Curren$y - "Here EP" (Review)

Okay. Best album art of the year. The rest of you can try, but yeah. Spitta's got it. No worries though. Second place still gets a a nice tote bag.

After Curren$y dropped, like, 209 albums in a two year period, one would be forgiven for thinking he might fall off. After so many verses, is it even possible that the guy had anything left in the tank? If there was any sort of upper limit to the number of lyrics a human being can feasibly construct in a lifetime, surely the New Orleans MC had to be nearing it.

As if the copious volumes of THC slowly being absorbed through his lungs have given him clairvoyance into the anxious minds of his listeners, Spitta dropped his five-track EP Here last week in order to tide them over until March's The Stoned Immaculate.

 Hit the jump for a track by track breakdown.



1. Pay Attention - "The fuck wrong with gon' gettin it?" With that line, Curren$y sums up Here's first track. It's token hip hop bravado, but it's delivered with the weeded-over infectiousness that has earned him the lifestyle he brags about. Unfortunately, it's sounds like an auditory rufie. Add in a sleepily drawled rendition of Tupac's Troublesome '96 chorus in between verses, and you have a song that accomplishes the exact opposite of its titular command.

2. #Cruiselife - It's the Drive Slow beat! Here, Curren$y accomplishes a feat for rap as a medium: I honestly don't think any of his bars actually rhyme throughout the entirety this one-verser. His inflection and pronunciation make it work though, and despite never catching the beat perfectly, he hits his stride halfway through #Cruiselife and Here picks up some heat.

3. What the Fuck - It's the Bring it On beat! Unlike the previous track's recognizable background beat, the mellow mafioso strains of Jay-Z's classic feel tailor-made for Curren$y's voice. Aside from an awkward bit where he says "mama" four times in a sentence, this is some vintage flow over a classic beat. Hard to go wrong.

4. Livin' - Again, we've got some more standardized hip hop crew-repping bombast, but at least this time it sounds bombastic. Curren$y obliges the flowy, if somewhat typical, beat with his unique take on hip hop braggadocio. Grabbing pizza at 3 am with your hoes? The aforementioned hoes sleeping well at your house because of the quality of your drapes? It's this pride in minutiae that makes Curren$y so relatable.

5. Conference Call (ft. The Jets) - The title pretty much says it all. The Jet Life crew hops on the track to exchange verses. Nothing spectacular, but you could do worse if you're looking for a driving soundtrack.

Seriously though. Gorgeous album art.

And that final sentence sums up the EP as a whole. Nothing great. Nothing terrible. If you're burnt out on your Curren$y back library, check it out, ride to it, then forget it when The Stoned Immaculate drops.

6/10

Download Here, uh.. here.