Review Summary: “Let’s just make the tightest shit possible”
In a recent video, Denzel recounts to Kenny the motivations behind his releases. At first he was a hungry young musician, eager to prove himself and make the most creative stuff possible. Then this spiraled into him being sad and mad and depressed and he turned that into music. Homesickness was a central theme on subsequent albums. With ii though, his motivations are a lot simpler: “let’s just make the tightest *** possible.” This intent is audible in every second of this tight 24 minute album.
ii comes at you hard with the opener Gone Fishing. Kenny said he doesn’t know why this beat works and that’s audible. It’s a slanted, crooked type beat with a modern old school feel. This feel continues in the rest of the album. Live instruments and modern production are layered with retro samples and grooves. It’s clearly inspired by the greats of the genre. Crown especially stands out as a tribute. The album is bookended with high energy infectious tracks, but in between it dips in a welcome way, letting us breathe while still retaining enough momentum to keep the whole as tight as possible.
Curry is masterful again here. Delivering bars left and right, often switching up his flow, and leaving you wondering whether he ever breathes. Lyrically, Cold Night in Hell stands out especially. The themes are all old school too: bragging, f the haters, that sort of stuff. It’s the strength and main shortcoming of this album. It knows perfectly what it is and executes it well. At the same time what it is, is all right there on the surface.
