Album Review: Curren$y – Pilot Talk

On July 13th, Curren$y released his third studio album and major label debut, Pilot Talk. All things considered, the album sold well, as it moved close to 11,000 copies in it’s first week.  For reference, Bun B’s 5 Mic album only pushed 40,000 units during its first week.

What keeps this body of work together and gives Pilot Talk a ridiculous amount of replay value is Ski Beatz’s smooth production. Ski (”Dead Presidents II” & “Luchini“) produced eleven of Pilot Talk’s thirteen tracks and, therefore, is as invaluable to the album as the hot spitta himself.

After hearing Pilot Talk, we see that the New Orleans emcee, who, throughout his career, was both a 504 Boy and a member of Cash Money, has finally found a fitting home with Dame Dash’s DD172.

Here’s a quick look at a few of the album’s standout tracks:

Curren$y – “Example”

Curren$y wastes no time in establishing the cocky attitude and smooth feel of the album with this opening track.  Here’s a quick excerpt from the rhymes spit in-between electric guitar riffs:

“The money made me move,
Running through my shoes,
For the day that I can kick ‘em off, relax,
I said I’d quit smoking these beats, but I relapsed.”

Curren$y – “King Kong”

The project’s first single, “King Kong,” has arguably the best concept of all the tracks on the album.  Curren$y compares his lifestyle to that of classic film’s “King Kong” on the impressive hook:

“Tearing through the city,
Snatchin bitches, top of the building,
King Kong ain’t got shit on me,
Twenty five, eight,
Going ape for the cake, nigga,
King Kong ain’t got shit on me,
Want-to-be pilots get swatted out the sky around I,
King Kong aint got shit on me,
Larger than life, they hate me because they ain’t me,
King Kong ain’t got shit on me.”

If you’ve been following Curren$y and his Jets movement, these comparisons to King Kong are hilariously on point!

Curren$y – “Breakfast”

“Breakfast” has to be the catchiest song on the whole project, as Ski Beatz took the already impressive Mos Def track and added his smooth touch.  ”Breakfast” also sees Curren$y picking up the speed of his rhymes while dropping quotables throughout the hook-less track.  At the end, however, Mos slows everything down as he begins to sing this classic Karate Kid song, ha!

The song is also home to one of Pilot Talk’s most quoted lines, “write that sickness, my ink pen sneezin.”  That image of an ink pen sneezing in Curren$y’s notebook is hilarious!

Curren$y – “The Hangover” (Featuring Mikey Rocks)

If “Breakfast” is the catchiest song on the project, “The Hangover” is a close second.   Curren$y’s lazy flow works wonderfully on this relaxed track which also features The Cool Kids‘ Mikey Rocks.

Curren$y – “The Day” (Featuring Jay Electronica & Mos Def)

Curren$y brings his normal attitude to this track, as we see on the first verse:

“I’m so sorry, if I don’t look happy to be here,
In your label office, but they said I can’t smoke weed here!”

Those lines had me cracking up!  If you haven’t figured it out by now, Curren$y is obsessed with smoking weed.  What makes this track standout, however, is Mos Def’s hook, which sounds like it’s coming down from a high school intercom, and the guest verse from the ever-elusive Jay Electronica.

Curren$y – Address” (Featuring Stalley)

The clean visuals for “Address” gave Curren$y and emerging artist Stalley some great face time on MTV Jams.  Here’s Curren$y’s impressive first verse:

“Nigga for what? Get down with them suckers when I’m high as fuck,
And they under us, catch a crook in your neck from tryin to watch the jets,
Mr. Tokyo Drift, spend Yen on the Vette.,
Looking for your bitch? Fool, take one guess,
She caught up in the rapture,
Wakin and baken, Anita greatest hits blastin,
Pedal mashin, paper twistin, scrapper engine, Rad Racer,
No 3-D glasses, just a high ass rapper,
Spitta, nigga, in the building, nah I’m on the roof chillin,
The pool up here, couple chicks I grew up with,
Bottles in the cooler, if u don’t know how to do it homie, ill school ya,
Barroll roll, loop to loop, Top Gun maneuvers,
Making hot wheels outta hoopties,
Holding it down like balloon strings.”

Those final lines about making “hot wheels outta hoopties” and “holding it down like balloon strings” are hilarious!

The major disappointment on Pilot Talk came in the form of underwhelming features from both Snoop Dogg and Devin the Dude.  Especially since upon first glance at the album’s track-listing, these two artists would appear to be the highlights of the weed glorifying project’s guest verses.

Below is footage of Curren$y performing the entire album at a recent show in Brooklyn, Jet Life!

Thoughts on Pilot Talk?