Album of the Year #17 - Curren$y & Harry Fraud - The Marina - HipHop

Album of the Year #17 - Curren$y & Harry Fraud - The Marina
Last.fm Thread: What Have You Been Listening To This Week? - December 19, 2018
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Album of the Year #17 - Curren$y & Harry Fraud - The Marina

Posted: 19 Dec 2018 12:56 PM PST

Artists: Curren$y & Harry Fraud

Album: The Marina

Released: May 30, 2018

Listen:

Spotify

Datpiff

Apple Music

Background

Long-term collaborators Harry Fraud and Curren$y return for their first full length project since The Stage back in 2013, something long awaited by their fans. Curren$y is a New Orleans rapper who is probably most known for his incredible mixtape discography and consistent output of music. He started out signing to Master P's No Limit Record back in 2002 but it took several labels, hereunder Young Money, a ton of mixtapes and seven years until he released his first album This Ain't No Mixtape in 2009 which earned him a spot on the years XXL freshman list. It only took one year for him to release his second, third and fourth album, among these the two first Pilot Talks. Many fans see the first one as his to this date best body of work. Since then he has followed a formula of dropping a few mixtapes a year with a couple of albums sprinkled in between as well as starting up his label Jet Life Recordings in 2011.

Harry Fraud is a producer from New York, known for his heavy drums and brilliant use of samples as well as his signature producer tag "La musica de Harry Fraud". He was discovered by French Montana back in 2009 and the two have worked together closely since then. It was through Montana and their songs New York Minute and Shot Caller that Fraud truly got attention which resulted in the release of his own album Adrift featuring the likes of Mac Miller, Pusha T and Wiz Khalifa along with his first collaboration project with Curren$y, Cigarettes Boats.

After dropping a grand total of 12(!) mixtapes and EP's during 2016, Curren$y took a well deserved year off in 2017 but now looks to be back better than ever, having released five mixtapes/albums throughout the year already, among them Fetti with Freddie Gibbs and Alchemist.

Based on Fraud's joy for sampling it might come as a shock to find this album across the streaming platforms but leading up to the release their previous work, Cigarette Boats and The Stage, both also popped up. This should already tell you that this album is not steering away from what make their sound so great, but instead is them pursuing that even more. Immediately we are hit with a very specific vibe, the sound of waves crashing against the coast and a group of seagulls in the background. Just after this the beats kicks in, lead by some beautiful keyboard notes, along with Curren$y slowly mumbling the hook, it just takes you to waking up early in the morning at a tropical island before we even get to hear the first bar. This mood is continued through the hook and single verse found on the song. Curren$y is as usual effortlessly laidback in his delivery and lyrics but on this song, and generally across the album, he takes more of a "the boss" approach to the verses:

Remember if you go where I send ya, make me a million

I keep you stuntin' on them lesser bitches

Most hoes get played, boss ladies get paid

I see something in ya, you on my radar, you a contender

Just as the song started it also wraps up, with a bit of Curren$y vocals in the background of the dominating keyboard. The relaxed mood is quickly switched up with 14 Packs, which features Smoke DZA, someone who has worked very closely with both Fraud and Curren$y throughout the years. I feel like that is one of the absolute best things about this album, it stays through to the root of both artists with the sound and only featuring names any fan of the two would quickly recognize, which then gives them more opportunity to explore new sounds and styles. To bring it back to the bossy lyrics, on the song we get the first of several police radio skits found throughout the album. I wouldn't say the album necessarily carries a story throughout it but these skits combined with the lyrics do suggest that there is something more than just being cohesive, a theme to say.

On The Visitor we find Curren$y at his most Mafioso on the album, maybe the most from his entire career. With just one verse and an outro it's structure is very simple but to me that is where both artists shine. It allows Curren$y to focus on his delivery and lyrics and Fraud on the beat and his use of skits quickly going in and out. Safe to say, on The Visitor they mastered this concept, the lyrics paint a picture of a mafiaboss and the beat sound tailored to this idea, with an almost haunting keyboard note and Fraud's classic heavy drums.

Scarab 38 featuring Action Bronson brings along a switchup of sound, it's much brighter sounding compared to the previous songs. Bronson as always brings his bigger-than-life persona and on the track he and Curren$y celebrating the good and carefree moments in life. While I very much enjoyed the character he played on the previous tracks, there is definitely an argument to his approach to Scarab 38 and Sundown in Eleuthera being the ones most true to him. He has himself said he treats his lyrics as a diary and this is reflected on both of these songs.

This leads us to the final song, The Marina, and who else would you expect a feature heavy Curren$y tape to include. It goes without say that the chemistry these two have is nearly unmatched in hiphop. With these two and sampling Darando, it would take a lot to mess up. While the song is very risk-free, it fits the task of being the albums goodbye to perfection. While Wiz (shockingly) uses his verse to rap about weed, Curren$y takes the opportunity to use the very last verse on the album to reflect over his position in the game and life.

What makes The Marina so good is how it stays true to the core strengths of both lead artists while keeping a varied sound, through the beats, the lyrics and what the guests bring to it. Their styles compliment each other so incredibly well, both on the mafioso songs that introduce us to the album where the heavy use of drums, snares and electric keyboard helps build up a dark sound surrounding Curren$y, but also on the brighter songs found on the later half. I truly feel like this was worth the five year wait, they both came through with the A-game and my biggest fear of Fraud being limited in his sampling due to this being on streaming luckily wasn't more than just that.

The streets chatter of us comin' up

It's like they glad to see the gladiators paper'd up

It was a prophecy fulfilled, now raise your glasses up

Scarab 38

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I'm filling the vault, casualties of war what's a loss when you a boss

We gotta break a couple legs

If everybody at the table deserves to be fed

Tough guys organized crime I was led

Down a pathway of dollar signs and bloodshed

The Visitor

^{^{^{^{^{^{^{^{^{^{^.}}}}}}}}}}

Niggas that rushed too likely in a coffin now

And all the robbers turned corporate now

Martin had a dream but he didn't tell you the nightmare

You fear life 'cause you thought life was fair

Modena Moves

^{^{^{^{^{^{^{^{^{^{^.}}}}}}}}}}

Spitta just a real nigga who can rap

Only deliver facts about my life but it's tight 'cause my life is all that

Famous enough to get in there for free but not so famous that people keep bothering me

The Count

Talking points

How do you guys see this holding up compared to their previous work?
Which of the two "sides" would you consider your favorite and why?
How do Curren$y's producer collab projects fair overall against his regular projects in your opinion?
Does the fact that only two songs are without features hurt the album?

Thanks for reading through it if you made it so far. If you haven't heard it because you don't follow either artist or simply haven't payed much attention to Curren$y's huge output I really hope you check this out. I apologize for potential spelling errors, blame the Swedish education system and not my laziness.

submitted by /u/ImWaaal
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Last.fm Thread: What Have You Been Listening To This Week? - December 19, 2018

Posted: 19 Dec 2018 10:04 AM PST

Make sure to write some shit about what you listened to encourage discussion.

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