i agree with that evaluation of "plugs i met II", that production with benny felt off to me, along with "burden of proof", which i didn't even listen to all of. i was also first exposed to harry fraud via max b and french montana, and that production was so suited for them, nothing will ever top it. i know benny has mainstream ambitions but he sounds better on dour and gloomy stuff. "tana talk 3" is perfection to m
there's so much good music between roc, boldy, and ka that you could start just about anywhere with them. roc kind of pioneered that minimal production with just the loop and no added percussion movement with the album "marcberg", so that'd be my recommended jump off point.
I haven’t been very excited about any rap music since I was in high school and started listening to Mac Dre (sometime around ‘06-‘07). I never completely stopped listening to rap but I always had the subconscious assumption that nothing new coming out was going to convince me to be a “fan”.
Benny the Butcher pretty much changed that. I think the first song that opened my eyes to his energy was “Quarantine” a little single he did in 2020. Anyways, I started going back and listening to stuff. It turned me on to 38 Spesh, Conway, Westside Gunn, etc.
It’s been exciting for me to dive back in to the rap realm. I was listening to Mark Kozelek and The Radio Dept. a little too much.
That being said, Plugs I Met 2 was definitely a bit underwhelming, the best few songs were probably the more melancholic ones. The Fat Joe feature was terrible, I didn’t really like French Montana’s either, but I can’t really judge anyone by their features. I listened to the whole album a couple times but it definitely doesn’t feel right. Same with Burden of Proof. For what they are they are okay, both had a lot of hype surrounding them, and in my opinion if they didn’t, I might have been more excited when I heard the actual finished product.
My verdict? I’m gonna keep listening and keep being excited. I hope the next project is a little more close to Tana Talk 3 or A Friend of Ours.
This song is fantastic
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B5iVw8_GfaI