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“I’m a trill mothafucka after all,” Curren$y spits as if it had been largely forgotten on “BBS,” the opening track of his free 420 Alchemist collaboration Covert Coup. After the success of his Pilot Talk LPs as a mush-mouthed pothead enjoying the “jet life,” Spitta returns with more of an edge, on the national stoner holiday no less. Not one to raise his voice or wallow in negativity, he and his producing partner quietly chip away at toppling this latest characterization by doing what Curren$y does best — taking the recognizable and shifting it ever so slightly through his slanted creativity.
The opening guitar loop of “BBS” and its reined-in drum pattern, one that seems to want to bust out in hard, uptempo slaps, are immediately indicative of the hazy feel of Ski Beatz’s Pilot Talk production, the kind of backdrops Curren$y regularly favors. However, Alchemist crafts fuller productions, adding a hovering sung sample and other slight effects. Covert Coup very much sounds like what the New Orleans MC prefers to rhyme over, but Al puts his mark on the sound by helping see it fully realized on its best cuts and only faltering when he sticks too much to the formula, specifically on the flat “Life Instructions.”
The Jet Lifer himself does his usual on the first track, colorfully twisting imagery in his own round-about way (“I be cookin’ these bird-ass hoes / Runnin’ circles around them they rotisserie chickens”). The next track, “The Type” featuring Prodigy, is essentially a HNIC 2 cut featuring Curren$y. Though trying to remind listeners of his penchant to do dirt, Spitta won’t commit to getting too filthy. His take on the instantly-recognizable Big Boi line leaves it as is: “We bust raps like d-boys bust gats.” P changes the “like d-boys” to “we.”
It’s a surprising act of complacency for someone with a penchant to take classic rhymes and add his own flavor, such as with the opening line to Covert Coup closer “Full Metal”: “I call my brother son because he shine like — noontime.” When it comes to the moments of the album discussing sending someone to the clouds but not through illicit elevation or jet life living, Curren$y is content to let others handle the aggressiveness.
He’ll talk about his 9 or his “Scarface” life on “Ventilation,” drawing attention to the renewed emphasize on his less-than nice guy side, but best adds this character dimension through association, none better than on the Freddie Gibbs feature “Scottie Pippens.” As is his want, the song is named after one line in the hook-less track about the Chicago great’s shoes and has no other explicit association with any kind of Jordan-Pippen relationship, but it still begs for the analogy. Coolly tossing off vivid threats (“still kick you in the head like I think you on the verge of gettin’ up”), the Fly Spitta shows his edge but remains calm and spends most of his rhymes reveling in his success. Gangsta Gibbs, however, stays true to his name by annihilating a lengthy verse with nothing but thug talk, “gangbang music” from someone who “majored in home invasion.” Talent-wise, who is Jordan and who is Pippen is unclear — both are greats — but Curren$y is more comfortable acquiescing the spotlight when darker tasks are at hand.
It’s a fact he even admits on the song: “All eyes in his direction, a burden and a blessing.” The fame and attention garnered by his most recent work has taken his career to new heights but has also given the previously unacquainted only part of the picture. Curren$y is a perpetually-high playboy who describes his life in ways unlike anyone else in hiphop, yes; but he also grew up hard in New Orleans. Covert Coup refuses both to let the listener forget that and to let his efforts at emphasis overwhelm who he truly is as some combination of the two.
