The Rap-Up: Fair-Trade Wemixes

We break down new tracks from Larry June, Homeboy Sandman, Stunna 4 Vegas, and more.

Larry June & DJ.Fresh, “Organic Motion”

Writers need to use words—a lot of different ones, all the time. Favorites are bound to emerge. Tennessee Williams threw “summer” on four separate titles. Hunter S. Thompson thought “fear and loathing” were the sickest words ever. Octavia Butler loved a good “parable.” I’ve never read Moby-Dick, but it sounds like “whale” is all over that shit.

Enter Larry June, $30 charcoal smoothie in hand. By my count, this latest drop marks his 20th (!) song with “organic” in its name. That completes the punch card. As our air thins and our soil molds, San Francisco’s statesman is out doing USDA work on stuff we never even thought to certify. “Fatherhood,” “Racks,” “Secrets,” “Smiles,” all pesticide-free and without genetic modification. “Motion” could be his best one yet, because it’s his first to get DJ.Fresh’s perforated sunshine on the boards. Bass slaps batter the bridge into a pretzel twist (an organic one), but Fresh lays light keys and scratches to straighten it out. Larry cruises through in the jet black AMC McLaren, a technicolor coupe fleet lined up behind him. All is finally by his side—after 16 years of self-owned grind, he’s stunting on the World Cup pitch and getting (organic) love at Fête de la Musique. Who Coppin is out July 17 on The Freeminded Records and Empire.

Homeboy Sandman & Jack Splash, “TWENTYFOURSEVEN”

Some zig when others zag. Jack Splash hits us with a zoweeee. We can try to make sense of this man’s career at our own peril. He broke through as hip-shaking frontman of the funk revivalist Plantlife. He went on to become a trusted producer for hard-ticket R&B singers like Jennifer Hudson and Jazmine Sullivan. Splash joined forces with Bobby Caldwell as Cool Uncle. Splash and Ras Kass formed Semi Hendrix. He helped sharpen the French Quarter gospel of Tank and the Bangas, then the Caribbean drift of Cimafunk. I’d call him “the friend that throws Cynthia Erivo and Homeboy Sandman on the AUX,” but none of us actually have that friend.

Across three verses, Sandman wrings the absolute most out of Splash’s circular jazz suite—which splices a vocal pastiche from James Brown, Rudy Ray Moore, Black Thought, Steve Miller Band and The Jive Five. Queens’ dark horse draws a clock to writhe within it. He charbroils his charms, waters his pinecones, whatever feels right. What do we do with our hands when temporality screeches to a halt? He also cautions us against seed oils and Miller Lite, which Larry June would certainly approve of. Resonance Frequency, the full Sandman-Splash pick-and-roll, drops July 31 through Soulspazm.

Une, “Honey Bees”

“Someone as young and pretty as this has to live a long life. She owes it to the world.” This is the decree of Princess Calamari, a Pittsburgh-based musician and tufter. Her rugs are awesome, but we’re here for these gossamer raps as the self-assured Une. “Honey Bees” floats like antimatter and stings like nothingness. The Fiji Wolfe beat is solid gold stuck in beachrock. The bars aren’t any kind of remarkable, because they’re just formalities—structures we can understand, satellites for a distant and inexplicable sadness. Her denim is from Japan, but her yarn comes straight out of the 412.

ICY3, “Smooth Chocolate”

Audience, we know what that rubber synth bounce means. It’s time to torment the unsent memory of Charles Cornwallis! If that loser could see a proud Londoner trying to get like East Michigan. ICY3 puts his own flavor on this, but all the boxes get checked. Wok pours onto pavement, because the NHS rocks. Flows bend into AAABB scheme, which is of course a Rio special move. The frozen drum pounds and boss-fight piano rolls are laced by Detroit’s Trapboy3K. ICY3 finds a pocket by rhyming “puffin’ painkillers” with “put ya faith in me.” The Arsenal scarf becomes a head wrap to tie everything up. I can’t wait for YN Jay to learn about Bukayo Saka.

870Glizzy, “BAMN”

The “A” is thrown up for… wait, it’s Arkansas? With all the Bill Simmons I can muster: Do we think Arkansas is having a moment, House? Mudbaby Ru and YTB Fatt are helping raise the Razorback State up, and 870Glizzy grabs the baton to sprint hurdles across “BAMN” (By Any Means Necessary). His delivery is aggressive but unforced, relentless without strain. Three decades ago, Big Boi learned that it’s about where we pay rent. Today, Glizzy counters that it’s wherever our heads can fit their crowns. That’s how laundromat and parking lot become arenas. The Ruby Dredd beat drives a turbo engine through a dust bowl. The BAMN mixtape is out now.

Stunna 4 Vegas & Monaleo, “Yunnnn Wemix”

Stunna 4 Vegas might be the least likely wife guy of all time. He looks like The Fresh Prince if The Fresh Prince never left West Philadelphia. I saw him as an opener for DaBaby in 2019, and he refused to play his single “Double Ds” until someone threw a bra onstage. This poor woman acquiesced after what felt like three lifetimes, just for Stunna to shoegaze sulk because the bra wasn’t big enough. Smash-cut to… consummate wife guy, the beaming husband to Monaleo.

Stunna hails from Salisbury, N.C., which is northeast of Charlotte. Mona reps Houston. Their twangs tangle together in true Dirty South symphony. Meeting the moment, producer Merion Krazy summons some Mannie Fresh energies. His 808s skitter around the floor while stepper horns scrape the ceiling. With brass at their backs, the couple turns hotel and tour bus flexes into a his-and-hers spy mission. He’s far more presence than pen, but still pulls a gem out of “melon open” and “melatonin.” She pops out for recreation and throws a stray at Natalie Nunn, who definitely deserves it. It’s a relief to see Monaleo enjoying herself right now. She underwent emergency surgery for an ovarian cyst a few months ago. Here’s to working it out on the “Wemix.”