Image via ALLBLACK/Instagram
Donald Morrison‘s take on the Drake & Kendrick beef is that it would be awesome if Drake had like nine kids, and they just slowly become public knowledge during rap beefs every five years.
It’s a shame that Drakeo The Ruler isn’t here to witness his trademark flow being co-opted by none other than Kendrick Lamar in the latter’s much-publicized feud with Drake. Kendrick, who’s borrowed from Drakeo’s lexicon before, takes another page from the Stinc Team founder by using Drakeo’s classic “ask and answer your own questions” flow on “Not Like Us,” saying “how many opps you really got? I mean, it’s too many options. I’m finna pass on this body, I’m John Stockton.”
As Ralfy The Plug noted, Kendrick isn’t the first, nor will he be the last, to pay homage to Drakeo’s flow. It’s a natural side-effect to Drakeo being one of the biggest innovators in West Coast rap over the past decade. His slippery, nervous influence can be heard all over the nation at this point, from the muted musings of Veeze in Detroit, all the way to the deadpan rhymes coming from R3 Da Chilliman in the Inland Empire. I wonder what Drakeo would have to say about Kendrick using his flow against Drake when Drake is the only one of the two who actually gave him a feature. Drakeo’s reaction to the beef via Instagram Live is just one more thing we’ve been robbed of by his senseless murder — which is still unsolved more than two years later.
Former Drakeo collaborator ALLBLACK knows how to correctly pay homage. His latest single, “R.I.P. Drakeo,” sees the Bay Area rapper adopting Drakeo’s whispery flow over one of my favorite beats in recent memory. He keeps the truth alive by naming the song “R.I.P. Drakeo,” but it isn’t solely a tribute song. It’s one of the best songs off ALLBLACK’s latest album, Round 1, which came out on May 3. “Styrofoam cup and a halo, RIP Drakeo,” he begins the second verse. The synth’s in the production almost remind me of Cam’Ron’s “Welcome To New York City,” conjuring visions of large buildings and dark city streets. The song ends with an old Drakeo monologue, keeping alive The Ruler’s traditions of ending his songs with impassioned rants.
Kendrick may currently be trying to reclaim the title of the West Coast “Boogieman,” but real ones know it’s actually EBK Jaaybo. The Stockton rapper has been making noise regionally for some time now, but his latest single is likely to bring him national attention. The beat to “Boogieman” is so hard it almost blew out my computer speakers. It sort of reminds me of the type of bangers Sheff G and Sleepy Hollow were making when NY Drill was blowing up a few years back: blown out bass, looped samples, almost demonic raps. As it is, “Boogieman” will be the first song I play if someone hands me the aux in their car this summer.
Chicago-born producer Nascent brings together Houston, Texas legends Paul Wall and Maxo Kream for a laidback ode to automobiles that cleverly reworks the melody of Martika’s 1989 classic “Toy Soldiers.” Paul Wall sounds vintage as ever over the soulful production, reminding everyone that he’s still the same white boy who stole the show on “Still Tippin” in 2004. Maxo continues an excellent feature run that’s seen him jump on songs with just about every up and coming Texas rapper worth talking about, including HOODLUM and That Mexican OT. BJ The Chicago Kid’s soulful crooning throughout the song completes the whole ride. This will sit nicely on any summer playlist you’re currently working on.
There’s a colorful chaos to the production in “Difference.” The beat, handled by the Seattle-based Televangel, brings to mind visions of wind chimes, distant whispers and that noise you hear when putting your ear to a seashell. Deniro Farrar sounds similarly far away, like he’s recording among the swaying trees of a deep forest. It’s one of the only songs that makes me want to meditate and nod my head at the same time.
The simple keyboard riff at the center of “Right or Wrong” perfectly accompanies Slimesito’s off-kilter and unfiltered lyrics. The evilgiane production, with its airy and fantastical nature, could easily be imagined soundtracking the water world in Super Mario 64. Slimesito approaches it as if he’s trying to disturb the calm, sounding like BabyTron if he were off a bean or two. The whole thing works surprisingly well, with Slimesito able to rattle off a few decent bars in under two minutes, like “I’m running in his spot, he thinking it’s a raid,” and “I’m serving fent and I know this shit wrong, up the pistol and you know I’ll stay calm.”
