Curren$y

February 7, 2019 at PST

2009

In the year 2009, Wiz Khalifa was in the midst of an inevitable rebrand from Pittsburgh street rapper to region-less stoner heartthrob. Meanwhile, New Orleans upstart Curren$y was establishing his footing post-Young Money deal, having just walked away from an association with the biggest name in rap music. That year, they released How Fly, a collaborative mixtape that let them shine against each other’s talents while helping to certify their respective transitions from underground heroes to overground stars. Ten years later, their individual legacies cemented, the pair delivers 2009, the How Fly follow-up fans never stopped calling for.

2009 picks up where How Fly left off, and aside from an exponential improvement in recording quality, it echoes the sonics of its predecessor. The pair’s chemistry is fully intact as they trade bars over minimal drum claps (“Garage Talk”), R&B basslines (“No Clout Chasin”), and deeply funky synth waves (“From the Start”). Like the catalogues of its creators, 2009 is wholly lifestyle, the MCs consistently adorned by beautiful women, blowing big smoke from balconies that overlook driveways filled with pristine automobiles. “This is the life/Bitches and Nikes/Planes and Chucks/Bottles and luxury,” goes the chorus of “The Life.” The project’s collaborators top out at two: Problem (“Getting Loose”) and Ty Dolla $ign (“Benz Boys”), the latter of whom fills the role of hook singer that Wiz himself relished on How Fly.

Curren$y and Wiz sound at ease, but when they bar up—Curren$y on “Getting Loose” and Wiz on “First or Last” in particular—they are anything but. Save for maybe their tax brackets, very little has changed for the pair in the 10 years that have passed since How Fly, not the least of which is the understanding that Wiz and Curren$y were made to lift each other higher.

14 Tracks

October 30, 2018 at PDT

Fetti

9 Tracks

February 17, 2022 at PST

Continuance

Veteran New Orleans rapper Curren$y brags different. It’s maybe the singular thing that protects him from an inadvertently dismissive label like “everyman MC.” When he talks about about how well he’s doing—as he does early and often across Continuance, his collaborative album with producer The Alchemist—he does so in a way that bypasses leaving a listener feeling inadequate. Curren$y’s raps are a celebration of taste—in automobiles, clothing, jewelry, weed, women—and you can hear, in that signature laidback flow set to expertly chopped jazz loops, an implied invitation for you to join him. The guests here don’t necessarily have the same reputation for affability (Boldy James, Havoc, Styles P, Babyface Ray, to name a few), but they sound just as happy as Curren$y to be rapping over The Alchemist’s production.

13 Tracks

February 25, 2021 at PST

Collection Agency

10 Tracks

May 29, 2018 at PDT

The Marina

8 Tracks

June 4, 2012 at PDT

The Stoned Immaculate (Deluxe Version)

16 Tracks

December 3, 2015 at PST

Canal Street Confidential (Deluxe)

The preternaturally relaxed rapper’s fifth studio album might be his strongest since 2011’s Weekend at Burnie’s—a feat considering he’s one of the most quietly consistent MCs of his era. Produced mostly by Purps—of the bruising Atlanta production team 808 Mafia—Canal Street Confidential balances Curren$y’s meditative flow with some relatively sinister beats, all flecked with the late-night atmosphere of classic soul. Opening with the Future-assisted trap of “Drive By,” the album features a few high-profile guests, including Wiz Khalifa (“Winning”) and Ty Dolla $ign (“Superstar”)—still leaving room for the solo workouts that made Curren$y’s mixtapes so great to begin with (“Boulders”).

13 Tracks

June 8, 2017 at PDT

Pilot Talk Trilogy

With the first Pilot Talk album in 2010, Curren$y established an instantly appealing brand: a heavy-lidded, quick-tongued stoner who was smarter than you thought. His laconic delivery, plush beats, and clever word choices (on “Silence” he’s “High when I stroll/Not even leaving footprints in the snow”) perfectly complement highs of all varieties and legalities. The Pilot Talk trilogy combines the three entries in his most well-known series into one long, mellifluous head-nod. So you can… relax to it.

41 Tracks

June 26, 2016 at PDT

Stoned on Ocean

7 Tracks

October 7, 2021 at PDT

Still Stoned on Ocean

11 Tracks

August 30, 2018 at PDT

Fire in the Clouds

Fire in the Clouds comes to us in the same calendar year we’ve received no less than four separate Curren$y EPs— clearly, the New Orleans native and decade-plus rap veteran has still got plenty to say. This time he’s teamed up with Drupey Beats, a frequent collaborator whose production lends itself to the instrument-heavy, blues-influenced style UGK’s late legend Pimp C famously described as “country-rap tunes.” The friendly-neighborhood-stoner vibe is fully intact here, as is the rapper’s unique ability to set a scene—which he does at the outset of Larry June collab “Pay Scale,” with visions of eating “chicken fried rice in the back of the Phantom” while his brother’s “in the venue still macking the dancers.”

12 Tracks

November 24, 2022 at PST

The Drive in Theatre Part 2

21 Tracks

October 10, 2024 at PDT

The Encore

Keeping up with Curren$y’s music can be a full-time job, but the New Orleans native’s quality is so consistent that the effort is worth it; the reward is as nice as his sugary-sweet Southern drawl. Another difficult task is keeping up with his ever-expanding cast of collaborators, but the pot-loving poet makes this relatively easy by returning to old favorites as often as he works with new voices. On 2024’s The Encore, he reunites with Oakland-bred DJ.Fresh for their third project together, and their second of the calendar year.

The Encore follows The Tonite Show The Sequel, which the duo created earlier in 2024, and The Tonite Show, from 2020. Curren$y doesn’t do anything spectacularly different on this project than on other albums with Fresh, though the nuances are in his show-stopping one-liners. On “Top of the Morning,” he spits over a sultry, horn-laced head-nodder, diving into two of his three favorite topics: women and cars (weed being the third): “The game change fast, you getting dressed too slow wit’ yo lame ass/Drivers in the other lane done blown past/Ain't no second or third place, there's only dead last.” Next, he describes the lady he’s courting in classic Spitta fashion: “The dress was see-through, on that lady like a champagne glass.”

11 Tracks

March 27, 2018 at PDT

Parking Lot Music

9 Tracks

July 6, 2019 at PDT

Pheno Grigio

12 Tracks

May 16, 2019 at PDT

Gran Turismo

10 Tracks

December 19, 2019 at PST

Back at Burnie’s

Capping off an exceptionally prodigious 2019 filled with solo and collaborative projects—including respective sets with Berner, Smoke DZA, and Wiz Khalifa—the Jet Life CEO comes through with this spiritual sequel to 2011’s cloud rap classic Weekend at Burnie’s. Returning to the hazy scenes and chrome dreams of that record, the effervescent emcee cruises over the mind-altering slow 808 funk of “Bimmer” and “Decisions.” His typically relaxed yet cerebral sativa flow very much intact, the NOLA native makes Memphis connections with Juicy J on “Last Name” and Young Dolph on “All Work” before detouring to Florida to talk luxury car culture with fellow auto aficionado Rick Ross on “Miami Vice.”

10 Tracks

April 18, 2011 at PDT

Covert Coup

Atmospheric but still banging, Covert Coup is the debut collaboration from a duo who’ve evolved unpredictably: Curren$y, the No Limit trenchman-turned-stoner-rap auteur, and The Alchemist, whose eerie Y2K-era boom-bap beats became increasingly abstracted. The Alchemist’s production is, at once, restless and dreamlike on woozy sketches like “Smoke Break” and “Success Is My Cologne,” and Curren$y’s rhymes are loose but still lucid. Check the sudden beat switches on “The Type,” making way for a rugged verse from Mobb Deep’s Prodigy.

10 Tracks

August 8, 2009 at PDT

How Fly

15 Tracks

November 29, 2016 at PST

Andretti 11/30

On the third installment of his Andretti series, Curren$y fully leans into his compelling brand of dark, dank hip-hop by masterfully blending cutting rhymes with laidback delivery. He explores the violent side of his home city (“where homicide lurks outside”) over the creeping, paranoid sounds of “New Orleans State of Mind,” and the haunting piano of “Real Family” scores tales about old friends and their troubles. On “Hustlers,” he toasts the fruits of his success, from cars to diamond Rolexes.

11 Tracks

September 17, 2020 at PDT

The Director's Cut

One of the most consistent rapper-producer duos in hip-hop over the last decade, Curren$y and Harry Fraud bring blockbuster energy with every release. Through projects like Cigarette Boats and the 2020 nail-biter The OutRunners, they make movies without a camera, blending the respective oeuvres of Hal Needham and Michael Mann with their own contemporary twist on classic crime capers. The Director’s Cut continues their modern-day Smokey and the Bandit-styled run, replete with lowriders and speedboats. Highlights “News on Mute” and “180 Days” evoke epic chases, midnight exchanges on both land and sea, and decadent Jet Life business with Jan Hammer-esque aplomb. Look out for cameos from Larry June, Styles P, and Trippie Redd.

9 Tracks

August 26, 2021 at PDT

Highest In Charge

10 Tracks

August 15, 2019 at PDT

Hot August Nights - EP

7 Tracks

June 29, 2023 at PDT

VICES

A fog of nostalgic production, nimble rhymes, and subdued charisma.

9 Tracks