REVIEWSCurren$y, ‘Pilot Talk’

7

• SPIN Rating:7 of 10

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    Spotify

Label: DD172/Island Def Jam

A former Lil Wayne protégé, Curren$y also unravels languid, free-associative verses that meander rather than march. On this major-label debut, the New Orleans rapper's wit is often so understated it escapes notice ("Come through with that killer weed / Alfred Hitchcock in a Ziploc"), but topics like smoking kush, touring, and meeting girls are meant to be breezy anyway. Live instrumentation from Ski Beatz, who produced much of Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt, feels familiar but deftly updated: Blaxploitation horns meet spacey synths and jazzy keys, keeping Pilot Talk cool rather than tepid.

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