kenny beats – The Concordian

Denzel Curry’s newest collaboration with Kenny Beats is a necessary heat check for the Florida rapper

Denzel Curry wants to scare the hell out of you in as little time as possible. His 2019 banger-fest of an album, ZUU, was a brisk battlefield of tracks that would have parents question your sanity if played at full volume. UNLOCKED, the newest collaborative effort from Curry and the ever-popular Kenny Beats is even shorter, even wilder, and just as exciting as ZUU.

Running under 20 minutes, UNLOCKED leaves little room for failure. In fact, there’s not that much rapping either. A lot of the project sees Beats having a field day behind the boards, creating the most imaginative retro-futuristic instrumentals that bring the best out of Curry’s aggressive, bulletproof rapping style.

“DIET_” and “Lay_Up.m4a” are the two tracks that stand out the most but really there are so few, if any, missteps in this project that any two songs could be standouts—though maybe not the intro since there’s not much going on.

If rap is a basketball game, then UNLOCKED is Curry’s heat check. His last two projects have been incredibly well-received and this new effort should do nothing but add more weight to the argument that Curry is a top tier rapper today.

Rating: 8/10

Trial Track: “Lay_Up.m4a”

03 Greedo and Kenny Beats come together for a sticky collaborative album

Despite being in prison on gun and drug charges, 03 Greedo has found a way to release new music. Recorded with the ever-popular Kenny Beats before his indictment, Netflix & Deal shows exactly why Greedo was so highly touted in the West.

The Los Angeles rapper’s voice sounds nothing like his peers. It doesn’t scream radio airplay or crossover friendly, but the confidence mixed with the auto-tune makes Greedo stand out on Kenny’s production.

“Paid In Full” is just one example of the fiery chemistry the rapper and producer have on the album; Greedo sounds at home. This is especially true on “Brad Pitt” where the entire song references the actor and his various roles. It certainly makes for some of the most creative lyrical content this year.

Freddie Gibbs, Vince Staples, Maxo Kream, KEY!, OhGeesy (of Shoreline Mafia), and Buddy all make appearances in the album, and while some are more memorable than others, they don’t particularly distract from the obvious highlight that is Greedo himself.

Netflix & Deal’s brevity also plays a huge factor in how accessible and replayable it is. Towards the end, the album starts to sound redundant as it begins to sound redundant, but the relatively short runtime makes the entire thing palatable.

The chemistry Greedo displays with Kenny and the myriad of features on the album only proves how much of a travesty his imprisonment is. Free Greedo.

8/10

Trial Track: “Blue People”

Star Bar:

“The curious case of Benjamin Button

My money get newer each time I get older

I got a chip on my shoulder

Ocean’s Eleven, MAC-11 make you play with your life

By the scene, let you die”

-Greedo on “Brad Pitt”