Curren$y: "Up Here"

It feels like everything I’ve written about rap lately is a sweeping statement belaboring job interview jargon like “affirmation” and “actualize,” so let’s keep this simple: holy shit, Curren$y’s flow.

New paragraph for emphasis. Curren$y, so marble-mouthed that I thought his alias was “the hospital” (phonetics: hot spit-ah) until a few months ago, has given us a new unstymiable flow to marvel over while TI is in the clink pretending to repent. This burbling thump, laid down like a crunchy velvet sheet by Monster Beats, would’ve been too much for Curren$y about a year ago, but he’s undergone something of a metamorphosis, turning his same-y mumble and phlegmatic personality into a loose-lipped drawl of slithering constriction. It’s genuinely thrilling the way he transforms like the villain from the first Terminator sequel, alternating between elusive liquidity and sledgehammer. Lines like “When the wheels touch down, you know the jet’s in town / Smokin’ from a personal pound, I leave ground” pop with more immediacy than they should due to his syllabic gymnastics.

The rest of Curren$y’s first non-mixtape plays out similarly: impressive flows melding with yet another faceless collective of burgeoning beatmakers from the South. “Up Here” is just a paradigm of that blueprint. It’s workmanlike, showing the slightest glimpse of flashy bravado, but ultimately insubstantial fun. The larger point here is this feels like a step in the right direction for Curren$y’s still-pupating career. And I’m rooting for him. Wayne deserves a better protégé than Drake.