Somewhere, Jessie J weeps…
[Video]
[5.83]
Micha Cavaseno: The Futur(istic) is now! Officer Clifford Harris seems to fill up so much of this record with stammers, vocal tics and “YEEEEA BUDDEH CAT DAT!” energy that now just seems… forced (for a more natural display of Tip’s histronics, see “Jet Fuel” with Lil’ Boosie off his album from last year). But whom effortlessly breeze through are former Rich Kidz maestro London on The Track and Thugger Thugger. What’s funny is that London’s pedigree came from working heavily with a group T.I. once mentored, as his nephew Shad (Da God, formerly Rich Kid Shawty) was a Rich Kid too. So it’s a fascinating thing to see that benevolence inadvertently return to bite Clifford in his ass. He just can’t sound at home swimming in the alchemical rivers of London’s molten guitar, bass, gospel organ and that borderline Schaeffer introduction. Jeffrey does, though, shooting up priests and bursting out of tenements with such gentility, you can’t help but feel sorry for The Rap Game Dan White. #shrimpdips
[8]
Alfred Soto: I said last year this was cute: Thug and T.I. flirting for five minutes.
[7]
Crystal Leww: I don’t know at what point I’ll stop believing Young Thug’s earnestness about coming up from nothing to who he is today, but I hope it’s never. He just sounds geeked about his life, and he’s a good AND compelling rapping, which sets him apart from a lot of the rappers coming up. This track rolls right up until verse two. T.I. sounds great on this hook; the Southern boy who does everything big works particularly well when it’s about dismissing everything except for money. That “TURN IT!” is the single moment of clarity that turns this into a quick jam. The post-hook is good, too, as Young Thug returns. But T.I. verses these days are wet blankets. They’re not good and certainly not fun. All of a sudden, riding around in your car and blasting this quickly turns into a quick scan around radio stations for something else.
[5]
David Sheffieck: I still remember when T.I. sounded like fire. I still throw on “Rubber Band Man” whenever I need to get hyped up and it still works, over a decade later. T.I. had that moment as the sharpest, coolest, best-sounding rapper around. But with an anemic beat and a hollow lyric, all this does is put another nail in the coffin he’s built — largely over the past year, a year spent facing criticism that he was defending Igloo Australia’s racism and appropriation because she was making him so much money. Which is the risible meta-message of this song, which is perhaps a little unfair to hold against it. But at the same time: T.I. had his finger on the pulse, once, and a song like this is one of the clearest indicators yet that he’s long since lost it.
[2]
Will Adams: “Bring Em Out” used to soundtrack my bus rides to basketball games. I don’t even know what “About the Money” would soundtrack. Sunday afternoon naps? Folding laundry? Purgatory?
[4]
Andy Hutchins: “About the Money” was one of the best songs of 2014, and probably the best star-making turn on a song featuring T.I. since “Spend It,” but it’s the why that’s most interesting. T.I.’s consonant obliteration (car door becomes “ca’ do'”) continues apace, but Thugger leans into and out of speaking English, essentially, on a beat almost as woozy as his flow. And Tip’s really just reusing a blueprint (“If you listen, I can get you paid / But not interested in shit you say”) from a prior attempt to mint a star: On Igloo Australia’s “Change Your Life,” he led his verse with “If you listen more than you speak / I can get you everything that you need.” The Svengali act was convincing there, and his Amazonian Aussie’s success speaks to the King’s kingmaking abilities, but he was carrying that song; here, despite doing the heavy lifting of two verses and half the hook, he’s along for the ride, content to cede the spotlight to the South’s newest eccentric star as he rambles about “little bitty shrimp dips.” It’s a good look.
[9]