Me vs. Me

The first track on NLE Choppa’s Me vs. Me, “Shotta Flow 6”—the latest addition to his beloved “Shotta Flow” series—is, of course, a lyrical exercise. The Memphis MC comes out swinging, battering the CashMoneyAp production with bars about the kinds of guns he loves, what kind of sex he enjoys, and his ability to identify insincere well-wishers within his circle. It’s a chest-beating declaration of Choppa’s increasingly sharp rhyme prowess, and it sets the tone for the rest of the project.

A title like Me vs. Me implies conflict, but there is little if any here. This is very much the NLE Choppa of the Cottonwood and Top Shotta albums, as opposed to the holistic living enthusiast the internet once jokingly referred to as “NLE Chakra.” Songs like “Push It” featuring Young Thug, “Trap Phone,” “Final Warning,” and “Still Hood” (among others) all feature heavy gunplay and the robust street-lord posturing that made his name. He’s commissioned production from industry big dogs like Quay Global and OG Parker—in addition to the aforementioned CashMoneyAp—across Me vs. Me, but the real takeaway, as foretold in the title of the first track, is that the flows here are at least six times as sharp as they’ve ever been.