Cigarette Boats
Producer: Harry Fraud
Released: July 10th, 2012
Essential Listening: “Biscayne Bay”
After releasing The Stoned Immaculate, Curren$y was under a little backlash as the album was kind of ill received. It was Curren$y’s first stab at a real commercial album and some of the big names and overproduction left a sour taste in a few listeners mouths. What’s the best way to combat a misstep like that? Good music.
Curren$y announced a joint EP with the great Harry Fraud, and the expectations for the EP flew through the roof. When the tape dropped, the two delivered, and boy was it something special. The beats that Harry Fraud provided were pure gold and we heard a Spitta that sounded rejuvenated and invigorated. On the opener he spits “Dolo – fool I ain’t got time for no bitches/ But I do got a Rolex where my long sleeves ending/ A house on my wrist, a car on each pinky.” Bars like this aren’t out of the ordinary for Spitta but the way he spits them on Cigarette Boats, you can tell we’re in for something special. The raps on the EP were flawless and the beats are unmatched. They both do some of their best work together and as individuals on this particular project. Styles P and Curren$y went back and forth over a stretched vocal sample and a drum pattern so intricate that nothing sounds out of place on the track. Styles P one upped Spitta, probably to show him that as a old head, he’s still got it. The beat for “Biscayne Bay?” Fuckin’ nuts, and to this day fans still wish it was longer. Only going 2 minutes long, Curren$y glorifies material things on the track over what may be one of Harry Frauds best beats ever. Around this time HF spent time with Rick Ross in Miami making beats, which makes us wonder if he did some of them were cooked for these sessions.
The beats have an 80’s Miami feel without any filler or Miami cliches like Scarface or Vice City samples (that would make it an obvious miss or make it sound like Fraud was trying too hard).
The last two tracks are flawless as well, and Smoke DZA lends a verse that matches Curren$y’s weed raps perfectly and the last track is an ode to how hard Curren$y’s grinds. He spits“The one’s that’s sleeping on it don’t deserve it,” on “Sixty-Seven Turbo Jet and that is indeed true. If you’re sleeping on a EP like this, you don’t deserve to hang with the Jets.