With 90059 set to drop at midnight, and the whole west coast & world waiting on it, Jay Rock brings out his brothers in arms Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul and Schoolboy Q as Black Hippy over a trunk thumping production from Cardo, giving listeners a sample of their unified impact on a track since dropping “Say Wassup” years back. Now the last black hippy to rock the planet went by the royal name of Jimi Hendrix, and it’s possibly taken nearly 45 years since then for him to reincarnate his electric reach through a collective of socially aware, ghetto influenced, emotionally insightful and music altering artists like himself. That said, “Vice City” is everything the title implies, from Kendrick’s death foreshadowing hook, to each individual’s vindicating verse, the record voices their vices while holding them honest to their habits too. TDE wins again.
