Music
Hip-Hop Mixtapes of the Month: April 2018
Some of hip-hop's most exciting acts — Princess Nokia, 070 Shake, Smokepurpp, Lil Durk and more — took bold turns toward experimental new directions, and we're fully here for it.
April's been a busy month for rap news. Kanye's tweeting about new music and more, Drake's swapping his own No. 1 hit for another No. 1 hit and Kendrick's busy framing his Pulitzer certificate. But rappers big and small, young and old, local and global continued to drop mixtapes at such an unprecedented clip that even the 24-hour news cycle could barely keep up.
Whether new projects came from signed artists becoming free agents again (Lil Durk), hyped rappers taking unexpected swerves (Princess Nokia) or rising emcees pushing things into darker territory (070 Shake), the mixtape game delivered so much heat this month that we almost didn't notice how much extra snow was still falling.
7. Smokepurpp & Murda Beatz, "Bless Yo Trap"
Smokepurpp hasn't taken off like some of his contemporaries in the South Florida scene. While 2017's "Audi" was a scene-defining banger, his debut mixtape "Deadstar" didn't live up to the hype the track ushered in. But he's at least making moves in the right direction, starting 2018 with a tight, 11-song tape called "Bless Yo Trap." Rather than trying to recapture the essence of his biggest hit, Smokepurpp hitches his Audi to the established star power of Canadian producer Murda Beatz, a former in-house producer for Migos who has pumped out hit after hit for the likes of Drake, Gucci Mane and Travis Scott. While Purpp can't help but still mimic his peers (Lil Pump on "Do Not Disturb," Playboi Carti on "Wockstar") — which only strengthens the comparisons of "Audi" to XXXTentacion's seminal cut "Look At Me!" — it's only a matter of time before a Smokepurpp track just sounds like a Smokepurpp track. For now, the simulation is as real as it gets.
6. Lil Durk, "Just Cause Y'all Waited"
Major labels aren't for everyone. Unless you're an already proven "brand" like Kanye or Drake, it's nearly impossible to achieve artistic autonomy under major label deals. Lil Durk, drill mainstay and one of the most reliable rappers out of Chicago, is among the latest to suffer from major label meddling, and it ultimately resulted in him splitting to go solo. "Just Cause Y'all Waited," his 12th mixtape, is Durk's first independent release since becoming a free agent and arrives after five years with Def Jam. Throughout its 12 relatively compact tracks, Durk doesn't show any new sides, per se, but he wisely avoids the crossover concessions of Def Jam debut "Remember My Name" and simply capitalizes on what he's always done best: street narratives embedded in dour party music.
5. FRVRFRIDAY, "WHOISFRIDAY"
Canada's got a new crooner. He's a young, under-21 artist from Edmonton who goes by FRVRFRIDAY (pronounced "forever Friday"). His latest, titled "WHOISFRIDAY," is a swirling six-track mixtape that flexes a "Late Nights"-Jeremih meets OVO Sound vibe through silky vocal workouts that cut through the tape’s minimalist production with poise and sensuality. However, unlike Jeremih or artists from the OVO Sound crew, FRVRFRIDAY's not only behind the mic on each cut, but he's also on the boards producing, showcasing a seasoned confidence beyond his years while charting his wide-eyed ambition. It’s the mark of a precocious artist whose only possible trajectory at this point is skyward. It's a deadly combination and there's no telling what he can do once he finds a sound that's truly his own.
4. BOOFBOIICY and Warhol.SS, "Broken Records"
As we continue to wait for Warhol.SS’s debut full-length "Chest Pains" to drop, the Chicago rapper has dispatched yet another new mixtape, titled "Broken Records." This time, Warhol.SS taps Dayton's BOOFBOIICY for six new tracks, each featuring a different (and mostly unknown) producer, yet all cohering into a single murky backdrop. Clarity has never been one of Warhol.SS's strengths and here he doubles down by riding beats into the gutter while BOOFBOIICY mumbles his way into a narcotic haze. The whole thing's sloppy and unmastered, off-the-cuff and off-center, totally unprofessional in the best way possible. More mixtapes need to sound like this.
3. Conway, "Blakk Tape"
By now, classic New York rap beats are inherently no less fresh than Atlanta trap. But because we conceptualize music on a timeline rather than on a continuum, mixtapes like Conway's "Blakk Tape" are often crammed into the false narrative of being "throwbacks." Truth is, "Blakk Tape" is simply a re-calibration of a sound that never left to begin with, one whose longevity itself proves its worth. That the Buffalo rapper can enact such an invigorating, lively permutation of the classic NY sound speaks to his ability to feel his way through production in intimate, intuitive ways, hitting registers that feel both familiar and new. It's effortlessly raw and welcomingly gritty, which is especially appropriate for a tape designed, as Conway puts it, "for the streets."
2. Princess Nokia, "A Girl Cried Red"
After straight-up destroying the mixtape template with "1992," our favorite mixtape from 2016, Princess Nokia returns with what she dubs ... an "emo mixtape." Sure, the worlds of rap and emo have been commingling as of late with the likes of Lil Peep and Lil Xan, but "A Girl Cried Red" is in a league of its own. Nokia — AKA New York rapper Destiny Frasqueri — doesn't simply sample rock, drop confessional bars and slap on the emo tag; she embarks on a truly weird yet lighthearted exploration of these two seemingly opposing styles, turning a nascent hybridized sound world into a bizarre mutation, with no concern for what's "cool" or even how it might be received. The risk here is that she'll end up alienating audiences on all sides, including the die-hards, but this sort of fearlessness has long been a mark of our most treasured artists.
1. 070 Shake, "Glitter"
Kanye's reactivated Twitter account has been getting the headlines these days, but it's his G.O.O.D. Music imprint that's been on fire all year. Following fellow signee Valee's excellent "Good Job, You Found Me" EP, Ye's label dropped 070 Shake's "Glitter" mixtape at the tail end of last month, and it's a wonderfully cohesive work, especially surprising for an artist who hadn't recorded a song before 2015. But what isn't surprising is Shake's quick rise through the ranks. The New Jersey native — part of the 11-strong 070 collective — has the ambition and talent to transcend the prototypical artist/producer dynamic, coiling her flexible vocal theatrics around propulsive, thoroughly unique beats provided by The Kompetition with a natural, easy flow. Nothing's easy about this listen though: Shake plunges into dark places, taking on heavy topics like addiction, depression and sexuality, yet she emerges with something like catharsis, making the whole emotional trip well worth the energy spent.
