Denzel Curry and Kenny Beats Modernize Boom Bap Rap on "UNLOCKED"
By slowly ingratiating himself with his personality and quality beats, Kenny Beats has become one of Hip-Hop’s favorite producers. Known for working with a variety of artists from a variety of spots on the Hip-Hop sub-genre spectrum like Rico Nasty and 03 Greedo, it’s no surprise that Kenny Beats teams up with Denzel Curry for their first project of the new decade, “UNLOCKED.” Curry has started to carve a lane for himself with his Hip-Hop talents being best described as laneless. Looking back at Curry’s last three projects “Imperial,” “TA13OO” and “ZUU,” Curry has been able to remain consistent across all three despite the varying sounds each project puts forth. With the versatility of Kenny Beats and Denzel Curry, “UNLOCKED” looks primed to be at the forefront of the Hip-Hop genre’s ever-changing sound. “UNLOCKED” stretches eight tracks for a grand total of 18 minutes with no features, giving the project the potential to be a launching pad for both careers in 2020.
Categories
The songs on this album divided into two lanes that are prevalent throughout the project and scored on a 1.5 scale. (0 = trash, .5 = not for me, 1 = good, 1.5 = a standout)
Interludes
Mostly instrumental tracks with minimal vocals from Denzel Curry.
• “Track 01” (1)
• “Track07” (1)
Modern Boom Bap Rap
Denzel uses changes in his cadence and flow to keep the listener’s attention through his lyrical onslaught over the complex Boom Bap beats produced by Kenny Beats.
• “Take_it_Back_v2” (1)
• “Lay_Up.m4a” (1)
• “Pyro (leak 2019)” (1)
• “DIET_” (1)
• “So.Incredible.pkg” (1)
• “‘ Cosmic ‘ .m4a” (1)
The Standouts
The songs that would give the best overview of the album as a whole. Songs that stand out for reasons to be described in the pending descriptions of the songs.
“Take_it_Back_v2”
Track two on “UNLOCKED” starts off with a simple string instrument until what sounds like a rock ensemble comes in as the beat drops with an electric guitar and drum set. The beat continues to evolve every few lines in the first verse as the tempo of the bass changes mid-verse and the high hats kick up their tempo during the first hook. Through all this, Denzel Curry shows his lyrical genius with lines like “Ask Drake to pick you a season for you to come back” and “I don’t got candy but I’ll turn your head to Gushers.” The second verse starts with a timely sample before the beat switches to a more bass-driven beat with a tambourine and clap sound that comes in for tempo. Denzel’s cadence changes for the second verse to a deeper warped voice, before finally raising the pitch in Denzel’s voice for the first half of the final hook of the song before reverting to the deeper voice for the second half of the hook. The sample from what seems to be an old western show plays in full to close out the song.
Final Review
Denzel Curry’s brilliance shines through once again, this time navigating the complex futuristic boom-bap sound Kenny Beats puts forth across this eight-track project. This project was simply designed to keep the listener on their toes with a variety of cadence switches, beat switches and inserted samples, that were inserted into each song at random. “UNLOCKED” further makes the case that both Kenny Beats and Denzel Curry are two of the most versatile artists in this current Hip-Hop generation, with both able to execute whatever concept their minds can think of. “UNLOCKED” is a project that I can see myself listening to on a loop simply because the quality of every track is enough to satisfy the listener despite the project’s short length as a whole.
Scoring
Raw Score: The number of good songs on a project versus the overall amount. Songs must have a 1 or above to be counted.
Quality Score: The total amount of points accumulated over the total amount of songs.
Playback value: The resonance an album is perceived to have if played again in full. Scale out of 5.
Raw Score: 8/8
Quality Score: 8/8
Playback Value: 5/5
Go out and listen to Denzel Curry and Kenny Beats’ “UNLOCKED” wherever you listen to your music. Also, don’t forget to check out OldMilk’s Instagram page and Twitter (@Oldmilk_co) for more Hip-Hop Album Reviews, The DJ 500K Playlist, The OldMilk Radar and more! Don’t Know it? OldMilk Does!
