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Curren$y’s laid-back rapping style at times gets lost in this production choice. However, “Drive By’s” horror movie beat centered on disorienting chiming bells sets a different tone, especially when paired with Future’s guest verse as he speak-sings the lines “I know some gangbangers, they relate/ When I pull up, it’s a murder.” This is a grittier affair with its edges smoothed by the bedroom-based R&B grooves. It’s a stylistic choice that will no doubt thrill some, but also alienate those who got on board with Curren$y via Pilot Talk.ĬSC begins with the familiar flick of a lighter and sounds of inhaling that announces the record as typical Currenc$y.
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His vision is brought to life with an impressive guest list that includes Future, Lloyd, and Ty Dolla $ign. Purps builds the album’s foundation with Auto-Tuned R&B grooves. The hazy atmospherics still reign supreme, but absent are the jazz- and soul-based hooks that made Curren$y’s music such a transcendent place to get lost. On Canal Street Confidential, the sun sets as Franklin roams in a darker, yet still green-tinted terrain, that tries too hard for its own good to find that mainstream audience Curren$y was owed with Pilot Talk.Ĭanal Street Confidential is produced almost entirely by Purps, whose aesthetic mirrors that of Ski Beats. This dealt Curren$y his just acclaim despite landing him only a modest following. Together they crafted a soundtrack that celebrated those lazy, green-tinted, sunny summer days. Their third collaboration was released less than a year ago. Curren$y is best known for his Pilot Talk trilogy that’s built on slice-of-life stories that are glued together by producer Ski Beats. He’s roamed for nearly a decade in periphery of hip-hop, never reaching a mass audience and perhaps victimized by hitching his ride to that of Lil’ Wayne’s fading star.
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At 34, Shante Scott Franklin, aka Curren$y, is somewhat of a late bloomer. The stoned couch dweller Curren$y puts down his game controller, gets off his couch, and heads out into a dark universe on Canal Street Confidential.
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