PAPER ROUTE iLLUMINATi

It would have been hard not to catch a glimpse of one of the many Paper Route Empire medallions Young Dolph has sported over the years, but how much do you really know about the Memphis-bred label? If you’re the police, not much—according to their lyrics, anyway—but the gang introduce themselves formally over the course of *PAPER ROUTE iLLUMINATi*’s 23 action-packed songs. If Dolph is the most recognizable name—aside from a Gucci Mane feature—he does his best to get out of the way for the likes of Key Glock, Snupe Bandz, Bigg Unccc, Big Moochie Grape, Kenny Muney, Jay Fizzle, PaperRoute Woo, and a particularly impressive Joddy Badass. On the whole, *PAPER ROUTE iLLUMINATi* is adept gangsta rap in the Dolph mold, full of brags about hard-earned street money, the guns and jewelry the MCs keep with them at all times, and, above all else, their ability to maintain a productive relationship with the plug. The lone female of the crew, Brooklyn-hailing Joddy sidesteps most of this in her solo showcase “333,” delivering venomous, cipher-annihilating bars like “All these bird bitches getting pissed off, steady writing diss bars/Worried ’bout me? Sis, worry bout your discharge.”

Featuring Key Glock and newcomers Snupe Bandz and Joddy, this compilation from the Memphis rapper and his associates feels like the culmination of a thoroughly unique career.

2020's Rich Slave was not only Young Dolph's most critically acclaimed album but his most commercially successful to date, and on 2021's PAPER ROUTE iLLUMINATi, the rapper shares the success with his Paper Route Empire protégés.