Although the town is house to legendary feminine MCs like Gangsta Boo and La Chat, Memphis rap has traditionally been one thing of a boy’s membership. Amongst the post-Megan Thee Stallion deluge of viral sizzling lady rappers, GloRilla stood out not simply due to her gruff movement and cut-throat bars, however as a result of she introduced an entire group along with her: nearly as quickly as Glo discovered an viewers exterior of Memphis, she used that new platform to place over a whole new wave of defiant feminine expertise from the 901 past simply herself.
Since producing GloRilla’s break-out anthem “F.N.F. (Let’s Go),” producer HitKidd has made supporting the ladies a precedence. Much more than a showcase for his personal beats, new album Renegade is a stage for Memphis’ hardest feminine expertise to speak smack and do enterprise; GloRilla is joined by a proverbial dangerous women’ membership that features common collaborators and fellow Memphis natives Gloss Up, Aleza, Slimeroni, and Ok Carbon. Renegade is like being a freshman listening in on a posse of senior women chopping class to smoke within the rest room: you’re too intimidated to hitch in your self, however dream of the day you can also be that effortlessly cool.
These 5 women don’t essentially want one another, with comparatively easy flows that would stand on their very own, however they’re stronger collectively; there’s a pure double-dutch chemistry to how they figuratively cross the mic backwards and forwards. The hook of “We Exterior” is sort of actually a refrain, with everybody spitting in unison household fashion, whereas “Shabooya” is impressed by the acquainted call-and-response chant heard on playgrounds throughout America.
Except for the looks of GloRilla’s “F.N.F.,” the one member of this unfastened crew with vital solo time is Areza, who tears up the monitor by her lonesome on “Luv A” and “Mmm Mmm.” The boys are largely left on the skin trying in, however Juicy J talks his approach into an invitation on “Freak Junt (Ext).” Whereas Juicy J’s late-period movement can generally be robotic and repetitive, and he can danger coming off just like the creepy uncle within the membership that nobody needs to ask to depart, Gloss Up brings one of the best out of him by holding her personal as a reputable tag-team companion,
Hitkidd’s beats are constructed on the pounding 808s half and parcel to the Memphis sound, however there’s an inventiveness to how he performs with samples. On “Doin Too A lot,” he works in creepy-crawly horrorcore keys, whereas “No Remark” makes the childlike innocence of a music field toy piano downright haunting. The beeping dial tone on “Calling Me” is disarming at first, however it turns into uncannily hypnotic with every loop, naturally working its approach into the beat.
If there’s something that holds Renegade again, it’s how a lot of the fabric has been previously-released: along with the unique variations, which each dropped in 2022, the album consists of remixes of “F.N.F.” that includes Latto & JT and “Shabooya” with Lola Brooke. Whereas these friends aren’t unwelcome, it’s a bit bit like making an attempt to combine newcomers into an current social clique—the 5 Memphis women already know all their very own flows so intimately that their collaboration is easy and fluid, nearly like long-time associates ending each other’s sentences.
In an trade that so typically thrives on interpersonal battle and pits feminine artists towards one another, Renegade is a essential antidote to the entitled isolationism of different albums, providing an invigorating feeling of real sisterhood.
