This is the type of music where if you didn't have a joint rolled and lit, with a pair of headphones on full blast, well you just ain't doing it right. "It" is Curren$y and his music...no, his movement....that the young New Orleans native has cultivated for over half a decade now. That movement is "Jet Life", named as such after the new-school slang term for joints,"paper planes", that Curren$y and fellow rap brethren Wiz Khalifa helped popularize at the end of the aughts in 2009. Back then, Wiz Khalifa and Curren$y both seemed destined for Top 40 Billboard Charts greatness - but were still broke. On 'Canal Street Chronicles', Curren$y shares a short story from those days; a lazy afternoon when they had "only $300 for an ounce of Sour Diesel...so we went in the couch...came up with like...$12...went and got us some orange chicken, chicken fried rice, two cans of soda...." Spitta describes to the listeners, in an almost longing way. Like he kinda misses those innocent days when he and Wiz were still lesser-known rappers on the rise; just trying to scrounge up enough dough for some dank, drank, and grub. But, let's be real; Curren$y doesn't miss those days THAT much. A little after that infamous trip to "Dragon Palace...Golden Dragon...Golden Palace...some little Chinese spot by my broke ass apartment", both Curren$y and Wiz would explode onto the scene in ways that probably even they couldn't imagine.
Spitta and Wiz were unofficially dubbed "hip-hop's Cheech-and-Chong" combo; even tho each rapper had his own individual career path set-out for them. Wiz with his Taylor Gang imprint, Curren$y has Jet Life. But while Wiz's fanbase of "Taylors" continued to swell until they burst through to stratospheric Billboard 200 heights, Curren$y's jet planes stayed grounded. Actually, they went straight underground. Wiz broke-through with the #1 Billboard single 'Black & Yellow'; releasing the debut album 'Rolling Papers' a few months later to strong sales and success. But Wiz kinda changed-up his style a little bit to do so. Granted, Wiz Khalifa's style already leaned heavily towards the sounds of pop music, so when he included producers outside the usual Rostrum Records wheelhouse such as Scandinavian super producers' Stargate for 'Black & Yellow', it seemed natural. Curren$y, on the other hand, decided to create tracks with lesser-known producers of the "internet popular" ilk. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. If you listen to Curren$y's discography from his 'It Ain't A Mixtape' beginnings, to current major studio albums - you can actually hear his and thus, the Jet Life crew's signature sound develop and it's pretty awesome. The atmospheric, spacey bleeps and bloops, mixed-in with heavy bass chord rhythms and Curren$y's muscle cars and modern New Orleans player, purple hazed-out lyrics spit over a syrupy-slow-yet-saucy-flow. All created, mostly, on modern, internet/computer-heavy production software such as Fruity Loops andRecord Pro Tools.
It's an amazing thing, listening (and watching) to Curren$y as he perfects his flow and image over time. But it's only possible due to his (and rap brethren Wiz Khalifa's) monstrous work ethic. Curren$y developed it as a young up-and-comer in the New Orleans rap game, which was dominated at the time by two powerhouse labels - Cash Money Records and No Limit Records. Well, Curren$y would be signed to them both eventually. It was at Cash Money Records where Curren$y really honed his craft, and the process of creating it; by watching his label boss Lil Wayne cook. Wayne had signed Curren$y for the same reason Master P had in his earlier days, and that's because young Shante Scott Franklin had lots of untapped potential.
Some people just carry themselves different than others. This is true everywhere in the world, in all types of subgroups...and the rap game isn't any different. There's the rappers that are content signing to a label; making music with other people's money. They release maybe one or two mixtapes. They don't hit the ground running...and are easily weeded out. Well game recognize game, and Lil Wayne - a hard-working rapper with bigger dreams and vision than simply having a successful solo career - saw Curren$y wanted the same. Unfortunately, Young Money Records isn't where this musical revolution would be televised.
Curren$y was on his way to being big, it's just that his movement was more of a slow bubble than his BFF Wiz Khalifa's breakthrough. But there was a segment of the hip-hop listening public that wasn't being properly represented. Wiz Khalifa had scratched the surface, getting his start with the support of this subgroup before changing his product to be more pop-music friendly for the masses. But Curren$y didn't (or couldn't) produce a "Black & Yellow"; so he set his aim 100% on this subgroup of young adult, suburban skateboarding and weed-smoking (usually) males. And he went straight for their jugular.
Jet Life Records is "weed-friendly" music to it's core. It's very roots are in the now-cottage industry of "stoner rap music" made specifically for the ganja-friendly crowd. It helps that this music is usually mellow, good vibes rap-music that strays far away from the typical popular rap music tropes of gangster imagery and violence. Not here, not now, and not probably ever again. Gangster music (as discussed in my earlier post about 'white-boys who love Drake'...) is pretty-much dead. It will survive in it's own subgenre form, but it's days as Billboard Top 40 single material is pretty much over outside of select artists like Future. But Future is a definite modern version of popular gangster rapper following the example of Lil Wayne, who pretty much turned the traditional gangster rap image on it's head in his solo-career smashing run; and that is of a gun-toting rapper who also wears skinny jeans, high-fashion, and pops mollies and gets the feels. It's all about the vibe these days, y'all.
Now, Curren$y falls somewhere in-between that modern gangster rap image produced by his former label boss and that of, say, professional skate Stevie Williams. Curren$y likes his weed, women, fast cars, Jordans, and french bulldogs and *might* also have a gun on his lap while driving around in that Motown muscle car. Curren$y isn't thugged-out...he's slick. He provides a musical outlet for suburban white kids who like to collect sneakers and smoke lots and lots of weed. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Jet life, jet life.... /slow, syrupy Curren$y voice
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