Who are Denzel Curry and Kenny Beats? Well, if you need that answered, then you obviously have not been in the hip hop game in the past couple years. These two are only some of the best in the hip hop game right now and with this new album, they are ready to show what they can accomplish when they get in a room together.
Denzel has been on the rise since dropping his 2018 album Ta13oo where he mixed aspects of his Florida rap style with dark undertones of drama, politics, and morals. It was with this project that he garnered so much attention and began being noticed by producers and other rappers in the industry. During this same time, Kenny began working with many artists such as JID, Vince Staples, and JPEGMafia. With his different style of production and creative input, he has set a name and standard for himself in the industry.
So what happens when you put two phenomenal artists at the top of their game in a room together? Well that’s what Unlocked aimed to show and show it did. Denzel Curry doesn’t seem to show any sign of stopping his upward trend of success, and with Kenny Beats by his side, he has already dropped his second project of the year in a span of two months.
On this album, Kenny creates some of his best beats yet, using some amazing samples and sounds to create unique and one of a kind instrumentals. Taking samples from films, voice samples from Denzel, and anything else he can find, Kenny has a huge amount of sounds to work with which he does not let go to waste. Songs like “Track 01” and “So.Incredible.pkg” shows what happens when Kenny is just allowed to let his creativity show. He creates a whirlwind of chaotic sounds that somehow make sense and provide an excellent backbone for Denzel’s hard hitting bars.
On top of that, Denzel has some of his best wordplay to date on this project. The best song on the album “Take__it_Back_v2” showcases this perfectly. Lines such as “The patriarch of this ZUU shit, never no FUU shit / Try to sue this, we end up on Sun Tzu shit” and “It seems niggas are fly and the junkies are high / And in my line of work that goes side by side” shows how tough Denzel’s flow can hit and how potent his wordplay is.
While this duo does work very well on the project, their high creativity does conflict at times. The one track in Unlocked in which this does happen is “Track07” where we hear Kenny put on a funky beat that by itself would be great. However when melded with Curry’s flow and style, it just sounds like a mess that doesn’t really have a purpose for existing. It is too chaotic and not in the normal style we expect from this duo at this point.
While this album is short, it is jam packed with so much material that I’m sure I’ll be returning to this album for days to come. So if you haven’t checked this out yet, you’re truly missing out.
Top 3 Songs:
- Take_It_Back_V2
- So.Incredible.pkg
- DIET_
Least Fav Track: Track07
9/10
Lukas Too Much Music 