and forgery (he pleaded guilty). And then there was the actual jail stint for gun-related charges in April 2024. Which leads us up until the present moment, where YoungBoy recently received a presidential pardon from Donald Trump – which means that he doesn’t have to follow the terms of his probation.
Unfortunately for YoungBoy, anything involving either Playboi Carti or Ye, and the release of new music, is destined to be messy and marred in controversy. The release of “Alive” was of course no different, which is a shame considering how fucking good it is. The song, which sounds like a “first day out” style single if it were recorded in the same sessions as Yeezus, feels like the beginning of a new phase of YoungBoy’s career. The opening verse has an intensity that’s somewhere between Meek Mill’s “Dreams and Nightmares,” and Tee Grizzley on “First Day Out.” The production sounds like it was recorded in that same cave in Paris that Carti made parts of MUSIC. It’s a remarkable sonic switch for YoungBoy, and is one of the most rewarding rap songs released this year.
For the hyper online, the first version of “Alive” actually featured the ever-present, attention-vacuum known as Ye. It’s a much-less memorable song, with Ye continuing his streak of trying to attach himself to anybody with relevancy in an attempt to remain hip. I remember liking it well enough, but couldn’t imagine listening to it again. That is, until I heard the correct version. Within hours, Playboi Carti uploaded to his Instagram his own take on “Alive,” complete with a music video and Swamp Izzo drops, telling Ye that it was actually his song.
From the moment “Alive” begins, we’re smacked with a distorted and buzzing bass, as if producers F1LTHY and Lucian are trying to blow out our speakers on purpose. YoungBoy sounds gleefully chaotic. It’s in the way he boasts “we pull up in Bentley’s and beat the fuck out of them in public,” and the way he says almost angrily, “that aint a model, I bought her a bottle, and fucked on her bottom, until it was sore.” His assertive flow blends well with the all-consuming and relentless bass, interspersed with a continuous “alive” ad lib that’s played in a way that almost sounds like a purposeful distortion of the bass. It’s a type of production we haven’t seen YoungBoy tackle much, the type of rage rap offshoot that’s made Carti a household name.
Deep-voice Carti enters the song halfway through with a verse that truly bends my brain. His unorthodox method of rapping over this beat complements YoungBoy’s all-gas-no-breaks approach. I can easily imagine this being a hype-up song for DJ’s getting the crowd ready for headliners for years to come, like “Don’t Like,” or “Look At Me.” It’s also the first sign we have that YoungBoy’s prison sentence hasn’t changed his drive to keep evolving his music.
Benji Blue Bills and BNYX go together like Madlib and Freddie Gibbs. BNYX, a member of the Philadelphia-based production collective Working On Dying, has worked with everyone from Drake, Travis Scoot, to Yeat and Lil Tecca. He’s able to mix rage rap aesthetics with booming trap production for a much-needed revamp on the now-passé rage rap sound.
On the other hand,Benji Blue Bills is a technically proficient rapper who’s been held back in the past by a predictable and haphazard beat selection. Benji is able to shine with BYNX by his side, releasing maybe his best album yet, with Out The Blue, a collaboration with BYNX that sees him finally rapping on inventive beats without actually losing his assertive appeal. “Morgan,” is an album standout with a Power Rangers themed music video that appears to show Benji and friends morphing into some sort of Geek Bar (a popular disposable vape). This is a project that proves Benji, once only known as Playboi Carti’s biggest opp, is actually more than the former;s derivative and something almost equally as powerful.
Atlanta’s SwaVay has released 13 mixtapes since the age of 16. He’s gained the attention of local luminaries like Metro Boomin and English producer and singerJames Blake. His latest is BILLY2, a 10-track tape that shows a reinvigorated artist who’s been forced to reinvent himself numerous times in nearly a decade. “Elroy,” also features NASAAN, a Detroit-born rapper who is the son of the late Proof, known as Eminem’s hype-man and perhaps the best rapper in Slim Shady’s D12 supergroup, before he was killed in a bar fight in April 2006. “Elroy” reminds me of rap from like six years ago, with tasteful beat switches, and unexpected back-and-forth flows from the two rappers. It’s like some futuristic Detroit shit mixed with an almost nostalgic trap beat. The whole tape manages to carry this same momentum and makes for some of the best music SwaVay has released in years.
Not since Nef The Pharaoh in 2016 has a Bay Area artist so embodied the spirit and stylings of Mac Dre, a man known for his pimp-like cool, effortless flow and endless amount of hilarious and almost whimsical one-liners. Enter seiji oda, a Japanese-American rapper and producer from Oakland, CA, known for mixing lo-fi with hyphy to create something he describes as “calm but geeked.” His latest, Nature + Nurture, is his most conceptually invigorating release yet, equally indebted to hyphy as it is to lifestyle rap like Larry June and Curren$y. You can tell Seiji is having fun with his process; it shows in his breezy vocals, and calm (yet geeked) delivery. On “NO FILLINS²,” with Oakland rap group Trunk Boiz, the rappers create the type of lo-fi bay area slap that I wasn’t sure could exist. “I take the time to stay still, but I’m still in motion,” Seiji says with a calm flow. He somehow embodies the laidback hippie spirit, while also maintaining an effortless cool that doesn’t seem lits doused in Patchouli oil.
Duffy, one half of OTM, has stayed consistent for more than five years now, against all odds after his mentor and creative inspiration Drakeo The ruler was stabbed to death in 2021. Duffy’s flow has always been heavily indebted to Drakeo and the Stinc Team, but he’s managed to make Drakeo’s slippery and nervous flow into something of his own. It’s no longer merely Drakeo-cosplay. Duffy has found a way to channel Drakeo while still showing up his natural and individualistic rapping ability. “Stay Down,” is the latest example, a bass-ponding track that sounds like a Drakeo surrogate finally stepping out into his own.
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