Nothing Bigger Than The Program

The appeal of Roc Marciano’s productions is the way they turn the grit and heaviness of street rap into something dreamy and featherlight. Worthy’s cadence is deliberate, Roc’s is higher and more fragmented, and together they take you on a tour through a workaday underground where they get rich enough to relax but not so rich that they have to worry about it, at least not *too* much (“Simple Man”). In a culture that favors the young, they savor the wisdom and assurance of age (the Bun B-featuring “Underground Legends”), and while you sense that their dark days are behind them, they still summon a menace potent enough to make you wonder what skeletons might be rattling around their closets (“The Plug”).

With dusty, psychedelic production from Roc Marciano, Jay Worthy’s latest collaborative album is his grimiest to date.