"The type to stay on top of cheese just like pepperoni"
BunnaB - Mind Right
(From Mind Right single; 2026)
BunnaB continues to paint pictures on a 2009 Atlanta Fruity Swag-Rap canvas, but with colours and details which didn't exist in '09. Or sumfink lol. Fave thing about BunnaB: she's the chief exponent of rejuvenating an old style of Atlanta Rap which ended far too quickly for my liking. 2nd fave thing about BunnaB: she looks like she could be Alpo's daughter.
Never expected the first 2026 Rap song I'd post would be a new T.I. single produced by Pharrell, but rappenstance works in mysterious ways. To me, this song sounds like the single Rich Homie Quan should have released as the follow-up to Flex (Ooh, Ooh, Ooh). More confirmation that I only enjoy new Atlanta Rap which sounds like old Atlanta Rap with a subtle tweak. Plz God let this one blow up so T.I. stops trying to be a terrible comedian/podcaster.
TM88 ft. Sosojuicy & Strap Da Fool - I Want That
(From F.I.L.A 25 (Forever I Love Atlanta) album; 2025)
Hat tip to N-Sky Valley for this one. File this song under 'they don't make 'em like this anymore... except when they do.' Back to the Futuristic Swag era again with this battle-of-the-sexes song. I don't believe there were any battle-of-the-sexes songs in the original Futuristic Swag era, but there have been two killer jams since: I Want That here and This Or That by Mr. 2-17 & The Ratchets.
Mr. 2-17 ft. The Ratchets - This & That
(From Know What I'm Sayin 2 mixtape; 2014)
BunnaB's best song since Mad Again IMHO. That production sounds like the most evil beat Drumma Boy never made. Free Him is Bunna's impassioned plea for her boyfriend to be set free from prison. Is it poetic license or actual factz? I have no idea, but the lass puts forth such a convincing and compelling argument that she could successfully moonlight as a lawyer. In fact, if BunnaB hadn't been 6 years old in 2009 she coulda/shoulda represented Max B in court rather than that hack Gerald Saluti. Fingers crossed the only reason this one hasn't been blessed with a video yet is because they're gonna go all out and shoot the best courtroom-set Rap video since Case Dismissed by Pretty Tone Capone.
"It was 2006 I recall
Fresh white tee and it's crisp I recall
'40 dropped Tell Me When To Go that winter
It was all on the flo' that winter
Then $hort came through with Blow The Whistle for the summer
You wasn't outside back then, what a bummer
Nokia phones and H2 hummers
Hey lil' mama, can I getcha number?"
LARussell & Lil' Jon - I'm From The Bay
(From I'm From The Bay single; 2025)
I Need A Freak is the Mumm-Ra of early 80s Electro because that shit is Ever-Living™. LARussell & Lil' Jon are three for three on their collaboration slaps: Having Like This, I Got Flavor and this new one. Johnny The Boxxx called this 'Wholesome Hyphy', which would be the ideal title for the EP LARussell & Lil' Jon have planned. LARussell has the relentless cheeriness of a children's TV presenter and I ain't mad at that after the last half-decade of sour-faced NorCal child gangbangers. EBK Gorilla Zo-core rappers ain't dropping no songs with Mick Foley references.
Nowadays I only like Atlanta Rap if it sounds like it's been beamed into 2025 from 2009. BunnaB pulls this aesthetic choice off better than all the Atl bois making similar music simply because it hits fresher coming out of a bird's mouth, and she knows how to knock out a Legit Jam™. Bunna Summer is her big choon, but I prefer her other singles Ice Cream Girl and Mad Again meself. All three songs answer the question - what if Yung L.A. were a wench?
Another reason why I fuxwit BunnaB: she has a song called innit. I don't particularly like that song, but I gotta love that an American Rap song has been accidentally named with one of the greatest British words ever.
BeatKing ft. Sukihana, Princess & Diamond - On Yo Head (remix)
(From the internet; 2023)
I ain't tryna get all Black Eyed Peas on youse lot, but where is the love for this song? The Texan equivalent of ah slumper, this is one of 2023's most ig'nant Rap songs. It's also far superior to the original version and not just because BeatKing reunited Princess & Diamond from Crime Mob - the original suffered from a beat-switch which sucked all the energy outta that shit. It's 2023 and rappers are still making the rookie mistake of recording songs with beat-switches where the 2nd beat is an anti-climax. The trick is that two different beats in the SAME DAMN SONG will only consolidate if both beats are of equal quality and the beat which closes the song is the 'ardest. Rappers need to study Andre Nickatina & San Quinn's Saw A Gangsta Cry as an example of how beat-switches should be done.
Andre Nickatina ft. San Quinn - Saw A Gangsta Cry
(From These R The Tales album; 2000)
Rae Sremmurd - Flaunt It/Cheap
(From Sremm 4 Life album; 2023)
Do you ever find a song equally addictive and annoying? That's how I feel about Flaunt It/Cheap here. This begins as Swag-Rap De La Soul and ends up as a Star Wars strip club anthem. Like 99% of tracks with beat-switches, it'd be better if it were two separate songs, but since it's not it'll have to knock as it is.
Revisiting some classic Mr. 2-17 got me checking out what he's been upto recently. Turns out he's been bobbing and weaving between the past with Soulja Boy tributes like Crank Dat Dance and the future with Jean-Michel Jarre Prog-Swag instrumentals like Still Spaz'n. Mr. 2-17 reckons this one is a #YeatTypeBeat; me, I'd prefer #AnyoneButYeat on it and would rather he lets the beat breathe as an instrumental forever ever.
Bonus beats: My pick for G.O.A.T instrumental which exists only on the producer's YouTube page because nobody's ever bought it? Gotta be this Trel Itz A Hit beat where he really let his nuts hang. Oi Trel - you came up outta that Bayou like a muskrat on this one.
Trel Itz A Hit - South Louisiana Swag
(From YouTube; 2015)
"First I tell 'em, where I want it done
In his backyard right in front of his son
Then I tell 'em, where to drop him off
In the Chattahoochie with his dick chopped off
Yeah, it sounds harsh, but it's well deserved
Feed his ass to the Sharks for hors d'oeuvres
No remorse, and no pity
This could happen to you in New Joc City"
Yung Joc - A Couple Grand
(From the Atlanta underground; 2006)
File this under 'beatjacks which are better than the originals.' Yung Joc was always more of a Juvenile than a Jeezy and his flow on this shit is pure New Orleans. I remember Rey turning his nose up at Yung Joc's Bad Boy Records debut album like "I prefer his underground shit" and this beatjack of Shawty Lo's I'm Da Man is Joc's equivalent of Mase's pre-Bad Boy Murda Ma$e Children Of The Corn material. Cot-damn, this song is wicked and plz believe that's wicked meaning evil. If there's a Hell below then Joc is possibly gonna go as a result of this one.
In Shawn Prez's recent VladTV interview with Yung Joc, Joc mentions a pre-Bad Boy local hit of his called Thousand Ones. Alas the only trace I can find of it online is in a Billboard magazine article. Anyone got the MP3?
I want to live in a world where people love Strong Arm Flexxin' as much as Walked In. The two G.O.A.T plink-plink-plonk piano Swag-Rap songs of the 2010s and Mr. 2-17 produced the pair of them. Might start a petition to get 1Up Society's Strong Arm Flexxin' dance video reuploaded to YouTube.
Yeah, I'm enjoying Tony Shhnow in this zoomer Wiz Khalifa zone of his. Not so much Kush & OJ as Kush & Kenny G. Sax and violence is a Good Combination™ and that's word to Zoot the king of toot.
T.I. - Rubber Band Man
(From Trap Muzik album; 2003)
I wanna talk to you, shorty, because you be trippin' sometimes. It ain't a doubt in my mind that Trap Muzik had one of the best singles trifectas of all time. Ain't shit harder than 24's; smarter than Be Easy; more heart than Rubber Band Man; don't argue with me, reader.
Coulda been a perfect quadruple if Let's Get Away wasn't the fourth single. What began as a smooth jam for hoes with gold teeth and hoes with good credit quickly became Tip's perversion on wax. My man put the T.I into T.M.I on that song. Damn, son - T.I. was Brad J in the streets but J. Cole between the sheets.
Never forget the Planez verse, never forgive it either.
Tony Shhnow - Sometimes
(From Kill Streak 2 album; 2021/YouTube: 2022)
**M&S advert voice** This is not just my favourite Tony Shhnow song since F*ckwitcha, this is my favourite Tony Shhnow song since F*ckwitcha that's also the best Wiz Khalifa song since Smoke Chambers.
Wiz Khalifa - Smoke Chambers
(From Taylor Gang 2 mixtape; 2015)
Wiz Khalifa made a Mac DeMarco sample sound fly and was listening to Max B when people thought Saigon was gonna save New York. Ya favourite rapper could never.
Travis Porter - Like Dat
(From Back On Bullshit album; 2021)
**Dem Franchise Boyz voice** I THINK I LIKE IT!
Here at The Martorialist we're diggin' the notion of parallel universes in Rap, so if T.P had signed to T.I's Grand Hustle imprint to drop a second album then the lead single woulda sounded a lil' sumfin like Like Dat.
**EDIT** Also feelin' the Swag-Rap Fresh Prince(s) storytelling of Same Hoes. This shit needs a video which sticks to the song's script.
Travis Porter - Same Hoes
(From Back On Bullshit album; 2021)
Gotta love when that harmonica comes in at the end for maximum "my baby's cheating on me" Delta Bluesman vybz. It's the little touches that make a big difference.
Via D Squared. Been a long time since I've heard an Atlanta Rap song with some slap but the Da Apartments guy has come through with Blockaholic here. That said, as with NHale's Dealin' Wit A Hoe, these long-arse video intros have REALLY gotta go. Rappers - take ya acting aspirations, put 'em under ya pillows, and kiss them shits goodnight forever ever.
**Edit** both YouTube uploads of the video vanished. WTF?!
