With Little Rock located just north of Texas, and only hours away from Houston, screwed and chopped music has long influenced the city’s hip-hop scene – and SL Jones’ musical tastes along with it. SL has been pulling from those influences since his C.O.L.O.R.S. mixtape, and they continue to permeate throughout his forthcoming mixtape Flight Risk, including on the hypnotizing, screwed chorus of latest single “Actin’ Bad.”
While “Actin’ Bad,” produced by Blitz, seemingly plays as a cold hearted and reckless day-in-the-life account, the song was penned – therapeutically, almost – as SL went through the process of putting recent adversity in the rearview. “I’ve been dealing with a lot of stress lately due to my current legal situation,” explains SL. “At some point you just gotta say ‘Fuck it’; sitting around feeling sorry for yourself isn’t gonna change anything. I’m gonna face this – or any situation – with my head held high.”
And with “Actin’ Bad,” SL balances his uncertainty with defiance, a mix of positive sentiment (“I’m moving forward regardless/ I call it positive yardage”,) with the kind slick brash talk that likely earned the song its title. “I ain’t got no Grammy for my mammy/ Or no Oscar for my pops,” raps SL, “But I got real gangsters in my family/ No imposters on my block/ Some of my niggas been to prison/ Some of my partners done been shot/ All of my dogs stay on call – rise or fall – they’re all I got.”
SL Jones’ new mixtape, Flight Risk, will be released on December 14th and includes production from Lex Luger, Shawty Redd, Sonny Digital, Young L, Metro Beatz, and more.
OS REWIND: SL Jones – Gas Station (Prod. by Young L)
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