If there was one word you could use to describe the Jet Life leader from New Orleans, it would be consistent, from mixtape to mixtape, album to album Curren$y has been incredibly consistent, whether or not that’s a good thing varies from person to person but when you buy a Curren$y album you should know what to expect, weed rap, good beats, and Spittas smooth flow.
The album starts off strong with “What It Look Like”, featuring Wale who lays down a strong guest verse and hook, its almost hypnotic at points how the hook perfectly fits the beat and feel of the song. Curren$y verse is not to be slept on either, keeping true to his formula he spits about his tax bracket, cars and obviously some good Marijuana. The next two tracks “Privacy Glass” and “Armoire” the latter which features Jet Life members Young Roddy and Trademark, perfectly fit into the mix of the album, but here’s where my problem with this album comes in, Curren$y is almost too consistent, it gets to the point where his verses become interchangeable, the lack of variety in Curren$y’s material is very evident at various points in this album, in most cases this is better than a dramatic change in material but when every track can be broken down into the same basic parts, the music becomes no fun to listen to, frankly it becomes, bland.
The next track “Take You There”, produced by J.U.S.T.I.C.E League and featuring Marsha Amberosius, is absolutely perfect, the beat perfectly compliments Curren$y’s flow and goes along perfectly with Marsha’s beautiful voice, while Curren$y verse isn’t any different from the verses before, it still manages to sound great, regardless of variety. The next couple of tracks “Showroom”, “No Capitol” featuring 2chainz, and “No Squares” which features frequent collaborator Wiz Khalifa, shows off one of Curren$y’s strong points, his beat selection, when it comes to Hip Hop, beat selection is just about one of the most important parts of making an album these days, and Curren$y’s ear for production is one of the things that keeps this album interesting, he manages to continuously pick beats that bring out the best of his calm, marijuana induced flow.
Track number 9 is “Chasing Papers” produced by The Neptunes and features a vocorder hook by Pharrell Williams, another great example of Curren$y’s beat selection and his ability to pick features that bring out the best in his tracks. Just like the last track, the next song “That’s The Thing” produced by J.U.S.T.I.C.E League which features Estelle, Curren$y’s ear for features and beat selection really shines through, Estelle’s hypnotic voice over this perfect beat perfectly compliments Curren$y’s flow, and brings everything together to make this track really stand out among the other songs. The next couple of tracks “Chandelier” and “Fast Cars Faster Women” bring more of that calm, smoothness we’ve come to expect from Curren$y along with a tight guest verse from Daz that breaks up the monotony of the album. The last track “Jet Life” featuring Big K.R.I.T and Wiz Khalifa, brings an incredibly strong finish to the album, the hook is insanely catchy, and it’d be very hard to listen to this a couple of times and not find yourself singing “don’t miss this Jet ho”. Overall while the production and features on this album are strong, it lacks a bit in the part of variety, although even with the lack of variety in this album, it still comes off as a very strong release, in the end, I’d say this album was about a 7/10, not terrible but definitely not anything special.
Rating: 7/10
