Another Curren$y post

So, this new Curren$y & DJ Hektikt Community Service 3.5 mixtape then; a thoroughly New Orleans release which commences and concludes with songs by C-Murder, which has a new Mannie Fresh joint at its centre, and which then features a grip of random Curren$y tracks including everything from old No Limit-era recordings right up to the original Monsta Beatz demo version of Famous before its Sade sample was replayed by Ski's studio band, albeit now titled Now I Am. Here's its two previously unheard (by me, anyway) highlights :

Curren$y - HotSpitta (200?)



Geez, and here was me thinking that Get Back by the 504 Boyz was the cheapest 'n' nastiest Neptunes reduplication Curren$y was involved in for No Limit Records. I've been tryna find one $pitta solo cut from his tenure with Percy Miller ever since I succumbed to his particular charms and, for once, the sound I had in my head of this mythical early material where dude was thuggin' out with his ornate flow over regionally ambiguous minimal synth beats which anyone from Mystikal to Fabolous to T.I to Philly's Most Wanted would've sounded comfortable rhyming over in 2001/2002 has been fully realized.

Mannie Fresh ft. The Show - We Gone Talk (2011)



Umm, so why didn't Curren$y get this beat since this is, y'know, his mixtape and a $pitta & Mannie Fresh track is long overdue since they were the briefest of label mates back in 2005? Bar the odd great single like And Then What and Front Back (which I've always contended was a much better single than What You Know) Mannie's production skills seemed to deteriorate after he was cast loose from Ca$h Money's safety net with his oodles of so-so album cuts throughout 2006, 2007, and 2008. Gingerbread Man, thankfully, was a return to form and We Gone Talk here is a banger if you fancy a contemporary variation on his vintage sound at its most Mantronix-esque. This The Show kid is alright here, but there's something a wee too Jay-Z-ish about his flow at times for my liking and I'd have prefered this as a Mannie solo cut instead since his much underrated Mind Of Mannie Fresh platter in 2004 saw him finally manage to synthesize the surreal flossin' of his Big Tymers persona with the humourous everyman relatability of DJ Quik and Diamond D into a persona which could carry an solo album.

BONUS POSSIBLY CURREN$Y APPROVED LINKS :

Oh shit, it's Skateboarder Magazine's Video Days 20 years reunion shoot with Gonz, the gawd Guy Mariano, Jason Lee, Rudy Johnson, and Jordan Richter : part 1, part 2, and part 3.

Six degrees of seperation between Video Days and Curren$y, anyone? Easy : Guy Mariano was part of Blind's Video Days team in 1991, Watermelon Man by Herbie Hancock was used as the backing track for Guy Mariano's section on Girl's Mouse video in 1995 and as the main sample in Pocket Full Of Furl by U.N.L.V & B.G on the Uptown 4 Life album released on Ca$h Money Records in 1997, Curren$y then signed to Ca$h Money in 2005 after an unsuccessful stint at No Limit.