Pilot Talk (Deluxe Edition) - Curren$y

(All songs produced by Ski unless noted)

1. Example | 2:00 | 3.75 - 4
2. Audio Dope II | 4:10 | 4.25 - 4.5
“Spitta get this whole shit jumping like, kangaroo pouch, louis vutton, the small thangs make me different from these fools.” It just grows into more calypso-boom bap bliss.
3. King Kong | 3:01 | 4.75 - 5
Incredible when it’s dark and rainy, great any other time.
4. Seat Change (Featuring Snoop Dogg) | 3:51 | 3.5 - 3.75
The live instrumentation helps this song out a lot.
5. Breakfast (In & Out) | 2:50 | 4.75 - 5 (Produced by Mos Def & Ski)
I’ve memorized the whole song already, including the ad-libs.
6. Roasted (Featuring Trademark Da Skydiver & Young Roddy) | 4:25 | 4.25 - 4.5 (Produced by Monstabeatz)
“Olympic swimming in bitches Michael Leon, Phelps.” Everyone is consistent here.
7. Skybourne (Featuring Big K.R.I.T & Smoke DZA) | 4:16 | 4.25 - 4.5
8. The Hangover (Featuring Mikey Rocks) | 3:23 | 3.25 - 3.5
The chorus is intoxicating, especially when you’re walking early in the morning listening to this.
9. The Day (Featuring Mos Def & Jay Electronica) | 4.5 - 4.75
10. Prioritize (Beeper Bill) (featuring Nesby Phips) | 3:14 | 5 (Produced by Nesby Phips)
“That’s a mean pair of kicks, kudos love.” Not sure why this is my favorite line.
11 .Chilled Coughee (Featuring Devin Da Dude) | 2:08 | 3.5 - 3.75
This song over time has grown to be more humorous than originally thought.
12. Address (Featuring Stalley) | 3:07 | 5
13. Life Under The Scope | 3:04 | 5 (Additional production from Michael Sterling Eaton)
Deluxe Edition
14. Clothes Off (Featuring Klassik) | 3:41 | 3 - 3.25
I adore the moment where Curren$y’s opener goes back to his track “Sole Man” off his first official mixtape, but everything else is really dull.
15. Scaling The Building (Featuring Wiz Khalifa) | 3:58 | 4.25 - 4.5

Rating: 63 - 66 | 84 - 88% | 4.3 / 5 | Expectational; Repeated Listens demanded, BUY IT.

Sometimes, it’s not about what the artist really has to convey to us, it’s how he conveys the ideas and philosophies that he already knows to the best of his knowledge.

So it makes sense that Curren$y, armed with his Creative Control influences of the recently affiliated reinvigorated Ski Beatz, and his old buddies Monstabeatz and Nesby Phips, that Curren$y would proceed to talk about the same topics he’s been doing for the past five years or so, weed, women and the excessively fly society that he inhabits.

Already with the opener, Example, you notice the live instrumentation guitars strumming and the twinkling pianoes provided by the ever consistent Ski. There’s a lot of words that can be provided on the overwhelming beauty of the production that’s presented here. From the live “cabana” feel of Breakfast, or the brooding “king kong” synths on King Kong, the howling vocal samples repeated throughout Address, or the rumbling bass that hides under the pianoes on Life Under The Scope, Ski is an incredible producer, showing his versitality with the slow serenading piano jam feel of The Hangover, cartoon like piano plunks with the screwed up guitar, the calypso boom-bap feel of Audio Dope II, live instrumentation on Seat Change, switching up of productions on The Day, or the soothing piano airplane feel of Skybourne.

That’s not to say the remaning two producers slack off either, with common collaborater Monstabeatz providing a steamy, hazy piano line that drifts onwards, or the highlight, Nesby Phips, providing a brooding, moody synths jam that teases us with what can he provide next. Perhaps Nesby and Curren$y should do a project together...

Of course, this is a Curren$y album, not an attack of the producers persay. Of course, I’ve been following this guy for a couple of days now, listening to his mixtapes from the hype that surrounded him, starting from his eight mixtape bombardment til’ now. Sure, he’s been spitting the same things for so many years now, but on this mainstream release, they feel even more focused, have the same wit, hilarity and tightness to the beat that Curren$y’s perfected over the years. There are just innumerable verses and lines I could just list here all day, from the straight freestyled drawl of Audio Dope II, the pep shown in Breakfast, the hunger expierenced on King Kong, arrogance on Prioritize, and the reflective serenity of Address and Life Under The Scope. Curren$y rarely fails to impress, and it’s just shown even more gracefully here.

Of course, the guests don’t fail to dissapoint, though none of them surpass Curren$y on any given track. But that’s not to say none of the rappers are terrible, freshmen such as Trademark & Young Roddy don’t necessarily deliver their best verses, but delightful, weed-happy verses that would fit anywhere, or even affiliates Smoke DZA & Big K.R.I.T allowing their energy to fit in with the Curren$y mold. Of course, established acts, such as Jay Electronica do provide stellar guest spots, just not enough to surpass Curren$y, or Mikey Rocks with his sleepwalking verse. Even veteran Devin Da Dude, even though he preforms a stellar verse with his usual humor and raunchy mindset, and certainly the best in years, can’t even pass Curren$y on this track. Of course, these aren’t degragatory comments, but really all the guest verse compliment Curren$y quite nicely, and that’s the way it should be.

Curren$y is remarkable in his own specific catering, and also in the rap genre as well. (Though an insult) Compared to people such as Gucci Mane, Wiz Khalifa, or the majority of rappers, they all seem to be content with talking about the same subjects, where most trappers talk about the trap, their “jury,” and anything related to that, Curren$y is the weed equivalant, talking about weed, the fly and of course, women. Curren$y, unlike most rappers in his lane, chooses to layer slick wordplay, metaphors, and his own commentary mixed in, to make this kind of product, the intoxicating product that is Pilot Talk.

I’ve played this straight through everyday ever since the album came out, and this album does not fail to impress, growing on me more and more as the days went by. Sure, I initially thought the hype was too much for Curreny to truly deliver, but apparently to him, none of that really matters. Let him do this thing, and we’ll appreciate it, regardless of what he does. Simply, quite an fantastic album.