Barter 6 Review

This is where the method arrives fully formed. He treats the voice as a synthesiser, sliding between a yelp, a croak and something almost sung within a single bar, and because the beats underneath are so patient there is room to hear every strange decision. London on da Track builds most of it out of soft keys, sparse hi hats and enormous space, and the effect is a rap album that floats rather than pushes.

Halftime is the clearest statement of intent. Constantly Hating opens the record with a piano figure and a guest verse and sets the whole tone. Check has a hook made of noises. The writing is mostly texture and repeated phrases, which is a fair criticism only if you think the words are the point, and here they are plainly not. What matters is that no rap record before it sounded like this, and dozens after it did.