
I didn’t intentionally write about Wiz and Juicy J back to back, though Juicy J is a member of Taylor Gang (Wiz Khalifa’s record label). It just so happens that the two legends both caught my ear with recent projects.
If I have to tell you about Juicy J and Three Six Mafia, then you must be new to the genre, and that’s A-Ok. I guess. Three Six Mafia is perhaps the most influential rap group of all-time, as their style of production directly influenced all of the music we hear today. Kendrick and Future’s “Like That” was basically a copy of one of their beats.
Juicy J is largely known for rapping, but he’s also a producer, and an excellent one at that. It’s hard to know if him or DJ Paul (fellow rapper/producer from Three Six) handled the bulk of the production for Three Six, but I’d imagine it was split evenly between the two.
If you ever listened to Juicy J’s solo work or Three Six Mafia, you’d never expect a mature jazz-influenced album from The Juice Man. This is what I love about an artist though. When they take a swing for the fences and do something out of left-field and it works, it’s like magic. This is a perfect example.
For me, this album get’s really fun at “Everything All Good”, a mature anthem for grown men who are stable. I’m perhaps not stable enough to fully enjoy it, but it’s something to aspire too.
This album is inspirational, wise, fun, etc. The production is handled by both Juicy J and JR Swiftz. JR Swiftz is an absolute beast for those who are wondering. He single-handedly produced my favorite eLZhi album ever (El is arguably a top 5 rapper all-time, I should write more about him) Seven Times Down Eight Times Up.
JR Swiftz is the rare producer whose sound is tough to pin down. His production on this Juicy album bears no resemblance to his work on eLZhi’s, which is kind of crazy to me, as I find that most producers can be fit into a box.
Anyways, enough producer love, I gotta give it up to Juicy J here. He sounds super inspired for a guy who has been in the game since the early 90’s. Over 30 years of rapping, and he sounds like this is his first album. I love the messages on this album.
I’m stunned that I enjoyed this as much as I did. He also collabs with Robert Glasper on a track, who is a legendary jazz musician and very much tied to hip-hop. I’d rather give JR Swiftz shine though, as JR has been quietly killing it for years, even working with Griselda quite a bit. Dude’s all over the place, he produces for so many different types of artists… very rare.
On most album’s of artists I enjoy, maybe a few songs will make it onto a playlist. From tracks 5-17 I put 9 different songs on my playlist. Excellent album, and will no doubt be featured on my AOTY contenders list at the end of this year. Three Six Mafia is for the adults and the kids!

About
The Author
I wrote this blog for a few reasons. One is because nobody in my circle of friends ever puts me on to music or things that are dope that I haven't heard about (step your game up friends!) as few people nerd out as hard as me on the dumb things I focus on. The other and main reason is because I am so tired of The NeedleDrop and Pitchfork, from the way Fantano talks about music, to the way that Pitchfork writes about it. Both cause me physical pain to read or watch, yet I for some reason occasionally check their review scores, because they are the only sites I know that do stay on top of music (to a degree), and they focus on genres that I'm not tapped into, so occasionally I find something good. Is it worth the pain? No. So let me save you the pain, by only sharing with you my favorites, and maybe you'll find a new favorite. Oh and I also love talking shit, so I'll do that too, but this blog is about showing love to great art.
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