Welcome to the first of many curated sets to be posted here on 3TrackSet.com. This set includes tracks from my long-time favourite artist Drake, the health-conscious and financially literate Bay Area rapper Larry June and finally, Top Dog Entertainment signee Isaiah Rashad that to true fans, might even sometimes challenge label-mate Kendrick Lamar when it comes to songwriting and delivery.
This is just a quick glimpse into my musical appreciations from the last little while. Hope you enjoy!
Texts Go Green
Drake
"7th studio album "HONESTLY, NEVERMIND" out at midnight".
This Instagram caption combined with a picture of the album's cover art posted by @champagepapi was all that was needed to send me into a massive state of musical excitement. Later on in the day, a picture with the album's track list was released overlaid on a photo of Drake in a camo bubble jacket looking real pensive. I see titles like "Calling My Name", "A Keeper", "Flight's Booked", and "Liability" and my excitement increases even more. In my head, I'm anticipating a dark and emotional R&B album similar to what his contemporary Future did several years earlier with his surprise album "Hndrxx".
Midnight hits and I hop on FaceTime with my fellow Drake loving cousin for a synchronized listening session ready to fan out over the latest release from our favourite artist.
Track 1 plays.
Track 2 plays.
Track 3 plays.
Track 4 plays.
We paused our session.
I hopped on Twitter and saw tweets absolutely tearing apart the album. They were calling it H&M in-store music. They were calling it Love Island transition music. I had been just under 30 minutes and folks were already calling it Drake's worst album of all time. Drake summed up the collective public reaction perfectly over a year later on the song "Middle of the Ocean" where he rapped "n----s so ignorant in our hood, they be like, "Why the f--k you makin' techno?" I, along with countless other Drake fans were confused as to why our favourite artist was crooning over house beats and in fact, making techno. My cousin and I continued listening. It wasn't until we hit "Liability" and then "Jimmy Cooks" that we heard something that we instantly connected with. As for the rest of the album, off of first listens we were both far from impressed.
Fast forward a few months and somehow "HONESTLY, NEVERMIND" found itself as my second most played album of 2022.
I can't exactly place what makes "Texts Go Green" stand out against the rest of the songs on the album. It might be the warm piano chords, playful and rhythmic percussion, or Drake's artful retelling of yet another failed relationship. I didn't get it at first. But I absolutely do now. And I might go as far as saying that I wouldn't mind another experimental Drake album sometime in the future. The album now has me looking for other similar sounding projects and a genre that I had little to no appreciation for is slowly but surely sneaking its way back into my life.
Listen to "Texts Go Green" on Apple Music and Spotify.
Matcha Wit Harry
Larry June
Larry June is a true master of album cover art. He consistently captures the essence of his projects with images and graphics that perfectly embody his smooth and confident persona. His recently formula for an album cover is combining the following; Larry June, a classic or modern luxury car, an iconic Northern California landmark, and a healthy item, be it oranges or a smoothie.
I don't know Larry June personally, but based on the lifestyle he portrays on social media these key elements just about sum up how he spends the majority of his time when not in the studio or touring.
"Matcha Wit Harry" is a testament to the persona that Larry has cultivated as he carefully raps over a Harry Fraud beat featuring an electric guitar riff that gracefully pops in and out of the overall mellow instrumental. June's lyrics on the song provide a brief window into his lifestyle making mention of topics such as his affinity for a healthy lifestyle, local Bay Area cuisine, frequent interactions with women, financial freedom, and his pride as an independent artist. I find that usually when artists delve into conscious topics it sounds forced, preachy, or corny. But with Larry, it comes across as wisdom from an older relative just spreading some knowledge on how to better live your life. No other rapper I frequently listen to has mentioned purchasing shares of Amazon, saving a sizeable percentage of your income, and drinking organic smoothies but Larry does, and does it masterfully.
I saw Larry perform a set at Rolling Loud Bay Area in 2019 and as he was relatively early in his commercial career, was assigned to one of the side stages early in the afternoon. Clearly he didn't view this as a slight as he delivered one of the most energetic performances of the weekend. Dawning a bucket hat and orange North Face jacket, he hit a bunch of his signature adlibs yelling "YEE-HEE", "SOCK IT TO ME", "GROOVY", and "GOOD JOB LARRY" numerous times with the crowd responding with unrivalled excitement every time.
If there was only one artist I could listen to every time I drove along the coast in California; Larry June would most definitely be that artist.
Listen to "Matcha Wit Harry" on Apple Music and Spotify.
West Savannah (ft. SZA)
Isaiah Rashad
The year is 2014.
- Migos is enjoying a meteoric rise thanks to the success of their first official single "Versace" and its Drake feature a year prior
- Future is going crazy thanks to having released projects "Honest" and "Monster" which yielded singles "Honest", "Sh-t", "Move That Dope", "I Won", and "F-ck Up Some Commas"
- The trio of Young Thug, Birdman and Rich Homie Quan put out a nearly ninety minute long mixtape on the back of their now platinum single "Lifestyle" (a song that I can and will rap every word to if it ever comes on around me)
- Travi$ Scott, although from Houston released what I would argue as an era-defining mixtape in Days Before Rodeo including production and features from a plethora of Atlanta artists
Needless to say, the dominance of the Atlanta music scene was on full display in my eyes. Absolutely nothing compared to the variety and innovations in both production and rapping style in the trap/hip-hop space from the region at the time.
And yet, one of my now favourite songs from the time wasn't even from Atlanta. It was downtempo, melancholic yet somewhat optimistic, and featured the lyrics "at least we fell in love with something greater that debating suicide".
Isaiah Rashad's "West Savannah" is a duet between himself and fellow Top Dawg Entertainment signee, SZA. The track features primary vocals from Rashad with SZA's voice coming through muffled in what I would compare to the quality of an old-timey radio. At its core, West Savannah is a love song with the duo opening the track with the question "Now can we fall in love while Southernplayalistic banging through the night?" With Southerplayalistic being a reference to Outkast's 1994 album "Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik". The title of the track is also a reference to a song by Outkast which shares the same name, highlighting the key role the duo played in influencing Rashad's musical style.
The question posed by Isaiah on West Savannah's chorus is a thought I'm sure we can all relate to, the idea of something as simple and pure as falling in love with someone while your favourite album plays in the background. The song itself also maintains a unique level of simplicity in its song structure featuring the chorus repeated three times, and one occurrence each of a verse and bridge which are comprised of just nineteen words and eight words respectively.
West Savannah is beautifully written, concise, and serves as remarkable demonstration of who Isaiah Rashad was as a musician at the time. I highly recommend checking out the rest of the album Cilvia Demo if this track resonated with you at all as nearly any other song from the project could have been featured on this blog with similarly high praises.
Listen to "West Savannah" on Apple Music and Spotify.
Be sure to follow 3TrackSet on Instagram and Twitter to keep up with new sets, anthems and other music related content that might be coming up soon. And as always, head over to 3TrackSet.com if you want to share your own personal musical selections with the world.
Until next time!
Comments