It’s a listening experience not unlike Todd Rundgren’s Something/Anything?, the gold standard for double albums that deepen and get weirder as they go on. So the compilation passes by like a cloud, and the individual tapes blend into each other. It’s the kind of luxury rap you can listen to in just about any situation and feel like you’re sipping mimosas by the beach. If you miss a detail, there’s bound to be something else you can sink into a couple bars down. And though his rhymes are dense and drunk with language, they’re never hard to follow. He’s not far off on “Montreux” when he compares his music to Marvin Gaye’s 1980 performance at that famous jazz festival. His music is weightless, decked out with lounge guitar and gossamer string samples. That this sameness can sustain itself for so long is a tribute to just how complete and enjoyable Curren$y’s aesthetic is.
#CURRENSY PILOT TALK TRILOGY ALBUM FULL#
And though his discography’s full of surprises, like the live-band Muscle Car Chronicles, he doesn’t stray far from his comfort zone on the Pilot Talk series, working mostly with soul-enamored beatmaker Ski and sticking to weed, cars, jets and women as subject matter-with plenty of digressions that make his rhymes all the more delightful. Some songs have hooks some have guests some are just Curren$y rapping for two or three or four minutes with no chorus or guests or interruptions. Each tape is about 45 minutes, and together they sprawl to about the length of one of Curren$y’s favorite classic films. The most lovable facets of the man’s music are on full display on his Pilot Talk trilogy, now freshly packaged together and finally available to stream. He’s the type to brag about his argyle socks or recommend the hand-squeezed lemonade at his favorite diner. Even those who don’t smoke can understand his fixation with creature comforts, often the kind you’d expect to be enjoyed by a middle-aged man rather than an MC in his mid-‘30s. He’s always curled up in a couch, or jetting off to some faraway place, or staring out the window and remarking on just how beautiful the view is. There’s a pervasive sense of comfort and serenity in the man’s music. I mean people who still remember why they started burning the bud in the first place. Ski Beatz sticks to the jazz-influenced sounds of it’s predecessors & it’s still an incredibly great match for Spitta’s notoriously calm flow.Curren$y makes weed rap for people who love weed, not for people who like the idea of weed they can stick with their Afroman and pot-leaf-printed beanies. I hold the original Pilot Talk trilogy amongst the best material of Curren$y’s prolific career & this 4th installment definitely lived up to my expectations. The penultimate track “Under the Wings” slickly details stealing your girl with his Rolls Royce & finally, “Finger Roll” ends the album on a rap rock note telling all the clowns out there to wrap it up. “Memory Lane” is a soulful ballad with reflective lyricism while the string-laced “So Easy” factually talks about how it’s not hard to say you’re a g.
Meanwhile on “Workers & Bosses”, we have Spitta going back into cloud rap territory talking about wins turning into losses just as things start taking off leading into “The Scene” brings the saxes back in to chase away the bad vibes.
“Non Fungible” takes a more spacious route to smoothly spit that braggadocio, but then “There It Is” has a tenser almost funkier sound challenging anyone to step to him bar for bar.
#CURRENSY PILOT TALK TRILOGY ALBUM SERIES#
“Big Game Fishing” is a pleasantly jazz boom bap opener paying tribute to his city & his homies who came up out of there whereas “Audio Dope 6” mixes these triumphant horns with some saxes talking about pledging to get the whole world high keeping the titular series going strong.
However, Spitta’s celebrating Christmas Eve by dropping the 4th installment of his renown Pilot Talk series as his 17th full-length album & it’s only right for him to bring Ski Beatz back along for the ride. Since then, the man made a name for himself by dropping a handful of projects every single year with the latest being the Cash Fargo-produced Land, Air, Sea EP last month. He would then hop over to Young Money Entertainment & Cash Money Records in 2006, but eventually branched out in 2008 with his own label Jet Life Recordings. Curren$y is a 40 year old rapper from New Orleans, Lousiana that first got his start with No Limit Records in 2002.