Backwards Hustling

Icecoldbishop “Bad Influences From My Uncle”

“Bad Influences From My Uncle” is the lyrical and musical centerpiece of Icecoldbishop’s Generational Curse, a record focused on being born into a family and culture that offers few good alternatives to falling into the same traps or making the same mistakes as the people who came before you. There’s a lot of Kendrick Lamar influence through it but it’s particularly noticeable on this song, which owes a lot to the cadences and dual structure of “m.A.A.d city.” That said, Icecoldbishop takes this to a very different place and there’s a lot less intellectual remove as the song gets increasingly specific in its details and a powerful sense of both grief and grievance.

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Larry June & The Alchemist featuring Big Sean “Palisades, CA”

Larry June and Big Sean’s verses in “Palisades, CA” are basically grindset fantasies of gated community oppulance, but set to a track by The Alchemist built on a creeping, kinda queasy bass line that either grounds the lyrics in a more gritty reality or makes the Pacific Palisades seem generally malevolent. That ambiguity elevates the song – it’s not necessarily negating their vision of success, and in any case it makes a case that living that comfortably in a beautiful place comes with a lot of dark elements whether it’s in getting there or in staying there.

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