Blow

Presented by the heads at Chemical Baby Clothing, *Blow* is a sprawling mixtape featuring Joe Blow and a gang of other Bay Area favorites, including The Jacka, Lee Majors, Shady Nate, Berner, Young Bossi, Ampichino, Cellski, Philthy Rich, Lil Rue, and many more. The vibe is overwhelmingly low-key and low-BPM, with mellow, spaced-out beats built mostly on spooky synth washes, heavily filtered quiet-storm loops, skittering drums, and booming bass drops. The world-weary rhymes focus mostly on the ups and downs of organized crime, stacking money for days, dealing and addiction, impending incarceration, and life on the run. Unlike the vast majority of street rap that only describes the high life, most of the tracks here are surprisingly (and refreshingly) deep, questioning why they do what they do instead of just bragging about it. The moody production perfectly matches the sensitive-kingpin wordplay, especially on joints like \"Sip the Pain Away,\" \"My Other Brothers,\" and \"The Life We Lead.\"