Brent Faiyaz is the man within the membership who appears mysterious and is aware of it. He’s acquired the moody-yet-cool lane on lock, and it’s made him one of the vital distinguished males in R&B proper now. There’s nothing too deep about it, however when it really works, it’s like his life is a Scorsese montage of short-term relationships that finish along with his suitcase getting tossed out the window. His velvety speak-sing received’t blow you away—particularly when you had been raised in a crib the place weekends had been soundtracked by the supernatural smoothness of Luther and such—however it’s effortlessly fly. As a songwriter, the Maryland native relishes in being the villain (it received’t come as a shock that he has mentioned he “grew up on Max B and Dipset”). Within the course of his title has develop into a descriptor of its personal—for the form of dude who’ll play video games along with your coronary heart.
What retains the fuckery in Brent Faiyaz’s music feeling like actual life as an alternative of picture repairs is the setting. Since his breakout second with the silky hook on “Crew”—with D.C. rappers GoldLink and Shy Glizzy—there’s been a way that even when one among his late-night adventures takes place in L.A. or New York, all roads lead again to D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. On the heels of final yr’s underwhelming however extraordinarily fashionable Wasteland comes Bigger Than Life, a life-is-good album the place Faiyaz might simply have chosen to pop champagne to his success by bringing all of right now’s strongest rap and R&B artists into the fold. As an alternative he pays homage to his dwelling by getting each regional pioneers and up-and-comers concerned in his mess.
To underline the purpose, Bigger Than Life kicks off with a kind of timeless intros from Virginia Seaside’s Timbaland that sounds prefer it’s been ripped off an answering machine. As soon as the smoke clears for Faiyaz’s naturally icy croons, the instantly recognizable pattern is TLC’s “No Scrubs,” which feels like a jittery Timbo beat however in fact isn’t. No context mandatory, although: Faiyaz’s conversational and flirtatious supply is as crisp as ever. That’s adopted up by “Final One Left,” one other apparent flip, this one derived from Timbo’s beat for Missy Elliott’s “Loopy Emotions.” (Missy, one other Virginia native, is right here too, principally re-recording the cascading hook of the unique.) What might have been simply karaoke is spiced up by a reasonably batshit verse the place Faiyaz lectures some poor woman about getting relationship recommendation from her mates: “In the event that they gon’ run yo’ life, then get your ass out of mine,” he sings sweetly, as if he’s not in full guilt-trip mode. Tacked on on the finish is rising Maryland rapper Lil Grey, spitting a kind of radio-friendly visitor options you might count on from Fabolous or Fats Joe within the early 2000s.
