HOFFA

It’s likely that Dave East was both ready and willing to lock in for a full-length Harry Fraud-produced album well before he heard Fraud’s work with Jim Jones (*The Fraud Department*) and Benny the Butcher (*The Plugs I Met 2*). But it’s just as likely that the synergy and flawless execution of those projects couldn’t have hurt East’s inclination. Fraud shows up for East on *HOFFA* the same way he did for Jones and Benny, finding a sturdy balance between moody synth lines, obscure rock samples, and ’90s-hip-hop drum patterns to act as an idyllic backdrop for East’s hand-to-hand street-life memories, basketball references, and straight-faced acknowledgment of the way drugs have affected his own family. Fellow barsmiths Jim Jones, G Herbo, Benny the Butcher, and Curren$y round out the features, but longtime Dave East fans might be most excited to hear a new verse from Kiing Shooter, the Queens-hailing Dave East associate who passed away in 2020 following complications from COVID-19.

On producer Harry Fraud's fourth collaboration of 2021, he teams with fellow New Yorker Dave East for the gritty, contemplative Hoffa.

HOFFA’s fitting opening track ‘The Disappearance’ begins with a news report on the missing James Riddle Hoffa, against a backdrop of