Trying to find his voice, Curren$y has been passed around the rap world like a Franzia bag amongst bros. The NOLA native did time with No Limit and sounded awkward, despite his technical prowess, as Lil Wayne’s gangsta sidekick on myriad Cash Money joints. Stepping out into his own with mixtapes like Smokee Robinson and the new LP Pilot Talk, the fly-spitter isn’t looking up to anyone for style-tips anymore. Curren$y is ultra-laid back, leaning like a broke hip, stoner rap over jazz and chillwave influenced beats. Pilot Talk is so relaxed you can miss its excellence.

The key to Pilot Talk’s stylistic success, oddly, has little to do with Curren$y. 11 of the 13 joints were produced by jazz-hop O.G. Ski Beats (Dead Presidents II, Politics as Usual, 22 2’s, Feelin’ It, Camp Lo’s Uptown Saturday Night). He implicates the use of jazzy horns, funky synths, flashy pianos loops and crisp, minimal snares to create the atmosphere of a smokey jazz lounge throughout the LP. Ski really outdid himself with this one; he keeps up with the times through chillwave ‘bleepy-bloop’ noise on “King Kong” and then tips his hat to legends of the past with horns on “The Day” (posted below), which allude heavily to Miles Davis’ on Sketches of Spain’s “Concierto de Aranjuez”.

Lycially, Curren$y covers such pressing issues as smoking weed, picking up honeydips, playing video games [be it Nintendo DS or Xbox 360] and just chilling out hard.  His lifestyle is pretty enviable in a ‘losing my scholarship as a freshman by logging 6+ hours a day on Fifa/Super Smash Bros’ sort of way. He goes out of his way defining his stoner brand [zig-zags and a Jones Soda!?]: updated NBA Live rosters, hand-squeezed lemonade [not that Minutemaid shit], well trained dogs, and not kicking it on the low with a bitch that don’t get high.

 Pilot Talk isn’t devoid of rewind-able punchlines [“lower case g’s, little me’s/them niggas pickin’ sticks&seeds out they weed/my bud covered in fuzz/but not surrounded by the police”] it’s just that Curren$y is one of those blessed rappers that do more with relaxed delivery, tone of voice and flow than lyrical content. That’s why it’s the delivery of rudimentary bars such as “They not like me, it’s why they don’t like me” that stand out on the album. Features hit more than miss [how many songs can Snoop ruin with a long-winded verse?] with Jay Electronica’s contribution being the album’s best verse. Devin, Mos and DBT favourite Big K.R.I.T. all enhance Pilot Talk’s aesthetics. Just don’t expect Goodie Mobb style social commentary [except for the hook on “Prioritize”, borrowed from Luscious off “Aquemini”] anywhere on here.

 But in the same way Gucci can rap endlessly about drugs, money, jewels, it’s to Curren$y’s benefit that he doesn’t expand beyond what he knows. Pilot Talk is fantastic getting blunted music: for riding around or being glued to a couch. I wonder if Curren$y bumps it while he plays NBA Live? -mw