So crazy he follows up his 2014 debut My Krazy Life with Still Brazy, Compton rapper YG is a swaggering contradiction. He can spit gangsta lyrics like "I go broke rob fools for their jewelry/Stick yo hand up like you guilty" (from the cold highlight "Don't Come to L.A.") and then remain chill in the face of adversity because he's "Bool, Balm & Bollective," as now all Cs are turning into Bs. On top of that, he's a G-Funk as fubk on "Twist My Fingaz," where a crooked beat and "I'm about to pull a full Suge Knight/And push the issue on sight" both bring reminders of Death Row in their heyday, but "Why You Always Hatin'," featuring Drake and Kamaiyah, bounces with the hyphy sound of the Bay Area. Beatmaker Swish is an asset to the handful of tracks he helms, especially when he goes minimal for the anti-Donald Trump track "FDT," which allows the MC to unleash a string of caustic and compelling insults. All of these different angles and genre-jumping make a long album seem much smaller, and tacked on the end there lies YG's greatest statement to date, "Police Get Away wit Murder." Elevating the "don't hate the player, hate the game" cliche to another level, the track presents the rapper's everyday reality to the judge, with "It get real in the field, your honor" and "AK get dangerous, shotgun and the mac too/You would have told your kids to hide/At the front door squeezing on that trigger with pride." Heavy stuff, and a fitting end to a heavy album that doesn't pander to what's PC, what's on the radio, or what safe, suburban America believes. Alluring G-Funk and infectious songs of strife are what attracted suburban America to Suge, Snoop, and Dre, and while the Game grows older and Kendrick's music ventures further out, YG offers a West Coast way to keep their heads ringin', and maybe shake something loose in the process.
© David Jeffries /TiVo