Curren$y is a mixed bag. It's clear that he has an impeccable ear for beats. It's also admirable that he doesn't seem to make any concessions for contemporary mainstream appeal. This is a man who left Cash Money - he makes the type of music he wants to make. None of his albums or mixtapes are badly produced from an instrumental point of view. The majority of them, with some exceptions, fall into the awkward area between good and bad.
What often holds Curren$y albums back is the man himself - his emcee ability. He is by no means a bad rapper, but his topic range is extremely thin. Unlike other rappers who have made a successful career about rapping about relatively the same thing over and over again (e.g. Pusha T, except here, Curren$y's vice is "fly shit" and "jet life", not cocaine rap), Curren$y does not have the skill in terms of wordplay and technical ability to make it consistently interesting. Listening to someone like Prodigy circa 95' rap about nothing but Queensbridge related violence was easy (although this is obviously simplifying his content) - because he was that good. Curren$y is fine, but he is not anywhere near that good. This, combined with his knack to put out an almost relentless amount of material from 2010 to 2015, made it remarkably easy to just stop keeping up with him. Albums like The Stoned Immaculate and Weekend At Burnie's, along with other EPs and mixtapes, were not horrible, but they lacked the overall quality of the Pilot Talk series and at times were extremely lazy lyrically.
The first two Pilot Talk albums work very well. Curren$y had the backing of veteran Ski Beatz of Uptown Saturday Night and Jay-Z fame. Although Ski Beatz didn't produce every beat, he did the majority and contributed heavily to the sonic direction of those albums. His sound seems to bring something out of Curren$y because those two Pilot Talk albums are probably his best. Of course, this means that the anticipation for Pilot Talk III was high and for better or for worse, there are no surprises here. The beats, 7 of which were done by Ski Beatz, are just as lush, chill and jazzy as the past Pilot Talk albums.
Unlike the past Pilot Talk albums, there isn't a song here that stands out from an emcee perspective. There is nothing like "Airborne Aquarium" or "Breakfast", but despite this, Curren$y puts in a solid performance, and sounds a bit more inspired than he did on things like Weekend At Burnie's. "Search Party", "Briefcase", "Long as the Lord Say" and "Audio Dope 5" all have absolutely beautiful beats that fit Curren$y's style perfectly. The melody through the verses of "Long as the Lord Say" is particularly gorgeous and there is a great trumpet part in the chorus. The nadir of Pilot Talk III is "Frozen", which has an atrocious Riff Raff verse and an unbearable, autotune-like hook. This is a solid album, but those who didn't like Curren$y before will not have their opinion changed by Pilot Talk III.
The first two Pilot Talk albums work very well. Curren$y had the backing of veteran Ski Beatz of Uptown Saturday Night and Jay-Z fame. Although Ski Beatz didn't produce every beat, he did the majority and contributed heavily to the sonic direction of those albums. His sound seems to bring something out of Curren$y because those two Pilot Talk albums are probably his best. Of course, this means that the anticipation for Pilot Talk III was high and for better or for worse, there are no surprises here. The beats, 7 of which were done by Ski Beatz, are just as lush, chill and jazzy as the past Pilot Talk albums.
Unlike the past Pilot Talk albums, there isn't a song here that stands out from an emcee perspective. There is nothing like "Airborne Aquarium" or "Breakfast", but despite this, Curren$y puts in a solid performance, and sounds a bit more inspired than he did on things like Weekend At Burnie's. "Search Party", "Briefcase", "Long as the Lord Say" and "Audio Dope 5" all have absolutely beautiful beats that fit Curren$y's style perfectly. The melody through the verses of "Long as the Lord Say" is particularly gorgeous and there is a great trumpet part in the chorus. The nadir of Pilot Talk III is "Frozen", which has an atrocious Riff Raff verse and an unbearable, autotune-like hook. This is a solid album, but those who didn't like Curren$y before will not have their opinion changed by Pilot Talk III.
