Weed & Instrumentals

Curren$y

Hollow, metallic tamborines and tinny high-pitched percussion fill the empty spaces of Curren$y’s 2016 effort, Weed & Instrumentals. At first spin, I can’t help but draw connections between this mixtape the high-octane, heavy-bass of Atlanta rap. Most tracks off this mixtape come with clear, anticipation-building piano riffs partnered with shakers and bells that overlay consistent banger basslines. On tracks like “Playing Dominoes,” the generational and stylistic crossover is palpable, with a medium-paced, boom bap beat that has a creepy backing synth melody and a constant reindeer- ringing in the background. As the lyrics read, in uncanny resemblance to Dr. Dre’s “sit back and enjoy the movie”-style: “I’m in the studio most of the time, getting high, pinnin the soundtrack to your movie as you ride.”

As this 17-track body of work continues, it becomes clear that the influences from each coast push and pull each other, and in tracks like “Sound Like Money,” which comes right after “Playing Dominoes,” we suddenly jump directly into the druggy ghetto. The slow repetition of the piano and incessant trap drums, partnered with Curren$y and TY’s overflowing braggadocio, reminds me heavily of “Blow a Check” off the 2015 record MMM by Puff Daddy. “Sounds like money so the stacks keep coming” the hook repeats, a solitary line in a reverberating chant. It’s at moments like these that the streams of influences all converge — albiet at one rather uninspiring point.

Tracks like “Playing Dominoes” and “Sound Like Money” fill up most of Weed & Instrumentals, with the samples and production-work being a major highlight. I think Curren$y excels best when the lyrics are spit with a blasé forcefulness that works so well with the now-classic trap-burdened mumbling. When this harmony is reached, and the beat has enough power and creativity to carry for the 3 minutes most songs clock in at, I think Weed & Instrumentals shines. Even if the album as a whole is a varied body of work — rather than an entirely cohesive concept album — tracks like “Cut It, Redone It” jump out as breakout anthems. The percussion is aggressive, oscillating, reminiscent of the Menace-produced “Panda” beat off Desigiiner’s #1 single. The cascading piano is attention-grabbing, but still lazy-sounding, just like “Watch Out” off 2Chain’z latest effort, ColleGrove. And finally, those scattered, shiny, sparkling effects and wavering bass lines, which push in between verses and during the feature, remind me of Metro Boomin’s latest work with Future’s EVOL and Purple Reign (and certainly the unforgettable DS2). This holy trinity, West, East, and South, with Curren$y and TY’s simple and punchy rapping, make Weed & Instrumentals a great Spring mixtape. Even if it borders on boring and rarely makes me pause and think, it captures a compelling and unavoidable moment of Hip Hop history and successfully pays homage to and demonstrates Curren$y’s awareness of the genre itself.

🤔 2/5

P.S. Thanks for reading! This is an old review I wrote in March after this tape dropped, and now that I’ve decided to release weekly album reviews, posting it now made sense. Most of my new reviews will follow the format of the Coloring Book review, and the same rating system as I used here:

You can think of the ratings as: 1 Boring, 2 Basic, 3 Worthwhile, 4 Rotation, 5 Classic.