Young Dro – On Fire
The man who brought us the “Shoulder Lean” is back with the Jim Jonsin produced, chest thumpin’ single, “On Fire.” This beat was made specifically for Young Dro, who displays his skills over its motivationally smooth feel. “On Fire” is going to be on Dro’s highly anticipated sophomore album P.O.L.O. (Players Only Live Once), which will also feature production by Swizz Beatz and Drumma Boy.
The hook and beat are what’s going to take this song to the top of the radio request lines, but one look at Young Dro’s verses helps us realize that he has not lost his quick witted cocky touch. For example, I’ve never heard anyone say that they “Make it rain on the Doppler!”
That being said, there’s no denying that the track’s hook would be even better served with a verse from T.I., who was creating masterpieces with Jim Jonsin before he began serving his most recent prison sentence. However with T.I.P. behind bars, Young Dro has stepped up to the plate to try and keep Grand Hustle relevant in the hip hop scene. (BTW, The King should be coming home very soon)
Looking more closely at the beat, we see that Jim Jonsin was able to create a very clean and professional sound that compliments the fruity swag rap style that made Dro so successful with his debut album, The Best Thang Smokin’.
Having released a number of well received mixtapes since his debut album, Dro is poised to give his fans the album they have been waiting for, and from the looks of “On Fire,” P.O.L.O. will not disappoint.
Original “Wasted” track featuring Plies:
Gucci mane featuring OJ Da Juiceman – Wasted Remix
Looking like it will be the first single off of Gucci’s next studio album entitled Gucci Movie, “Wasted” featuring Plies is tearing up the streets and serving as this year’s party theme song. In light of this songs recent success, Gucci Mane has released a remix to the track featuring his protégé and equally hilarious rap artist OJ Da Juiceman. This move is definitely going to increase the track’s reach, with OJ gaining fans and critical acclaim as quickly as Plies has been watching it slip through his fingers. That is not to say that Plies did not kill his verse on the original, but if Gucci wants the whole country singing along to this track he needs to lace it with Juice’s trademark AYE’s!
No one can deny that Gucci Mane’s buzz is off the charts right now, but it is OJ’s buzz that should not be underestimated. OJ Da Juiceman went from being a relatively unknown mixtape artist to one of the most talked about artists in the game after jumping onto the scene with his debut album The Otha Side of the Trap released on January 27, 2009. OJ has since been selling a ridiculous amount of albums on a consistent basis while getting features on hit songs such as Jadakiss’ “Who’s Real” and R.Kelly’s “Supaman high.”
Listening to “Wasted” remix’s lyrics, one can not help but imagine Gucci Mane and friends living the “Rockstar lifestyle” that they rap about in the hook. (I can clearly see Gucci Mane getting “whiteboy wasted!”)
Gucci wastes no time getting to the point of the song with his first verse that starts out:
“Geekin like Whitney, Geekin like Britney,
Gucci no hippie, but its on like Jimmy,
X pill poppers, Geeked up crazy,
whole click rollin’ everyone wasted,
Purple codeine sprite pink don’t waste it.”
If that opening line wasn’t enough to get the reckless partying theme across, Gucci’s last verse features the line:
“We white boy wasted, No shirts fuck it,
Our necks and arms are tatted,
We slappin drunk disgusted,
And liquor keep wastin.”
There is a lot of energy in this song, and as you can see the lyrics are as ridiculous as they are entertaining.
What makes OJ’s verse so special is that he never seems to run short on clever ways to say what everyone else is talking about. For example with his opening line on “Wasted,” Juice says:
“Don Julio Got the Juice wasted,
Just left the trap pocket full of faces,
Getting to the money in the club wasted,
Thousand gram chain and it’s sick like a patient.”
In that verse he really didn’t say anything new or exciting, but with the Juiceman’s swag, unique voice, and clever way of phrasing common hip hop themes/clever use of metaphors, he brings fun and creativity into the song.
The “Wasted” remix was made to rock the club, and that is exactly what it does. It is not insightful, nor does it have meaningful quotes, but it does display Gucci Mane’s ability to get people hyped while speaking about super ridiculous crazy stoopid fruity subjects!
Fabolous – Everything, Everyday, Everywhere
The third single off of Fab’s fifth studio album, Loso’s Way, screams success with everything from Fab’s effortless verses to Keri Hilson’s smooth hook, to Ryan Leslie’s beautifully produced beat. “Everything, Everyday, Everywhere” is exactly what the club DJ’s need to get everyone on the dance floor and get lost in the song/moment.
Fabolous spits clever lines over the chilled party song, and is joined by the beautiful Miss Hilson on the hook. Rapping about his swag and style throughout the entire song, Fabolous drops a number of lines such as:
“Can you do me this favor, answer this question,
y’all gone try who, (Please),
See the shoes by Gucci, bag by Louie,
the hating will be by you, (Hater).”
It looks like they had a lot of fun filming the video for this song. I just have one question….Is it a coincidence that the BAWSE Ricky Ross appears in the video exactly when Fab says, “Ask these other silicon niggas how being fake feel.”
J Money – First Name, Last Name
J Money, aka J Futuristic, teamed up with Young Jeezy and Shawty Lo to create this futuristic trap song that talks about getting money…sounds like the recipe for a hit street record if you ask me! J Money also uses this song to introduce his new stage name, J Futuristic. With the first verse he spits, “Too many J Money’s so I had to change it, Now it’s J Futuristic author of the Matrix, Nero!”
As the story goes, this name change came about because J Money, Yung LA, Young Dro, Travis Porter, etc are all making a name for themselves in Atlanta by rapping about a lot of the same topics and using a lot of the same adlibs. This “copy cat” sound has led to disputes around who was the first to say this or that, and who was the first to rap in this or that style. By changing his name to J Futuristic, J Money probably feels he can prove that he was the one to invent futuristic swag music. (A similar problem arose when snap dancing first gained popularity, and both Dem Franchize Boyz and D4L took credit for its invention. Sadly, the world may never know who the first group was to snap they fingaz…)
Looking at the two features J Money picked up for this track, we see that the song’s popularity may be short lived or only remain in the streets. This is the case because although he put together an all-star cast, nothing out of the ordinary was said on the track. For example despite adding to the track with his trap lyrics and drug talk, Young Jeezy says nothing special.
Shawty Lo puts forth an effort similar to Jeezy’s with his raspy flow and mumbled lyrics spitting one of the strangest verses I have heard in a while:
“Oh my gosh, Michael J Fox,
I’m screaming Great Scott,
flying a plane to the yacht, (Adlib: YEAAHHHH)
Phil Jackson ring cost me a lot,
These are foreign pools, I got Kobe in my watch.”
This song’s beat and hook are hot as hell, but because of the song’s lack of substance there is no way the track becomes much more than a hot mixtape record.
